legal exam 2

Acquiring property through exchange: a real estate transaction where one property is traded for another

Acquiring property through posession: the first person to claim ownership previously unowned things to possession becomes their owner

Lost items: personal property that was unintentionally misplaced. Finder gets lost items that they find

Mislaid items: personal property that was intentionally places in a certain location but the owner forgot to pick it up. Premises owner should keep it until it is found by the original owner

Abandoned items: once abandoned, the first finder of abandoned property is the owner

Acquiring property through adverse possession: a person does not have legal title to a piece of property, usually real property, may acquire legal ownership based on continuous possession of occupation without the permission of its legal owner. Must be open and notorious, actual an exclusive, continuous, without permission, wrongful, for a prescribed period of time.

Acquiring property through confusion: ownership through confusion arises when fungible goods are mixed together

Fungible good: sold by weight or measure that when combines with identical goods cannot be identifies and separated (grains of rice, money)

When are fungible goods confused: when owners hold a proportional share of the confused goods if the confusion occurs by honest mistake

Acquiring property through accession: when people apply efforts to any raw materials and change its nature into finished products, they own the finished product (when farmers livestock have children, the baby livestock belongs to the farmer)

Acquiring property through gift: when the owner gives property to the donee, who becomes the new owner

Testamentary gift: made through a will. This takes place if the owner intends to make the gift and delivers the gift by physical transfer, and can also be constructive delivery.

Deeds: must be in writing, must identify the land and be unambiguous, must have evidence and intent to transfer, and must be signed by the grantor.

Warranty deed: warrants or promises the seller has good ownership and can sell

Special warranty deed: specifies certain legal claims against the land (exists like a mortgage)

Quitclaim deed: makes no other guarantees that the seller surrenders all claims on the land (exchanges within family)

Easements: very specific way that someone can use the property even if they don’t own it. One persons right to use anothers land

Natural easement: allows a property owner to go through another person’s property to use their own property fully. To get from their land to the closest public road.

Affirmative easement: everything has been outlined exactly what can be used and how. It goes on the deed. Most common kind is a utility easement. Acquired through exchange. Purchased from a landholder or reserved by deed as part of the purchase or sale of land.

Negative easement: opposite of affirmative easement: does not grant its owner the right to enter the land. Prevents an adjoining landowner from doing anything that would hurt their neighbor’s property.

Prescriptive easement: through adverse possession. Prevents a landowner from blocking someone who has wrongfully used the landowner’s property for over 20 years. Must be open and notorious, adverse, and continuous and uninterupted

Bailments: a legal relationship in common law where the owner of personal property transfers physical possession of that property for a period of time, but retains ownership and expects the property will be returned.

Bailor: the owner who surrenders the property

Bailee: who accepts the property

Sole benefit of the bailor: storing your furniture from your apartment over the summer in my garage. Bailee must use slight care and store the bailed object as agreed.

Sole benefit of the bailee: you loan your lawn mower to your friend. Bailee has high duty to the property, because bailor isn’t getting any compensation for loaning his property. Must be returned properly and in good condition.

Mutual benefit of the parties: rental agreement. Bailee must exercise reasonable care towards the property. Bailee has duty to pay the bailee and to warn of any hidden dangers in the property

Rights of the bailor: to end the bailment at any time and ask for property back, to be compensated for damage to the property, and to sue for breech of bailment contract

Nuisance: exists when an owners use of his property unreasonable infringes on anothers use and enjoyment of their own property rights.

Private nuisance: any unreasonable use of what belongs to one, usually land, to cause substantial interference with the enjoyment or use of another’s land. Can be an invasion of intangibles (light, sound, or smell)

Public nuisance: arises from some use of land that causes inconvenience or damages to the health and safety of the public. These claims may only be brought by a public official unless there is specific damage to private property

Estates: the legal and beneficial rights and interests a person has over land and property

fee simple absolute estate: a type of land ownership that gives the owner the most complete rights to the property without restrictions which descends to his heirs and legal representatives upon his death intestate

fee simple defeasible estate:  a property interest that can be taken away if certain conditions are not met. This type of estate allows the original owner to control the property's future use, even after it's been sold. 

life estate: the right to live on property until ones death or other stated event, but one cannot transfer the property in a manner lasting beyond ones death.

Concurrent estate: when multiple people own the property

joint tenancy: a form of co-ownership where property is owned by two or more persons at the same time in equal shares

joint tenancy with right of survivorship: a legal arrangement where two or more people co-own property, and upon the death of one owner, their share of the property automatically passes to the surviving owners without going through probate, essentially meaning the surviving owner inherits the deceased owner's interest in the property. 

tenants in common: a legal arrangement where two or more people own a property together. Each owner has a separate share of the property, and the shares can be equal or unequal. 

leasehold estate: an ownership of temporary right to hold land or property in which a lessee or a tenant has rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord.

Zoning: publicly established limitations on an owners use of resources that protect health, safety, morals and general welfare. These are laws that divide counties into use districts designated residential, commercial, or industrial.

Intentional torts: Intentional interference with one’s person, reputation, or property

Assault: the placing of another in immediate apprehension for his or her physical safety. Words can be assault

Battery: an unpermitted, unprivileged intentional contact with another person. Does not have to cause harm to battery

Trespassing: To enter the owner's land or property without permission

Defamation: Intentional malicious statements that injure another’s
character, fame or reputation

Libel: written defamation

Slander: spoken defamation

Elements of defamation: Truth of the statement is a complete defense to defamation because true statements are not considered malicious. there has been a false statement about the plaintiff, that has been published and seen by members of the public, which has caused the Plaintiff damage

Invasion of privacy: The law recognizes one’s right to be free from unwarranted
publicity and in general ones’ right to be left alone. Must be highly offensive to a reasonable person. Truth is NOT a defense; Consent is a total defense.

Intrusion upon seclusion: intruding in someone’s space (wiretapping, sniping)

Public disclosure of private facts: public info is shared about a private person with no consent (celebrity leaks)

False light: someone places someone’s reputation in a false light

Appropriation: using someone’s names for benefit without their consent

intentional affliction of emotional distress: Judge created—“battery to emotions”

(1) the defendant must act intentionally or recklessly; beyond the limits of human decency
(2) the defendant's conduct must be extreme and outrageous; and
(3) the conduct must be the cause of severe emotional distress.

Intentional affliction of business interference: wrongful interference with the plaintiffs contractual or business relationships

false imprisonment: unlawful deprivation of the freedom of movement. Must be proved: there was a willful detention, the detention was without consent, and the detention was unlawful

conversion: taking the chattel of property of another with the intent to deprive them of it

chattel: tangible personal property

conversion by sale: fraudulently taking the property of another and selling it

Negligence: : the failure to behave with the level of care that a reasonable person would have exercised under the same circumstances

duty: Everyone has a duty to exercise “due care”.
Due care: the amount of care that a reasonable person would exercise under the circumstances. Did the Defendant owe a duty of care towards the plaintiff? Special relationship🡪 business. Any business relation between a business and a customer creates a special duty. You assume that the store is safe to enter

Breach: To find a breach of duty, the jury needs to decide whether the defendant acted as a reasonably prudent person would have under the circumstances

Causation: a plaintiff must show that the defendant caused an injury and that he did so proximately by a preponderance of the evidence

causation in fact: established using what is known as the “But For” Test: But for the existence of X (the behavior we are talking about), would Y (the outcome, whatever happened that is giving rise) have occurred?
proximate cause: for liability to attach, defendants acts must be the proximate cause of plaintiffs injuries

palsgrave and Grimstad

damages: the money paid to compensate for an injury

Negligence per se: a doctrine whereby an act is considered negligent because it violates a statute

Compensatory damage: Monetary awards that compensate people for losses caused by another person's actions. They are also known as actual damages. 

Punitive damage: Additional damages awarded to punish a defendant for harmful behavior. They are also known as exemplary damages. 

strict liability tort: imposes legal responsibilities for damages or injuries even if the person who was found strictly liable did not act with fault or negligence

dangerous animals: animals do not have a conscience, and those who choose to keep them as pets have a duty to restrain them to avoid harm

product liability: the legal responsibility of a manufacturer, distributor, or seller for injuries caused by a defective product

negligence liability: did the manufacturer behave like a reasonable manufacturer when they designed and manufacture the product

strict product liability: was the product defective at the time the manufacturer sold it?

abnormally dangerous activity: activities that are considered dangerous that involve serious potential harm

Assumption of the Risk: When a person knows of the risk of an activity, accepts the risk and
voluntarily engages in the activity, that person cannot sue for damages
based upon injuries which arise from the given activity (example: hang gliding)

Food Borne Illnesses: manufacturers are strictly liable for food products, even if they weren't negligent. To establish a strict product liability claim, a plaintiff must show that the product was defective when it left the manufacturer's control 

Air rights: the legal right to use the airspace above a property (such as drones)

Subsurface rights: landowner has the right to capture water beneath their land regardless of the effect it has on wells around them

Pure Comparative negligence: allows a plaintiff to recover damages from the defendant
minus his or her percentage of responsibility regardless of how
much at fault Plaintiff is. If jury awards $100,000 and fins the Plaintiff to be 75% at
fault, Plaintiff gets $25,000.
Partial or modified Comparative negligence: only allows recovery is Plaintiff is less or
equally at fault as the Defendant. If jury awards $100,00 and finds the Plaintiff to be 75% at
fault, Plaintiff gets nada.