AL Bar Torts 1 ā Questions and Answers
Question 1: To establish negligence, a plaintiff must prove duty, breach, causation, and damages. The 'but-for' test establishes:
- Proximate cause
- Actual cause (cause-in-fact) (Correct answer)
- Foreseeability of harm
- Duty of care
Correct answer: Actual cause (cause-in-fact)
The but-for test for actual cause asks whether the plaintiff's injury would have occurred but for the defendant's negligent conduct.
Question 2: A public figure bringing a defamation claim under New York Times v. Sullivan must prove the defendant acted with:
- Negligence
- Reckless disregard only
- Actual maliceāknowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for truth (Correct answer)
- Malicious intent to harm the plaintiff
Correct answer: Actual maliceāknowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for truth
Public figures must prove actual maliceāthat the defendant knew the statement was false or acted with reckless disregard for its truth or falsity.
Question 3: Under strict products liability, a manufacturer is liable for a defective product when the product is:
- More dangerous than intended by the manufacturer
- Defective and the defect causes harm when the product is used as intended (Correct answer)
- Negligently manufactured without proper inspection
- Sold without adequate warning labels of any kind
Correct answer: Defective and the defect causes harm when the product is used as intended
Strict liability under Restatement (Second) Ā§ 402A applies when a product in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous causes harm during intended use.
Question 4: Intentional infliction of emotional distress requires conduct that is:
- Insulting or offensive to a reasonable person
- Extreme and outrageous, intentional or reckless, and causes severe emotional distress (Correct answer)
- Negligent and foreseeably distressing
- Physical in nature
Correct answer: Extreme and outrageous, intentional or reckless, and causes severe emotional distress
IIED requires outrageous conduct beyond all reasonable bounds of decency, committed intentionally or recklessly, that actually causes severe emotional distress.
Question 5: Under Alabama's contributory negligence doctrine, a plaintiff who is even slightly negligent:
- Recovers reduced damages proportional to their fault
- Is completely barred from recovery (Correct answer)
- May recover unless more than 50% at fault
- Recovers full damages from other negligent parties
Correct answer: Is completely barred from recovery
Alabama follows pure contributory negligence, under which any negligence by the plaintiff, however slight, completely bars recovery.
Question 6: The tort of trespass to land requires that the defendant:
- Know the land belongs to another
- Intentionally enter the plaintiff's land without consent or legal justification (Correct answer)
- Cause substantial damage to the land
- Remain on the land for a prolonged period
Correct answer: Intentionally enter the plaintiff's land without consent or legal justification
Trespass to land only requires an intentional act of entering the land without permission; actual damage is not required.
AL Bar Torts 1
To establish negligence, a plaintiff must prove duty, breach, causation, and damages.
The 'but-for' test establishes: