LLM Torts & Civil Liability 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which of the following is a recognized defense to an intentional tort such as battery?
- Assumption of the risk
- Consent (Correct answer)
- Comparative negligence
- Contributory negligence
Correct answer: Consent
Consent is a complete defense to battery because a person who voluntarily consents to contact cannot later claim it was unlawful; comparative and contributory negligence are defenses to negligence claims.
Question 2: Under the Restatement (Third) of Torts, a product may be defective due to a manufacturing defect, a design defect, or a:
- Marketing defect
- Failure to warn (Correct answer)
- Distribution defect
- Labeling defect
Correct answer: Failure to warn
The Restatement (Third) recognizes three categories of product defects: manufacturing defects, design defects, and defects based on inadequate instructions or warnings (failure to warn).
Question 3: Proximate cause in tort law is best described as:
- The direct physical force that caused the harm
- The legal limitation on how far liability extends from the defendant's negligent act (Correct answer)
- The nearest in time cause of the plaintiff's injury
- The cause admitted by the defendant in pleadings
Correct answer: The legal limitation on how far liability extends from the defendant's negligent act
Proximate cause (legal cause) limits tort liability to consequences that are not too remote or unforeseeable, ensuring defendants are not held liable for all possible outcomes of their negligence.
Question 4: The tort of 'false imprisonment' can be established without physical barriers if the plaintiff's freedom of movement is restricted by:
- Verbal threats of future harm only
- Threats of immediate force (Correct answer)
- Public embarrassment
- Social pressure from bystanders
Correct answer: Threats of immediate force
False imprisonment can be accomplished through physical barriers, physical force, or threats of immediate force—threats of future harm alone are generally insufficient.
Question 5: Which doctrine holds that a landowner owes the highest duty of care to individuals on their property?
- Trespassers
- Licensees
- Business invitees (Correct answer)
- Adjacent property owners
Correct answer: Business invitees
Landowners owe business invitees (those invited for a commercial purpose) the highest duty—to inspect for and warn of non-obvious dangerous conditions.
Question 6: Under the 'rescue doctrine,' a negligent defendant who creates a dangerous situation is liable for injuries to a rescuer because:
- Rescuers assume the risk of the original victim's peril
- Danger invites rescue and a rescuer's injury is a foreseeable consequence of the defendant's negligence (Correct answer)
- Rescuers are treated as employees of the defendant
- The doctrine only applies to professional rescuers
Correct answer: Danger invites rescue and a rescuer's injury is a foreseeable consequence of the defendant's negligence
The rescue doctrine establishes that because danger invites rescue, a defendant whose negligence creates peril is also liable for foreseeable injuries sustained by those attempting to help.
Question 7: Punitive (exemplary) damages in tort law are intended to:
- Compensate the plaintiff for all economic losses
- Punish the defendant for malicious or egregious conduct and deter others (Correct answer)
- Reimburse the plaintiff's attorney fees
- Cover future medical expenses not yet incurred
Correct answer: Punish the defendant for malicious or egregious conduct and deter others
Punitive damages serve a punitive and deterrent function—awarded above compensatory damages when the defendant's conduct was willful, wanton, or malicious.
LLM Torts & Civil Liability 2
Which of the following is a recognized defense to an intentional tort such as battery?