NALA Torts & Personal Injury Law 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which tort doctrine holds an employer liable for an employee's tortious act committed within the scope of employment?
- Negligent entrustment
- Respondeat superior (Correct answer)
- Vicarious assumption of risk
- Joint enterprise liability
Correct answer: Respondeat superior
Respondeat superior ('let the master answer') imposes vicarious liability on employers for torts committed by employees acting within the scope of their employment.
Question 2: A defendant makes a false statement of fact about a competitor's product, knowing it is false, causing the competitor economic harm. This best describes which business tort?
- Defamation per se
- Trade libel (commercial disparagement) (Correct answer)
- Tortious interference with contract
- Fraudulent misrepresentation
Correct answer: Trade libel (commercial disparagement)
Trade libel involves the intentional publication of a false statement of fact about a competitor's goods or services that causes economic harm.
Question 3: Under pure comparative fault, a plaintiff who is 60% at fault for their own injury may recover:
- Nothing, because they are more than 50% at fault
- 40% of their total damages (Correct answer)
- 60% of their total damages
- The full amount of damages from any defendant
Correct answer: 40% of their total damages
Under pure comparative fault, a plaintiff recovers damages reduced by their percentage of fault, so 60% plaintiff fault means recovery of the remaining 40%.
Question 4: Which element distinguishes battery from assault in tort law?
- Battery requires intent to harm; assault does not
- Battery requires an actual harmful or offensive contact; assault requires only reasonable apprehension of contact (Correct answer)
- Assault requires physical injury; battery does not
- Battery is a criminal charge only; assault is a civil tort
Correct answer: Battery requires an actual harmful or offensive contact; assault requires only reasonable apprehension of contact
Battery requires completion of the harmful or offensive contact, while assault only requires that the plaintiff reasonably apprehended such imminent contact.
Question 5: A legal assistant is indexing medical records for a personal injury case. Which damages category would include future medical expenses and future lost wages?
- Special (economic) damages (Correct answer)
- General (non-economic) damages
- Punitive damages
- Nominal damages
Correct answer: Special (economic) damages
Special (economic) damages include all quantifiable monetary losses, including both past and future medical expenses and lost earning capacity.
Question 6: The statute of limitations for personal injury claims in most U.S. states typically begins to run from the date:
- The defendant committed the negligent act
- The plaintiff discovers, or reasonably should have discovered, the injury (Correct answer)
- The plaintiff retains an attorney
- The medical treatment concludes
Correct answer: The plaintiff discovers, or reasonably should have discovered, the injury
The discovery rule tolls the statute of limitations until the plaintiff discovers, or through reasonable diligence should have discovered, both the injury and its cause.
Question 7: In a strict liability case involving an abnormally dangerous activity, which factor is LEAST relevant to determining whether the activity qualifies?
- Whether the activity creates a high degree of risk of harm
- Whether the activity is a matter of common usage in the community
- Whether the defendant exercised reasonable care to prevent harm (Correct answer)
- Whether the activity is inappropriate for the location where it is carried on
Correct answer: Whether the defendant exercised reasonable care to prevent harm
Strict liability for abnormally dangerous activities does not depend on the defendant's level of care—liability attaches regardless of how carefully the activity was conducted.
NALA Torts & Personal Injury Law 5
Which tort doctrine holds an employer liable for an employee's tortious act committed within the scope of employment?