All flashcards
346 cards
121Two teenage pranksters, without any agreement between them or even awareness of one another, both decided to drop water balloons from a highway overpass onto oncoming traffic. As a car approached, each prankster dropped a single water balloon, hoping to hit the car’s windscreen. This behavior was negligent. Only one of the balloons hit the car, but that balloon created enough shock and disturbance to cause the driver to veer off the road and suffer injuries. The driver sued both pranksters for negligence. However, the driver could not establish which prankster’s balloon hit the car and caused the harm.Who bears the burden of proof on the element of causation?
122A kayaker on a reservoir accidentally floated over the edge of a dam several stories high. While falling to a likely death, the kayaker grabbed for a telephone wire that happened to be hanging in the air near the dam. Due to the telephone company’s negligence, the wire was carrying an excessive electrical charge that instantly killed the kayaker. Thus, the wire was an actual cause of the kayaker’s death. The kayaker’s estate sued the telephone company for the kayaker’s wrongful-death.May the telephone company rely on the kayaker’s imminent peril to mitigate the amount of damages the telephone company owes for its negligence?
123If multiple tortfeasors were responsible for a plaintiff’s harm, will a court apportion the responsibility among the various culpable parties?
124For purposes of apportionment of responsibility among multiple culpable parties, what is a divisible injury?
125For purposes of apportionment of responsibility among multiple culpable parties, what is an indivisible injury?
126What is the method by which a court will apportion responsibility for a divisible injury caused by separate tortfeasors who acted independently?
127What is the method by which a court will apportion responsibility for an indivisible injury caused by separate tortfeasors who acted independently?
128What are the two methods by which a court will apportion responsibility for harm caused by separate tortfeasors acting independently of one another.
129When multiple tortfeasors knowingly act together and render substantial assistance to one another in causing a plaintiff’s harm, are they acting in concert with one another?
130How is responsibility apportioned among multiple tortfeasors who act in concert to cause a plaintiff’s harm?
131For purposes of apportioning responsibility among multiple tortfeasors found liable for an indivisible injury, what is several liability?
132For purposes of apportioning responsibility among multiple tortfeasors found liable for an indivisible injury, what is joint and several liability?
133Under the doctrine of several liability, is a plaintiff’s recovery from a particular defendant limited to that defendant’s proportionate share of damages?
134For purposes of multiple tortfeasors found liable for an indivisible injury, what is joint and several liability with contribution?
135In most jurisdictions, if a defendant who has been found jointly and severally liable pays the full amount of the plaintiff’s damages, may that defendant then seek contribution from the other defendants who were also found liable?
136For purposes of multiple tortfeasors found liable for an indivisible injury, what is joint and several liability with reallocation?
137For purposes of a plaintiff’s recovery for damages in tort, what is satisfaction?
138For purposes of a plaintiff’s recovery for damages in tort, what is a release?
139What is the one-satisfaction rule?
140What is the collateral-source rule in negligence?
141May an actor be held liable in tort for providing substantial assistance or encouragement to a tortfeasor even if the actor’s conduct on its own is not tortious?
142If a large number of defendants are each responsible for only a small portion of an indivisible harm, may a court refuse to find any liability at all?
143A husband and wife were fire breathers who performed together in a traveling circus. The husband and wife tried to keep their motions in sync throughout the performance. For the grand finale at one performance, the husband and wife both breathed flames at the same time toward the front of the stage near the audience. Unfortunately, both of them had negligently moved too close to the audience. A child sitting in the front row suffered burn injuries from the husband’s flame.May both the husband and wife be held jointly and severally liable for the child’s injuries?
144A worker in a brand-new office building was injured when an elevator unexpectedly dropped two floors. After the accident, investigations showed that a contractor had negligently installed the elevator. In addition, a building inspector who had certified the building for occupancy had negligently failed to uncover the improper elevator installation during the occupancy inspection.May a court hold the contractor and the inspector jointly and severally liable for the worker’s injuries?
145A farmer owned an apple orchard that was surrounded by four equally sized factories, one on each side (north, south, east, and west). Depending on which direction the wind blew, smoke and fumes blew from one—but only one—of the four factories across the farmer’s orchard and caused damage to the apples. On any given day, the same amount of damage occurred, regardless of which factory was causing the smoke and fumes. The farmer suffered a total loss of his entire apple crop. A local weather agency maintained reliable records on wind conditions. Using these records, the farmer was able to estimate the relative contribution of each of the four factories to the farmer’s overall crop damages.May a court hold the four factories jointly and severally liable for the farmer’s total crop loss?
146What is proximate cause?
147Is the negligence of others generally foreseeable?
148Is a defendant liable for all harm that results from his or her conduct?
149Does proximate cause require that the precise nature or extent of the harm be reasonably foreseeable?
150May a negligent actor ever be held liable for harms caused to a victim by a third party’s criminal conduct?
151To establish the element of proximate cause in a negligence claim, must the plaintiff show that the precise chain of events leading to the injury was foreseeable?
152What is an intervening cause in tort law?
153What is a superseding cause in tort law?
154May a defendant be held liable for negligent conduct that caused a foreseeable injury or harm, if the catalyst for the harm was an unforeseeable, intervening force?
155If a prior actor’s negligence put the plaintiff in a position of helpless peril, is the prior actor generally liable for injuries caused by a subsequent actor?
156A chef at a restaurant negligently allowed a coin to fall into a salad that was then served to a customer. While eating the salad, the customer inadvertently swallowed the coin, and the coin blocked the customer’s airway. The customer passed out and was given emergency cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) by a fellow diner. Due to the diner’s negligently overzealous CPR technique, the customer suffered several broken ribs. However, the customer survived the choking incident.Was the chef’s negligence a proximate cause of the customer’s broken ribs?
157Is a tortfeasor generally liable for harm resulting from other people’s responses to the tortfeasor’s negligence?
158For purposes of proximate cause, are natural forces treated differently from other intervening forces?
159Are the crimes and intentional torts of others considered superseding causes?
160Is a defendant generally liable if an intervening force that causes the plaintiff’s injury arises after the risk of harm from the defendant’s negligence has abated?