BUS251: Chapter 42 Reading & Assessment Questions

_______ refers to the liability of any seller (including the manufacturer, retailer, and any intermediary seller such as a wholesaler) of a product that, because of a defect, causes harm to a consumer.

products liability

In addition to showing the cause in fact, the plaintiff also must prove the tortfeasor's conduct was the _______ of the damages.

proximate cause

In the tort of negligence, the element of ________ is whether there was a link between the breach of duty and the damages suffered by the injured party.

proximate cause

One of the key elements to prove defamation is _________ or dissemination to a third party.

publication

A duty can be a general obligation to act in a(n) _______ manner so as not to put another in harm's way.

reasonable

Tort law also applies when one party fails to act _______ and harm occurs, even though that party did not intend for harm to occur.

reasonably

Business managers may encounter tortious interference with contracts in the context of _______.

restrictive covenants

Under the _______ rule, one who negligently manufactures a product is liable for any injuries to persons (and, in some limited cases, property) proximately caused by the negligence.

MacPherson v. Buick

In Nelson v. Tradewind Aviation, a pilot's job offer was revoked when Tradewind, his former employer, provided a negative employment reference to a potential new employer. When the pilot sued Tradewind for defamation, how did the court rule?

Tradewind acted with malice in publishing the defamatory material about the pilot, so it is guilty of defamation

Suppose Harry purchases a new Ford truck from a dealer. Two weeks later Harry is injured when the wheel breaks on the highway, causing Carol in another vehicle to be injured. Under the MacPherson rule, is Ford liable for Carol's injuries?

Yes, if Harry can prove negligence, Ford will be liable for Carol's injuries as well.

A common defense to false imprisonment is:

a reasonable means of escape

The Restatement set out a six-factor test for ________ activities that may trigger strict liability, including the possibility of _____ by exercising reasonable care.

abnormally dangerous

A tortfeasor (defendant) can assert the defense of _______ when the plaintiff knows that a substantial and apparent risk is associated with certain conduct, and the plaintiff proceeds anyway.

assumption of the risk

Product liability law arises from:

both state statutes and state common law

If one party owes another a legal duty, then failing to meet these obligations is known as a(n) _______.

breach of duty

If tomatoes leave the processing plant in a reasonable condition (not dangerous) and then are contaminated or damaged in the next stage of the commercial chain of delivery, may not make the manufacture liable for ______ but make the manufacturer liable for _______.

strict liability; negligence

________ negligence holds that even 1 percent of negligence on the part of the plaintiff is a complete bar to any plaintiff recovery.

contributory

Which of the following is not a general category of tort?

criminal torts

Torts fall into one of three general classes: _______.

intentional torts; strict liability; negligence

Strict liability is recognized in the Restatements primarily for _______ and for _______.

unreasonable; abnormally danegrous activities; defective products

Negligence occurs when a tortfeasor causes harm to an injured party by creating an _______ risk of harm, regardless of the tortfeasor's _______.

unreasonable; intent

Tort law is intended to compensate injured parties for losses resulting in harm from some _______ conduct by the _______.

unreasonable; tortfeasor

Tort law allocates liability based on a fundamental difference between _______ (an act by one party that harms or endangers another party) and _______ (the failure to act or intervene in a certain situation).

misfeasance; nonfeasance

Trade libel requires that the allegedly defamatory statement is made _______ or that the statement shows reckless disregard for the truth.

with knowledge that the statement was false

Contract law allows a contract to be canceled if a party makes false representations concerning _______.

a material fact

The law imposes a general duty on everyone to act reasonably and the scope of that duty is defined by _______.

foreseeability

Injured parties generally may not recover for ______, unless the parties had a(n) special relationship each other.

nonfeasance

If a defamation victim is a _______, such as a candidate for political office, the defamation must have been committed with _______ or reckless disregard for the truth.

public figure; malice

If a plaintiff (former patient) of Dr. Franks introduces x-rays of instruments left in her abdomen after a procedure, she could argue _______.

res ipsa loquitur

The doctrine of _______ (Latin for "the thing speaks for itself ") allows an injured party to create a legal presumption that the tortfeasor was negligent based on certain facts.

res ipsa loquitur

Generally, tort law is governed by:

state common law

The merchant's privilege with regard to shoplifters requires each of the following except:

the shopkeeper must have an eyewitness or video evidence of theft

A(n) _______ is a _______ wrong in which one party has acted, or in some cases failed to act, and that action or inaction causes a loss to be suffered by another party.

tort; civil

An injured party may sue for _______ when a competitor makes a false statement that disparages a competing product.

trade libel

The law imposes a general duty on all parties to act reasonably and not to impart _______ to others.

unreasonable risk

A tortfeasor (defendant) can claim assumption of the risk if the plaintiff should have known about the risk, but _______ in the activity.

voluntarily participated

A merchant's privilege is may be limited by ______.

length of detention; location; coercion for payment

If a product is proven to _______, a plaintiff need only show that the defective product was the cause of the injuries and that the product caused an actual injury that resulted in damages.

be unreasonably dangerous

The overwhelming majority of courts use a cause-in-fact to prove causation, which is also known as the _______.

but-for test

A tortfeasor may be held strictly liable in cases primarily involving _______ and _______ activities.

defective products; abnormally dangerous

After establishing a breach of duty, the plaintiff must prove that the tortfeasor's conduct was the _______ of the damages suffered by plaintiff.

cause in fact

The fact that the actual negligent act must directly cause the injury is called the:

cause in fact

Generally, tort law is governed by _______ law principles and the _______ of Torts.

common; Restatement

If the plaintiff's injuries play a factor in the harm suffered, the Restatements allow the defendant to assert the defense of _______ negligence and apportion the damages accordingly.

comparative

In cases in which the injured party's conduct has played a factor in the harm suffered, the Restatements allow the tortfeasor to assert the defense of ____________ negligence.

comparative

To prove a legal causation, the plaintiff must prove that the tortfeasor's:_______ and _______.

conduct was the closest-in-proximity to causing the damages; liability was not canceled due to a superseding cause

Strict liability is recognized in the Restatements for:

defective products

Amanda is driving toward a busy intersection. As she approaches the intersection, she looks down and reaches to adjust the radio in her car. She runs a red light and hits another car, which then crashes into a utility pole, knocking it down and causing a power loss in a 3-mile radius. It takes the utility company 48 hours to restore electricity to the area because of a strike by the utility union. Kimberly sues Amanda because all the food in her refrigerator and freezer spoiled due to the power outage. What will the result be?

Amanda will not be liable to Kimberly because her conduct was not the proximate cause of Kimberly's damages.

Which of the following scenarios will most likely result in strict liability?

Amos buys a bag of Chips Ahoy chocolate-chip cookies and breaks a tooth when he bites into one that contains a small rock that looks like a chip.

The tort of negligence has specific elements, including: _______.

Breach of Duty; causation; duty; damages

Which of the following is not a situation in which strict liability applies?

T.J. manufactures cheap clothing that falls apart after minimal use

Laws based on the Restatements that cover individuals who are injured by a product are known as ______ laws.

product liability

Privilege can be either _______ (defendant need not offer any further evidence to assert the defense), or _______ (defendant offers evidence of good faith with no malice).

absolute; qualified

A public figure must provide evidence that a defamer had '_______' the statement was false or had a _______ for the truth.

actual knowledge; reckless disregard

A tortfeasor may assert the defense of assumption of the risk so long as:

all of the choices are correct (the activities were considered to be "inherently dangerous"; voluntary participation by the injured party; knowledge of the risk by the injured party)

Courts _______ any of the Restatements, but they do recognize them as widely applied principles of law.

are not bound by

An __________ is one in which the tortfeasor is willful in bringing about a particular event that causes harm to another party.

intentional

False imprisonment is a/an ____________ tort unless the tortfeasor is a merchant who temporarily and reasonably detains a suspected their.

intentional

Bruno is a technician at a university chemistry lab and is in charge of safety inspections and prevention of injury due to faulty equipment. One morning, as a result of his inspection, Bruno discovers a gas burner with a broken valve. Bruno gets distracted and fails to put an "OUT OF ORDER/DO NOT USE" sign on the faulty burner. When the morning class arrives, Halle uses the faulty burner and is burned when it catches fire. Bruno's negligence is based on:

nonfeasance

_______ is recognized as a tort when the innocent party relies on a material misstatement of fact in a contract and suffers a pecuniary loss.

fraud

Courts only allow recovery for tortious interference with prospective advantage under limited circumstances where the tortfeasor's conduct was _______.

highly anticompetitive

A victim of fraud must show _________ misrepresentation by the tortfeasor of a material fact, reliance on that fact, and damages resulting from that reliance.

intentional

Chelsea's home is for sale, and she is selling it through a real estate agent. The house is listed, and any licensed agent may show the house by using the special accessible key in a lockbox on the front porch. Stan is a licensed agent and brings Paula into the home to show it for a possible sale while Chelsea is not home. Stan and Paula would be considered:

invitees

The initial consideration in a negligence analysis is whether the tortfeasor owed the injured party a(n) _______.

legal duty

Generally, defamation can include ______ or _______.

libel; slander

The following are all factors in defining what may constitute an abnormally dangerous activity: _______.

location of the activity; eliminate risk by exercising reasonable care; activity involves a high degree of risk of some harm

The Greenman v. Yuba Power Products case held that "a _______ is strictly liable in tort when an article he places on the market, knowing that it is to be used without inspection for defects, proves to have a _______ which causes injury to a human being."

manufacturer; defect

A(n) _______ is a defense that gives the merchant the right to briefly detain a suspected shoplifter as long as the merchant _______ the suspected shoplifter.

merchant's privilege; does not coerce

In a products liability case, the plaintiff has the option of three different legal theories she may pursue against the tortfeasor: _______.

negligence; warranty; strict liability

Courts allow recovery for misrepresentations that are not intentional but are _______ misrepresentations in business relationships.

negligent

The 'reasonable prudent person' standard emphasizes that the conduct must be _______ reasonable.

objectively

In order for an injured party to recover damages for tortious interference with contract, the tortfeasor must have : ________.

specific knowledge of the contract; actively interfered with the contract; caused specific damages to the injured party

The Restatements of Torts provide for __________, in cases where neither intent nor negligence need be proved.

strict liability

The most appealing option for pursuing a products liability case is the doctrine of _______, because the injured party need not prove the elements of _______.

strict liability; negligence

In order for strict liability to apply, the product must reach the end user without _______ change.

substantial

A defendant in a defamation case may avoid liability if the defamatory statement was _______.

truthful; privileged

Historically, _______ laws were important protection for purchasers of products because they imposed liability even in the absence of negligence.

warranty

Specifically, § 402A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts imposes strict liability on the seller so long as the product: _______,

was in a defective condition; was unreasonably dangerous

Finley is a U.S. senator. While at a friend's wedding, he comments that another senator, Glen, is corrupt and is an alcoholic and drug addict. Another guest was recording video of the wedding party and picked up Finley's comments. The guest posted the video online where it was viewed by Glen's family, friends, colleagues, and constituents. His reputation is permanently scarred and he loses re-election. Is Finley guilty of defamation?

yes, he has committed slander