Business Law 1 2nd Assignment

PART ONE – Case Scenarios – 6 points each

 

1. Harris wakes up in the middle of the night when he hears a noise downstairs. He grabs his handgun, goes downstairs, and sees two people in his living room. Without speaking, he begins firing and kills two teenagers. The teenagers, who were found to be unarmed, were apparently trying to steal a large screen television from Harris’ house. Argue for or against Harris’ self-defense claim at his trial for murder.

 

2. Anne is sitting on a bench in Farragut Square one spring day, drinking from a clearly marked bottle of Coca Cola. Some months later, Anne is surprised to see herself in a Super Bowl Coke commercial, depicting her sitting on the bench in the park. No one from Coca Cola had ever sought her permission, but Coke argues that it is permissible to take the picture of anyone in a public place. Does Anne have a valid intentional tort claim? Why or why not?

 

3. Valerie enters a Safeway store in Alexandria to shop. Fifteen minutes before she arrived, a store employee dropped a carton of eggs on the floor while stocking a shelf. The employee continued to stock the shelf, intending to mop up the broken eggs after he finished stocking. Valerie approaches the display where eggs are sold, and not seeing the broken eggs on the floor, slips and falls, and sustains a severe back injury. Analyze the chances of Valerie’s claim against Safeway using the process discussed in class and in your text. If she were to prevail, how would Valerie’s damages be calculated by the jury?

 

4. In a television interview, a politician calls a rival candidate a “loser”, a “slimy bribe taker”, and “an unqualified candidate because he was born in Canada”.  Suppose there is no proof that the candidate ever lost an election, ever took a bribe, and was born in Canada to an American citizen mother. Evaluate EACH statement by the politician as to whether the statement constitutes slander. Please use the proper methodof evaluating each element of a defamation claim.

 

Part Two – Multiple Choice – 2.5 points each

1. The following is a term describing the wrongful state of mind needed for a criminal action?

 

1. Actus reus.b.  stare decisis    c. carpe diem    d. mens rea.

 

2. The term _______ or “guilty act” is used to describe the wrongful behavior in a criminal action.
3. mensrea  b. locos actus  c. actus reus  d. criminal actus

 

3. A crime can be a felony, misdemeanor, or petty offense. How is this determination usually made?

a.. The statute defining the crime usually establishes whether the judge or jury decides if the crime is a felony, misdemeanor, or petty offense.

1. The judge decides.
2. The prosecutor decides how the charges will read.
3. The jury decides.

 

4. Trevor goes door-to-door selling magazine subscriptions. Trevor knows, however, that he is simply taking money for subscriptions and has absolutely no intention of ever arranging for the provision of magazines. Which of the following offenses, if any, has he committed?   a. False token     b. False pretenses    c. Ponzi scheme  d. false entry

 

5. Dalynda threatens to tell Raul’s boss that he is gambling on the company’s time if he does not pay her $5,000. This is considered _______.
6. exploitation  b. corrupt practice  c. extortion  d. bribery e. intentional deceit
7. A person unlawfully enters a building with the intent to commit a felony, this would be considered a(n) _______.
8. larceny  b. burglary  c. arson  d. intentional crime  e. robbery
9. Which of the following is the secretive and wrongful taking and carrying away of the personal property of another with the intent to permanently deprive the rightful owner of its use or possession?
10. Robbery  b. Criminal fraud  c. White-collar burglary  d. Larceny  e. Arson
11. In order for a person to use the insanity defense in a criminal case, a person must prove that their mental state was so impaired that they _______.   a. a. are on a medication that impairs their ability to understand their criminal actions          b. could not distinguish right from wrong only  c. the insanity defense is no longer allowed unless the crime is murder    d. could not understand the wrongful nature of the act only     e. could not understand the wrongful nature of the act AND could not distinguish right from wrong

 

9. Of which of the following must a defendant be informed before questioning?
10. That statements made to law enforcement before arraignment may not be used against the defendant in court.
11. That the defendant has the right to consult an attorney before speaking to the police.
12. That the right to an attorney does not begin until after the defendant is arraigned.
13. That the defendant must answer questions, or there will be a presumption of guilt at trial.
14. That unless the defendant can afford an attorney, the defendant will not have an attorney.

 

10. In the U.S. system of torts, torts are commonly classified as:                           a. Intentional, negligent, or strict liability.   b. Intentional, negligent, strict liability, or criminal.  c.  Intentional, negligent, or criminal, not strict liability.              d.  Intentional, criminal, or strict liability, not negligent.

 

11. You and your neighbor Hammy are arguing about trespass to realty. Which of the following situations would NOT be the tort of trespass to realty?                                           a. When a person intentionally enters the land of another without permission.                                                                                                                                                           b. When a person intentionally causes an object to be placed on the land of another without the landowner’s permission.                                                                                     c. When a person refuses to remove something he placed on the property that the owner asked him to remove.                                                                                                      d. When a person stays on the land of another when the owner tells him to leave.                                                                                                                                                        e. When a person accidentally places something on the land of another.

 

 

12. Matt intends to throw a baseball at Jamal and hit Jamal in the head with the ball because he missed an easy fly ball hit to him in the field. Jamal is standing directly next to Sally in the dugout. Matt throws the baseball but hits Sally in the head instead of Jamal. What type of tort did Matt commit against Sally?                                                             a. An accidental tort because Matt struck Sally by mistake.           b. The tort of negligence because Matt only intended to harm Jamal.                                                               c.  No tort was committed, Jamal was Matt’s target not Sally.     d. An intentional tort because even though Matt meant to hit Jamal, he still caused harm by hitting Sally.       e. A strict liability tort occurred because throwing a baseball is inherently dangerous.

 

 

13. A reporter receives information from several highly credible sources that a famous actress is pregnant and that the father of the baby is not her husband. The story is later proved untrue. The actress sues for defamation. Is she likely to be successful?  a. Yes, automatically, because the printed story turned out to be untrue. b. No, because the reporter did not act with actual malice.      c. Yes, because pregnancy is a private matter even for public figures.  d. No, because the allegations would be unlikely to damage a person’s reputation.  e. Yes, because the printed story would be likely to damage the reputation of the actress.

 

14. _________________damages are a small amount of money given to recognize that a defendant did indeed commit a tort in a case in which there were no compensable damages suffered by the plaintiff.  a. Nominal  b. Compensatory  c. Retaliatory  d. Revenge  e. Punitive

 

15. __________damages are awarded to punish the defendant and to deter others from similar conduct.  a. Compensatory b. Punitive  c. Revenge d.  Nominal e. Retaliatory

 

16. Which of the following is NOT a typical type of compensatory damage awarded in an automobile negligence case?                                                                                                      a. Damages to punish the defendant for wrongdoing.  b. Medical expenses.  c. Pain and suffering. d. Cost to repair damaged property. e. Lost wages.

 

17. George is riding his skateboard down the street while listening to music with earbuds in. George does not see Martha, a store owner, who is putting flowers out in front of her store. He looks up just in time and swerves to miss Martha but knocks her flower display down, shattering it to pieces. Is George liable?                                                     a. No, Martha had a duty not to be on the sidewalk.     b. No, Martha was not injured.  c. No, because property is not a compensable loss.                                                          d. Yes, because George had the intention of being on the sidewalk which is always a breach of his duty of care. e. Yes, Martha suffered a compensable property loss.

 

18. A fan at a baseball stadium is hit by a baseball. Under what circumstances could the owner of the stadium be held liable for resulting injuries?                                                         a. If the owner of the stadium was aware of a chance that a ball would strike a patron and failed to cancel the game, despite the risk.                                                                   b. If the baseball team was the home team and not the visiting team.                                                                                                                                                                               c.  If the stadium owner failed to fulfill its duty to provide reasonable protection because there were no barriers or other measures taken to protect game attendees from being struck by the ball.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   d. In all circumstances where a ball hits game attendees, regardless of any other factors.                                                                                                                                             e. If the stadium owner took all cost-effective precautions but failed to take part in a multi-million dollar research effort to construct a robot to intercept foul balls.

 

 

19. While out for a bike ride, Huifen sees a child, alone and unsupervised, fall and injure himself. Which of the following is true as a matter of law?                                                  a. She has no duty to render assistance to the child.            b. She must render assistance to the child only if she can do so without peril to herself.                                            c. She must come to the child’s assistance because a child is involved.  d. Because the law holds that every U.S. citizen holds the duty to help a stranger in peril, she must come to the child’s assistance. e. She must render assistance to the child only if she is acquainted with the child’s parents.

 

20. In the Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Companycase in the readings, the case is famous for _______.                                                                                                                             a. malpractice by a company to a customer.              b. addressing what a breach of duty is by a company for their customers.                                                                                 c. issuing the standards of care for companies to customers. d. assessing damages in a negligence case for customers.                                                                                           e. addressing the issue of proximate cause in a negligence case.

 

21. The standard of care associated with the duty owed in a negligence case is the _______ standard.  a. actual harm   b. professional person  c. causal harm                                        d. legal person   e. reasonable person

 

22. Many states have statutes that allow bartenders and bar owners to be held liable for injuries caused by individuals who become intoxicated at the bar. These are known as a.  voluntary intoxicated persons statutes.  b. bar owner liability statutes. c. negligent bar owner acts. d. social host laws. e. dram shop acts.

 

23. Which of the following is a doctrine available to defendants whereby a defendant may avoid liability by establishing that the plaintiff voluntarily and unreasonably encountered the risk of the actual harm that the defendant caused?  a. Negligence per se.  b.  Assumption of the risk doctrine. c. Last-clear-chance doctrine.                       d.Res ipsa loquitur.  e. Contributory negligence doctrine.

 

24. What was the result on appeal of the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco case in the text in which the trial court awarded a smoker $200,000 against R. J. Reynolds Tobacco?                    a. The appellate court reversed the award, finding the company had no duty to warn smokers of the harm associated with smoking cigarettes.                                                   b. The appellate court reversed the award because harm from smoking cigarettes was unforeseeable.                                                                                                                       c.  The appellate court affirmed the award against R. J. Reynolds Tobacco, which before 1969 had negligently failed to warn smokers of the harm associated with smoking cigarettes.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      d. The appellate court reversed the award because consumers were harmed only when they misused the product.                                                                                                  e. The appellate court affirmed the award, even though the product was misused.

 

25. As recognized by the court in Sperry-New Holland v. John Paul Prestage and Pam Prestage, which of the following is true regarding the consumer expectations test for product defect?  a. That a plaintiff may only recover if the plaintiff reasonably expected the manufacturer to have insurance, that the manufacturer did have insurance of the type to cover the injury at issue, and that the plaintiff had no part in causing the injury.  b. That a plaintiff may only recover if the plaintiff was the purchaser of the product causing injury.  c. That if the plaintiff, applying the knowledge of an ordinary consumer, sees the danger and can appreciate that danger, then he cannot recover for any injury resulting from that appreciated danger. d. That a plaintiff cannot recover if a reasonable person would conclude that the danger in fact of the product, whether foreseeable or not, outweighs the utility of the product. e. That a plaintiff may only recover if consumer-oriented household goods are involved.
26. Who could be considered foreseeable plaintiffs in product liability cases?  a. Users and consumers only.  b. Users, consumers, and bystanders.                                         c. Users and bystanders only.  d. Users only.  e. The purchaser and any family member only.

 

 

27. What was the result in the text’s case involving a plaintiff who suffered permanent liver damage as a result of drinking a glass of wine with a Tylenol capsule?                      a. For plaintiff, because the degree of potential harm was substantial and it would have been easy to place a warning on the product label.                                                         b. For plaintiff, because no comparative negligence was found.                                                                                                                                                                                         c. For defendant, because there was no proof of market share.                                                                                                                                                                                       d. For defendant, because it had no duty to warn.                                                                                                                                                                                                              e. For defendant, because the plaintiff’s adverse reaction from the ingestion of only one capsule was extremely rare.

 

28. What must a plaintiff show to establish a claim for breach of express warranty?         a. There was a breach of the representation and the breach was the defendant’s fault.  b. The representation was the basis of the bargain and there was a breach of the representation.  c. The representation was the basis of the bargain, there was a breach of      the representation, and the defendant’s negligence caused her injury.         d. The representation was the basis of the bargain and the breach was the defendant’s fault. e. The representation was the basis of the bargain, there was a breach of the representation, and the breach was the defendant’s fault.

 

29. Which theory might allow a plaintiff to recover when a plaintiff cannot trace an injury caused by a defective product to any particular manufacturer?  a. The reciprocal theory. b. The unknown maker theory. c. The shared production theory. d. The marginal theory. e. The market share theory.

 

30. Which of the following products would likely have the lowest cost for product liability insurance?  a. Child’s car seat  b. Toaster oven c. Cook top stove. d. Window blinds with cords e. Decorative wall art.