GA Bar Torts and Negligence 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A defendant publishes a false statement of fact about a private individual that damages the individual's reputation. Which standard of fault must the private plaintiff meet under Georgia defamation law?
- Actual malice (knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard)
- Negligence (Correct answer)
- Strict liability regardless of fault
- Intent to harm the plaintiff's reputation
Correct answer: Negligence
After Gertz v. Robert Welch, private-figure plaintiffs need only prove negligence, not actual malice, to recover for defamation.
Question 2: Which of the following best describes the tort of 'trespass to chattels' as distinguished from conversion?
- Trespass to chattels involves total destruction or major deprivation; conversion involves minor interference
- Trespass to chattels requires only proof of nominal interference; conversion requires serious interference justifying forced sale (Correct answer)
- They are identical torts in Georgia
- Conversion applies only to real property
Correct answer: Trespass to chattels requires only proof of nominal interference; conversion requires serious interference justifying forced sale
Trespass to chattels covers minor interferences with personal property, while conversion involves such serious interference that the defendant must pay the full value.
Question 3: Under the doctrine of respondeat superior, an employer is vicariously liable for an employee's tort when the tort occurs:
- At any time, including purely personal detours unrelated to work
- Within the scope of employment (Correct answer)
- Only if the employer specifically authorized the tortious act
- Only during normal business hours
Correct answer: Within the scope of employment
Respondeat superior imposes liability on an employer when the employee's tort is committed within the scope of employment.
Question 4: A plaintiff cannot prove which specific defendant among multiple negligent actors caused her indivisible injury. Under the doctrine of alternative liability (Summers v. Tice approach), what happens to the burden of proof?
- The plaintiff loses because she cannot identify the actual tortfeasor
- The burden shifts to each defendant to disprove their causation (Correct answer)
- The plaintiff must join all possible defendants and recover pro rata
- The court applies strict liability to all defendants equally
Correct answer: The burden shifts to each defendant to disprove their causation
Under alternative liability, when all defendants acted negligently and only one caused the injury, the burden shifts to each defendant to exonerate themselves.
Question 5: Georgia law recognizes which privilege as a complete defense to an intentional tort claim when a store owner briefly detains a suspected shoplifter based on reasonable grounds?
- Citizen's arrest privilege
- Shopkeeper's privilege (Correct answer)
- Self-defense privilege
- Defense of property privilege
Correct answer: Shopkeeper's privilege
The shopkeeper's privilege (OCGA § 51-7-60) allows merchants to detain suspected shoplifters briefly and reasonably without incurring false imprisonment liability.
Question 6: In a negligence per se claim, which two elements does proof of statutory violation typically establish?
- Causation and damages
- Duty and breach (Correct answer)
- Proximate cause and actual cause
- Knowledge and intent
Correct answer: Duty and breach
When a plaintiff is within the class protected by the statute and suffers the harm the statute was designed to prevent, a statutory violation establishes duty and breach.
Question 7: The 'eggshell skull' (thin skull) rule requires a negligent defendant to:
- Limit damages to what a normal plaintiff would have suffered
- Pay damages only if the plaintiff disclosed the pre-existing condition
- Compensate the plaintiff for the full extent of harm even if the injury was magnified by a pre-existing vulnerability (Correct answer)
- Share liability with any pre-existing medical condition
Correct answer: Compensate the plaintiff for the full extent of harm even if the injury was magnified by a pre-existing vulnerability
The eggshell skull rule requires defendants to take plaintiffs as they find them, making them liable for the full extent of harm even if unforeseeable in magnitude.
GA Bar Torts and Negligence 3
A defendant publishes a false statement of fact about a private individual that damages the individual's reputation.
Which standard of fault must the private plaintiff meet under Georgia defamation law?