IA Bar Torts 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What are the four elements a plaintiff must prove to establish a negligence claim?
- Duty, breach, causation, and damages (Correct answer)
- Intent, act, causation, and harm
- Duty, knowledge, harm, and damages
- Act, omission, negligence, and injury
Correct answer: Duty, breach, causation, and damages
Negligence requires proof of duty, breach of that duty, causation (both actual and proximate), and damages resulting from the breach.
Question 2: Under the 'reasonable person' standard in negligence, the defendant's conduct is measured against:
- The defendant's actual subjective beliefs and capabilities
- A hypothetical person of ordinary prudence under similar circumstances (Correct answer)
- The conduct of the most cautious person in the community
- Industry custom and practice standards exclusively
Correct answer: A hypothetical person of ordinary prudence under similar circumstances
The reasonable person standard is an objective test measuring the defendant's conduct against what a hypothetical ordinary, prudent person would do under similar circumstances.
Question 3: In a negligence action, the 'but-for' test is used to establish:
- Proximate cause
- Actual cause (cause-in-fact) (Correct answer)
- The applicable duty of care
- The standard of care owed
Correct answer: Actual cause (cause-in-fact)
The 'but-for' test establishes actual cause (cause-in-fact) by asking whether the plaintiff's harm would have occurred but for the defendant's negligent conduct.
Question 4: The doctrine of res ipsa loquitur allows a plaintiff to:
- Automatically win without presenting any evidence
- Recover punitive damages in addition to compensatory damages
- Create an inference of negligence from the circumstances of the accident (Correct answer)
- Bypass the requirement of proving proximate causation
Correct answer: Create an inference of negligence from the circumstances of the accident
Res ipsa loquitur allows an inference of negligence when: the accident is of a type that normally does not occur without negligence, the instrumentality was under defendant's exclusive control, and plaintiff did not contribute.
Question 5: Under traditional common law, a landowner's duty of care to undiscovered trespassers is generally:
- Reasonable care under all circumstances, same as to invitees
- To refrain from willful, wanton, or reckless conduct (Correct answer)
- No duty whatsoever, regardless of circumstances
- A duty to warn of all known dangers on the property
Correct answer: To refrain from willful, wanton, or reckless conduct
Under traditional common law, landowners owe undiscovered trespassers only the duty to refrain from willful, wanton, or reckless conduct that could injure them.
Question 6: Under Iowa's modified comparative fault system, a plaintiff is barred from recovery if their percentage of fault is:
- Greater than 25% of the total fault
- Equal to or greater than 50% of the total fault (Correct answer)
- Greater than 50% of the total fault
- Equal to or greater than 51% of the total fault
Correct answer: Equal to or greater than 50% of the total fault
Iowa follows modified comparative fault under Iowa Code § 668.3, barring recovery when the plaintiff's fault is equal to or greater than 50% of the total fault.
Question 7: A defendant who violates a statute may be found negligent per se when:
- The statute imposes strict liability regardless of fault
- The plaintiff is in the protected class and suffers the type of harm the statute was designed to prevent (Correct answer)
- The defendant had actual knowledge of the statute's requirements
- The statute expressly creates a private civil right of action
Correct answer: The plaintiff is in the protected class and suffers the type of harm the statute was designed to prevent
Negligence per se applies when a defendant violates a statute designed to protect a class of persons from a particular harm, and the plaintiff is a member of that class who suffers that specific type of harm.
IA Bar Torts 1
What are the four elements a plaintiff must prove to establish a negligence claim?