Torts and Negligence Flashcards

A defendant swings a bat at the plaintiff intending only to scare him, but accidentally makes contact. In a battery action, the intent element is satisfied because:

Answer: Intent to cause apprehension transfers to the resulting harmful contact

Under transferred intent, intent to commit an assault suffices for battery when harmful or offensive contact actually results.

A department store detains a suspected shoplifter for 20 minutes in a back office while checking receipts. The store's best defense to false imprisonment is:

Answer: The shopkeeper's privilege to detain for a reasonable time in a reasonable manner on reasonable suspicion

The shopkeeper's privilege permits a merchant to detain a suspected shoplifter reasonably in time, manner, and basis.

Under Indiana law, punitive damages in a tort case must be proven by:

Answer: Clear and convincing evidence

Indiana statutorily requires clear and convincing evidence to support an award of punitive damages.

A blasting company uses dynamite near a residential area, and vibrations crack a neighbor's foundation despite all possible precautions. The neighbor's strongest claim is:

Answer: Strict liability for an abnormally dangerous activity

Blasting is a classic abnormally dangerous activity, imposing strict liability regardless of the care exercised.

A statute requires drivers to stop for school buses loading children. A driver violates the statute and injures a child exiting the bus. In a negligence per se analysis, the violation matters because the child is:

Answer: Within the class the statute protects and suffered the type of harm it was designed to prevent

Negligence per se applies when the plaintiff is in the protected class and the harm is the type the statute aims to prevent.

In Indiana, the general statute of limitations for a personal injury negligence claim is:

Answer: Two years from when the cause of action accrues

Indiana applies a two-year limitations period to injury-to-person actions.

A mother watches from the sidewalk as a negligent driver strikes her child in the crosswalk. For negligent infliction of emotional distress as a bystander in Indiana, she is aided most by:

Answer: The bystander rule allowing recovery for witnessing serious injury to a close relative without physical impact to herself

Indiana's bystander rule permits emotional distress recovery for one who witnesses the serious injury or death of a close relative even without direct impact.