KY Bar Torts and Negligence 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under Kentucky's pure comparative fault system, a plaintiff found 80% at fault for her own injuries may recover what portion of her damages?
- 20% of her damages (Correct answer)
- Nothing, because she was more than 50% at fault
- 100% of her damages
- 50% of her damages
Correct answer: 20% of her damages
Kentucky follows pure comparative fault under KRS 411.182, so a plaintiff recovers damages reduced by her percentage of fault, even if she is more than 50% at fault.
Question 2: A landowner in Kentucky fails to warn a social guest about a hidden defect in the porch stairs that the owner knew about. The guest is injured. What duty analysis applies?
- A licensee is owed a warning of known hidden dangers, so the owner may be liable (Correct answer)
- Social guests are trespassers owed no duty
- Social guests are invitees owed a duty of reasonable inspection
- The owner owes no duty for defects on residential property
Correct answer: A licensee is owed a warning of known hidden dangers, so the owner may be liable
In Kentucky, a social guest is a licensee, and the landowner must warn of known dangers that are not obvious to the guest.
Question 3: A driver suffers an unforeseeable heart attack and crashes into a storefront. In a negligence action, the driver's best defense is:
- The sudden medical emergency negates breach of duty (Correct answer)
- Assumption of risk by the store owner
- The store owner was contributorily negligent
- The crash was not the cause-in-fact of the damage
Correct answer: The sudden medical emergency negates breach of duty
A sudden, unforeseeable incapacity means the driver did not fail to act as a reasonable person, defeating the breach element.
Question 4: A plaintiff sues a Kentucky physician for medical negligence. To establish the standard of care, the plaintiff generally must present:
- Expert testimony on the degree of care of a reasonably competent practitioner (Correct answer)
- Only the medical records showing a bad outcome
- Testimony from any layperson familiar with medicine
- Proof that the physician violated hospital bylaws
Correct answer: Expert testimony on the degree of care of a reasonably competent practitioner
Medical negligence in Kentucky ordinarily requires expert testimony establishing the standard of care and its breach, unless the negligence is obvious to a layperson.
Question 5: A blasting company conducts controlled demolitions and, despite all possible precautions, debris damages a neighbor's home. The neighbor's strongest theory of recovery is:
- Strict liability for an abnormally dangerous activity (Correct answer)
- Negligence per se
- Ordinary negligence
- Private necessity
Correct answer: Strict liability for an abnormally dangerous activity
Blasting is a classic abnormally dangerous activity, imposing strict liability regardless of the precautions taken.
Question 6: In Kentucky, the statute of limitations for most personal injury actions is:
- One year from the date the injury accrues (Correct answer)
- Two years from the date of injury
- Three years from discovery
- Five years from the date of injury
Correct answer: One year from the date the injury accrues
KRS 413.140 sets a one-year limitations period for most personal injury claims in Kentucky, subject to exceptions like the two-year MVRA period for motor vehicle claims.
Question 7: A store customer slips on a puddle of spilled soda. Under Kentucky premises liability law after Lanier v. Wal-Mart, once the customer proves she fell due to a foreign substance, the burden:
- Shifts to the store to show it exercised reasonable care (Correct answer)
- Remains entirely on the customer to prove notice
- Shifts to the customer to disprove her own fault
- Is irrelevant because stores are strictly liable
Correct answer: Shifts to the store to show it exercised reasonable care
In Lanier v. Wal-Mart, Kentucky adopted a burden-shifting approach requiring the premises owner to prove it exercised reasonable care once the plaintiff shows an injury caused by a foreign substance on the premises.
KY Bar Torts and Negligence 2
Under Kentucky's pure comparative fault system, a plaintiff found 80% at fault for her own injuries may recover what portion of her damages?