KY Bar Torts and Negligence 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A pedestrian sues a driver who ran a red light in violation of a Kentucky traffic statute. The violation is best used to establish:
- Negligence per se, satisfying duty and breach (Correct answer)
- Strict liability
- Res ipsa loquitur
- Punitive damages automatically
Correct answer: Negligence per se, satisfying duty and breach
Violation of a safety statute designed to protect this class of persons from this type of harm establishes negligence per se under KRS 446.070, proving duty and breach.
Question 2: A defendant negligently causes a minor fender-bender, and the plaintiff, who has an unusually fragile skull, suffers severe brain injury. The defendant is liable for:
- The full extent of the injury under the eggshell plaintiff rule (Correct answer)
- Only the injury a normal person would have suffered
- Nothing, because the injury was unforeseeable
- Only economic damages
Correct answer: The full extent of the injury under the eggshell plaintiff rule
Under the eggshell plaintiff rule, a tortfeasor takes the victim as found and is liable for the full extent of injuries, even if unexpectedly severe.
Question 3: A surgical sponge is left inside a patient after an operation performed while she was unconscious. Which doctrine most helps the patient prove negligence without direct evidence?
- Res ipsa loquitur (Correct answer)
- Negligence per se
- Last clear chance
- Respondeat superior alone
Correct answer: Res ipsa loquitur
Res ipsa loquitur permits an inference of negligence when the event ordinarily does not occur without negligence and the instrumentality was under the defendant's control.
Question 4: A Kentucky dog owner's dog bites a visitor. Under KRS 258.235, the owner is:
- Liable for damages caused by the dog, with fault allocation possible under comparative fault (Correct answer)
- Liable only if the dog previously bit someone
- Immune unless grossly negligent
- Liable only for medical expenses
Correct answer: Liable for damages caused by the dog, with fault allocation possible under comparative fault
Kentucky's dog-bite statute imposes liability on owners for damage caused by their dogs, though the victim's comparative fault can reduce recovery.
Question 5: An employer is sued under respondeat superior after its delivery driver causes a crash while making a personal side trip miles off the assigned route. The employer's best argument is:
- The driver was on a frolic outside the scope of employment (Correct answer)
- The driver was an invitee
- The employer owed no duty to the public
- Negligence per se does not apply to employers
Correct answer: The driver was on a frolic outside the scope of employment
A substantial deviation from assigned duties for personal purposes is a frolic, taking the employee's conduct outside the scope of employment.
Question 6: A bystander witnesses a negligent driver seriously injure her child and suffers severe emotional distress with physical manifestations. Under Kentucky's Osborne v. Keeney standard, she must show:
- Severe or serious emotional injury proven by expert or scientific evidence, without needing physical impact (Correct answer)
- Physical impact to her own body
- Intent to cause distress
- That she was also physically injured in the crash
Correct answer: Severe or serious emotional injury proven by expert or scientific evidence, without needing physical impact
In Osborne v. Keeney, Kentucky abandoned the physical impact rule and requires proof of severe emotional injury, generally supported by expert evidence.
Question 7: Two defendants are found liable to a plaintiff in a Kentucky negligence action, one 70% at fault and one 30% at fault. How is liability for damages apportioned?
- Severally, with each defendant paying only their percentage share (Correct answer)
- Jointly and severally, so either can be made to pay all
- Equally, 50/50, regardless of fault
- The plaintiff chooses which defendant pays
Correct answer: Severally, with each defendant paying only their percentage share
KRS 411.182 abolished joint and several liability in Kentucky, so each defendant is severally liable only for its apportioned share of fault.
KY Bar Torts and Negligence 3
A pedestrian sues a driver who ran a red light in violation of a Kentucky traffic statute.
The violation is best used to establish: