OK Bar Torts and Negligence 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A defendant swings a bat at the plaintiff intending to scare him, but accidentally strikes him. The best claim is battery because:
- Battery requires no intent at all
- The plaintiff consented by standing nearby
- Intent to cause apprehension transfers to satisfy the intent element of battery (Correct answer)
- Recklessness always equals intent
Correct answer: Intent to cause apprehension transfers to satisfy the intent element of battery
Under transferred intent, intent to commit assault satisfies the intent requirement for a resulting battery.
Question 2: In Oklahoma, a plaintiff suing for negligent infliction of emotional distress as a direct victim generally must show:
- Physical injury or that emotional harm produced physical consequences (Correct answer)
- That the defendant intended to cause distress
- Only that the defendant acted carelessly
- A written psychiatric diagnosis within 30 days
Correct answer: Physical injury or that emotional harm produced physical consequences
Oklahoma generally requires that negligently inflicted emotional distress be connected to physical injury or manifestation.
Question 3: A social guest injured by a hidden hazard in an Oklahoma home is traditionally classified as a licensee, meaning the host owes a duty to:
- Insure the guest against all injuries
- Provide the same duty owed to trespassers only
- Warn of known hidden dangers the guest is unlikely to discover (Correct answer)
- Inspect the premises for unknown defects
Correct answer: Warn of known hidden dangers the guest is unlikely to discover
A landowner must warn licensees of known concealed dangers but need not inspect for unknown ones.
Question 4: Res ipsa loquitur permits an inference of negligence when:
- The defendant admits fault in pleadings
- The plaintiff presents direct eyewitness testimony of carelessness
- Any accident occurs on commercial property
- The event ordinarily does not occur without negligence and the instrumentality was in the defendant's exclusive control (Correct answer)
Correct answer: The event ordinarily does not occur without negligence and the instrumentality was in the defendant's exclusive control
Res ipsa loquitur allows the jury to infer negligence from the circumstances when direct evidence is unavailable.
Question 5: A manufacturer sells a lawnmower without a blade guard, and a user is injured. In a strict products liability action, the plaintiff must prove:
- The manufacturer violated a federal statute
- Privity of contract with the manufacturer
- The manufacturer acted with malice
- The product was defective and unreasonably dangerous when it left the defendant's control (Correct answer)
Correct answer: The product was defective and unreasonably dangerous when it left the defendant's control
Manufacturers' products liability in Oklahoma requires a defect existing at the time the product left the defendant's control that made it unreasonably dangerous.
Question 6: Under Oklahoma's Governmental Tort Claims Act, before suing a municipality for negligence, a plaintiff must:
- Post a bond equal to the damages sought
- Obtain permission from the Governor
- Present written notice of the claim to the political subdivision within one year of the loss (Correct answer)
- File directly in federal court
Correct answer: Present written notice of the claim to the political subdivision within one year of the loss
The GTCA requires written notice of a tort claim within one year of the loss as a prerequisite to suit.
Question 7: A plaintiff who voluntarily and knowingly encounters a specific danger created by the defendant raises which defense in Oklahoma?
- Contributory negligence as a complete bar in all cases
- Laches
- Absolute immunity
- Assumption of the risk, which the jury weighs under comparative fault principles (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Assumption of the risk, which the jury weighs under comparative fault principles
In Oklahoma, assumption of the risk is generally treated as a question for the jury and folded into comparative fault analysis.
OK Bar Torts and Negligence 3
A defendant swings a bat at the plaintiff intending to scare him, but accidentally strikes him.
The best claim is battery because: