PA Bar Torts 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Pennsylvania adopted a modified comparative negligence system. Under 42 Pa. C.S. § 7102, a plaintiff may recover damages only if their own negligence is:
- Zero percent
- Less than 50% (does not exceed 50%) (Correct answer)
- Less than 51%
- Not the sole proximate cause
Correct answer: Less than 50% (does not exceed 50%)
Pennsylvania's comparative negligence statute bars recovery if the plaintiff's negligence is greater than the defendant's negligence (i.e., plaintiff cannot recover if their fault exceeds 50%).
Question 2: Under Pennsylvania law, which duty of care does a landowner owe to an undiscovered trespasser?
- A duty of reasonable care
- A duty to warn of all known hazards
- No duty, except to refrain from willful and wanton misconduct (Correct answer)
- A duty to inspect for hazards
Correct answer: No duty, except to refrain from willful and wanton misconduct
Pennsylvania follows the common law rule that a landowner owes an undiscovered trespasser no duty of ordinary care and only must refrain from willful or wanton misconduct that injures the trespasser.
Question 3: Pennsylvania's attractive nuisance doctrine imposes a duty of reasonable care on landowners toward child trespassers when:
- Any child ever enters the property
- The landowner knows children are likely to trespass, the condition involves unreasonable risk of harm, and the child would not appreciate the danger (Correct answer)
- The child is under age 5 only
- The hazard is visible from a public road
Correct answer: The landowner knows children are likely to trespass, the condition involves unreasonable risk of harm, and the child would not appreciate the danger
The attractive nuisance doctrine applies when the landowner knows or should know children likely trespass, a dangerous artificial condition exists, and the child's youth prevents appreciation of the risk, making the burden of precaution slight compared to the risk.
Question 4: Under Pennsylvania strict liability law (Restatement (Second) of Torts § 402A), a product is defective when it:
- Causes any injury to any consumer
- Is in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous to the user or consumer (Correct answer)
- Has not been approved by a federal regulatory agency
- Lacks a warning label
Correct answer: Is in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous to the user or consumer
Pennsylvania adopted § 402A strict products liability, which requires that the product be in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous to the user or consumer; the defect may be in design, manufacture, or failure to warn.
Question 5: Pennsylvania recognizes which type of damages in negligence actions to compensate for non-economic losses such as pain and suffering?
- Nominal damages only
- General (non-economic) damages (Correct answer)
- Punitive damages as a matter of right
- Statutory cap damages
Correct answer: General (non-economic) damages
Pennsylvania allows recovery of general non-economic damages including pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life in personal injury cases; Pennsylvania does not cap non-economic damages in most cases.
Question 6: Under Pennsylvania law, the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress requires conduct that is:
- Merely offensive or embarrassing
- Extreme and outrageous, intentional or reckless, and causes severe emotional distress (Correct answer)
- Negligent and results in any emotional upset
- Directed at a public figure or official
Correct answer: Extreme and outrageous, intentional or reckless, and causes severe emotional distress
Pennsylvania's IIED tort requires that the defendant's conduct was extreme and outrageous, intentional or reckless in causing distress, and that the plaintiff suffered severe emotional distress as a result.
PA Bar Torts 1
Pennsylvania adopted a modified comparative negligence system.
Under 42 Pa.
C.S. § 7102, a plaintiff may recover damages only if their own negligence is: