Torts and Personal Injury Flashcards

A defendant swings a baseball bat intending to hit a ball, but accidentally strikes the plaintiff who was standing nearby. Which analysis correctly addresses battery?

Answer: Battery exists because the defendant intended the act — swinging the bat — that caused the harmful contact

Battery requires intent to cause contact, not intent to cause harm — the defendant need only intend the act that results in the harmful or offensive touching.

Which of the following scenarios best constitutes the tort of civil assault?

Answer: Defendant raises a fist toward plaintiff, who sees the gesture and reasonably believes they are about to be struck

Assault requires the plaintiff to reasonably apprehend imminent harmful or offensive contact — a raised fist that the plaintiff perceives and believes threatens immediate contact satisfies this element.

A store security guard says, 'Sit here until police arrive or I'll physically drag you back.' The shopper complies. Which element of false imprisonment is most clearly satisfied?

Answer: The plaintiff was confined through a threat of physical force

A threat of physical force — 'I'll drag you back' — satisfies the confinement element of false imprisonment even without actual physical restraint.

In a Texas products liability claim based on a design defect, the plaintiff must prove:

Answer: A reasonable alternative design existed that would have reduced the foreseeable risk of harm without substantially impairing utility

Texas design defect claims require the plaintiff to show a reasonable alternative design that, if adopted, would have reduced the foreseeable risk of harm without substantially impairing the product's utility.

Which of the following activities is most likely classified as 'abnormally dangerous,' justifying strict liability in Texas?

Answer: Storing large quantities of explosives in a residential neighborhood

Storing large quantities of explosives is a classic abnormally dangerous activity — it creates a risk of serious harm that cannot be eliminated even with reasonable care.

An employer berates a pregnant employee in front of coworkers, calling her pregnancy 'an embarrassment' and saying she is 'too slow to be useful.' She suffers severe emotional distress. This scenario most likely:

Answer: Likely does not satisfy IIED because insulting workplace comments, even offensive ones, rarely meet Texas's extreme-and-outrageous standard

Texas requires conduct that goes beyond all reasonable bounds of decency; offensive and insulting workplace comments, while potentially actionable under other theories, typically fall short of the extremely high IIED threshold.

The primary distinction between trespass to chattels and conversion is:

Answer: The severity of the interference — minor interference versus a serious deprivation of the owner's rights

Trespass to chattels involves minor interference with personal property; conversion involves a serious, substantial interference justifying a forced sale at fair market value.