UT Bar Torts and Negligence 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A driver texting behind the wheel swerves and hits a cyclist. To prevail on a negligence claim, the cyclist must prove duty, breach, causation, and what fourth element?
- Actual damages (Correct answer)
- Malicious intent
- Recklessness
- A prior warning to the driver
Correct answer: Actual damages
Negligence requires duty, breach, causation, and actual damages; without a compensable injury the claim fails.
Question 2: Under Utah's modified comparative fault system, a plaintiff is barred from recovery when their share of fault reaches what threshold?
- 50% or more (Correct answer)
- Any fault at all
- 51% or more
- 75% or more
Correct answer: 50% or more
Utah bars recovery when the plaintiff's fault equals or exceeds 50%, meaning the plaintiff must be less at fault than the defendants combined.
Question 3: A grocery store customer slips on a puddle of spilled juice that had been on the floor for two hours. Which fact is most important to the store's liability?
- The store had constructive notice of the hazard (Correct answer)
- The customer was wearing sandals
- The juice was sold by the store
- The store had liability insurance
Correct answer: The store had constructive notice of the hazard
A premises owner is liable to invitees for hazards it knew of or should have discovered through reasonable inspection, and a two-hour-old spill supports constructive notice.
Question 4: A surgeon leaves a sponge inside a patient during an operation. The patient cannot identify exactly who erred among the anesthetized-surgery team. Which doctrine best helps the patient establish breach?
- Res ipsa loquitur (Correct answer)
- Negligence per se
- Assumption of risk
- Last clear chance
Correct answer: Res ipsa loquitur
Res ipsa loquitur permits an inference of negligence when the injury would not ordinarily occur without negligence and the instrumentality was in the defendants' control.
Question 5: A statute requires headlights after dusk. A driver with broken headlights hits a pedestrian at night. Using negligence per se, the statute's violation establishes which elements?
- Duty and breach (Correct answer)
- Causation and damages
- All four negligence elements
- Only damages
Correct answer: Duty and breach
Negligence per se substitutes the statutory standard for the reasonable-person standard, conclusively establishing duty and breach, but the plaintiff must still prove causation and damages.
Question 6: A landowner keeps an unfenced swimming pool that attracts neighborhood children, and a seven-year-old trespasser drowns. Under which doctrine may the landowner be liable despite the child's trespass?
- Attractive nuisance doctrine (Correct answer)
- Firefighter's rule
- Rescue doctrine
- Ferae naturae doctrine
Correct answer: Attractive nuisance doctrine
The attractive nuisance doctrine imposes liability for artificial conditions likely to lure children who cannot appreciate the danger.
Question 7: A delivery driver causes a crash while making deliveries on his assigned route. His employer is sued. Under respondeat superior, the employer is liable because the driver was doing what?
- Acting within the scope of employment (Correct answer)
- Driving a company-owned vehicle
- Working more than 40 hours that week
- Licensed to drive commercially
Correct answer: Acting within the scope of employment
Respondeat superior imposes vicarious liability on employers for torts committed by employees acting within the scope of their employment.
UT Bar Torts and Negligence 2
A driver texting behind the wheel swerves and hits a cyclist.
To prevail on a negligence claim, the cyclist must prove duty, breach, causation, and what fourth element?