VA Bar Torts and Negligence 2

Question 1

Virginia follows which doctrine regarding a plaintiff's own negligence in a tort action?

Accepted Answer

Contributory negligence

Answer

Pure comparative negligence

Answer

Modified comparative negligence

Answer

Slight-gross negligence

Question 2

A store owner discovers a wet floor in the entrance but puts up no warning sign. A customer slips and is injured. Under Virginia premises liability law, what duty does the store owner owe the customer?

Accepted Answer

Duty of reasonable care because the customer is an invitee

Answer

Duty of slight care because the customer assumed the risk of shopping

Answer

Duty to warn only of concealed dangers actually known to the customer

Answer

No duty because natural accumulation inside buildings is excepted

Question 3

A driver violates a Virginia statute requiring headlights at dusk and strikes a pedestrian who is difficult to see. The pedestrian is in the class the statute was designed to protect. How does the statutory violation affect the negligence analysis?

Accepted Answer

It constitutes negligence per se, establishing the breach element automatically

Answer

It creates absolute liability for the driver regardless of other factors

Answer

It is irrelevant unless the plaintiff independently proves the driver acted unreasonably

Answer

It shifts the burden of proof to the driver on the issue of causation only

Question 4

A surgeon performs an operation using a technique that most surgeons in the field do not use, and the patient is harmed. In Virginia, by what standard is the physician's conduct measured?

Accepted Answer

National standard of what a reasonably competent physician in the specialty would do

Answer

Local community standard of physicians in the same geographic area only

Answer

Whatever the majority of physicians nationwide would do in the exact circumstances

Answer

What the individual physician subjectively believed was best for the patient

Question 5

A patient wakes from routine knee surgery to find her healthy kidney has been removed without consent. She cannot identify the specific negligent act. Which doctrine allows her to pursue a negligence claim?

Accepted Answer

Res ipsa loquitur

Answer

Negligence per se

Answer

Strict liability for medical procedures

Answer

Last clear chance

Question 6

A negligent driver heads toward a pedestrian who is also negligently standing in the road. The pedestrian is helpless to move in time. The driver could have braked and avoided impact but failed to do so. Under Virginia law, what is the result?

Accepted Answer

The plaintiff may recover under the last clear chance doctrine

Answer

The plaintiff's contributory negligence bars all recovery

Answer

Both parties share liability proportionally under comparative fault

Answer

The court applies assumption of risk to bar the plaintiff

Question 7

A plaintiff voluntarily participates in a recreational ice hockey game and is injured by a fellow player's forceful but legal body check. Which defense most likely bars the plaintiff's negligence claim?

Accepted Answer

Implied assumption of risk from voluntarily encountering known inherent dangers

Answer

Contributory negligence based on the plaintiff's choice to play

Answer

Superseding cause based on the other player's independent act

Answer

Qualified privilege applicable to sporting competitions