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

Virginia is one of the few remaining states that applies pure contributory negligence, completely barring any plaintiff recovery if the plaintiff's own negligence contributed to the harm.

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

Business customers are invitees to whom the landowner owes a duty of reasonable care, including inspecting for and correcting or warning of dangerous conditions.

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

Violation of a safety statute constitutes negligence per se when the plaintiff is within the class the statute was designed to protect and the harm is the type the statute was designed to prevent.

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

Virginia applies a national standard requiring a medical professional to act as a reasonably competent practitioner in the same specialty would act under similar circumstances.

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

Res ipsa loquitur allows an inference of negligence when the harm ordinarily does not occur without negligence, the instrumentality was in the defendant's exclusive control, and the plaintiff did not contribute.

(VA Bar) Virginia Bar Exam Practice Test

(VA Bar) Virginia Bar Exam Practice Test

VA Bar Torts and Negligence 2