Juris Doctor (JD) Torts Syllabus

Torts syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Torts in Juris Doctor (JD), not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Intentional Torts

   3 topics

   • Torts Against the Person
     • Battery and assault
     • False imprisonment
     • Intentional infliction of emotional distress
   • Torts Against Property
     • Trespass to land
     • Trespass to chattels and conversion
   • Defenses to Intentional Torts
     • Consent
     • Self-defense, defense of others, and defense of property
     • Necessity and privilege
2. 2

   Negligence

   3 topics

   • Duty and Standard of Care
     • The reasonable person standard
     • Duty to act and special relationships
     • Standards for professionals, children, and landowners
   • Breach and Causation
     • Breach and the Hand formula
     • Res ipsa loquitur
     • Actual cause and proximate cause (Palsgraf)
   • Damages and Defenses
     • Compensatory and punitive damages
     • Comparative and contributory negligence
     • Assumption of risk
3. 3

   Strict Liability and Products Liability

   3 topics

   • Strict Liability
     • Abnormally dangerous activities
     • Liability for animals
   • Products Liability Theories
     • Manufacturing, design, and warning defects
     • Theories of recovery: negligence, warranty, strict liability
     • Defenses and the consumer expectation test
   • Parties and Damages in Strict Liability
     • Proper plaintiffs and defendants in the chain of distribution
     • Causation and damages limitations
4. 4

   Other Tort Theories

   3 topics

   • Defamation
     • Libel and slander
     • Constitutional limits (New York Times v. Sullivan)
     • Privileges and defenses
   • Privacy and Economic Torts
     • The four privacy torts
     • Fraud and misrepresentation
     • Interference with contract and business relations
   • Nuisance and Vicarious Liability
     • Private and public nuisance
     • Respondeat superior and independent contractors
     • Joint and several liability

Torts flashcards for Juris Doctor (JD)

23 of 51 cards from the Torts deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What are the elements of battery?

   (1) A volitional act by the defendant, (2) intent to cause harmful or offensive contact (or imminent apprehension of it), (3) harmful or offensive contact actually results with the plaintiff's person, and (4) causation. Contact with anything connected to the plaintiff (e.g., clothing, a held object) counts.

2. What are the elements of assault?

   (1) A volitional act, (2) intent to cause reasonable apprehension of an imminent harmful or offensive contact, (3) the plaintiff's reasonable apprehension of such imminent contact, and (4) causation. Words alone are generally insufficient; apprehension is not the same as fear.

3. Distinguish assault from battery.

   Assault protects the mental interest in being free from apprehension of imminent contact (no touching required). Battery protects the physical interest and requires actual harmful or offensive contact. The same act may give rise to both (e.g., a punch causing apprehension then landing).

4. What are the elements of false imprisonment?

   (1) An act or omission intending to confine or restrain the plaintiff to a bounded area, (2) actual confinement, and (3) the plaintiff is aware of the confinement or harmed by it. Confinement may be by physical barriers, force, threats, or failure to release. A reasonable means of escape defeats the claim.

5. What are the elements of intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED)?

   (1) Extreme and outrageous conduct, (2) intent or recklessness as to causing severe emotional distress, (3) causation, and (4) severe emotional distress (physical symptoms not required). Conduct must exceed all bounds of decency tolerated in a civilized society.

6. What is the 'transferred intent' doctrine and to which torts does it apply?

   If a defendant intends a tort against one person but harms another (or commits a different tort), the intent transfers. It applies among the five trespassory torts: battery, assault, false imprisonment, trespass to land, and trespass to chattels.

7. What is the doctrine of dual/transferred intent applied to bystanders in IIED?

   For IIED directed at a third person, a bystander plaintiff may recover if present when the conduct occurred, the defendant knew of their presence, and (for non-family) the plaintiff suffers distress resulting in bodily harm; immediate family members who are present need not show bodily harm.

8. What are the elements of trespass to land?

   (1) Physical invasion of the plaintiff's real property by a person or object, and (2) intent to enter the land (mistake about ownership is no defense). No actual damages need be shown; nominal damages are available.

9. What are the elements of trespass to chattels?

   (1) An intentional act interfering with the plaintiff's right of possession in personal property, by dispossession or intermeddling, (2) causation, and (3) damages (actual harm, loss of use, or dispossession). Mistake is not a defense.

10. Compare trespass to chattels and conversion.

    Both involve intentional interference with personal property. Trespass to chattels is a minor interference; the remedy is the cost of repair or rental/loss-of-use damages. Conversion is so serious that the defendant must pay full fair-market value (a forced sale). Severity, duration, and extent of damage distinguish them.

11. What are the elements of conversion?

    (1) An intentional act of dominion or control over the plaintiff's chattel that so seriously interferes with the plaintiff's right of control that (2) the defendant may justly be required to pay the full value of the chattel. Remedy: damages (full FMV at time of conversion) or replevin.

12. What is the consent defense to intentional torts, and what invalidates it?

    Consent (express or implied) is a defense if given by one with capacity within the scope of the consent. It is invalidated by fraud as to an essential matter, duress, mistake known to and exploited by the defendant, or lack of capacity (e.g., minors, intoxication, incompetence).

13. What are the rules for self-defense as a defense to intentional torts?

    A person may use reasonable force to defend against an imminent threat of harm. Deadly force is allowed only when facing a threat of death or serious bodily harm. Generally no duty to retreat (some jurisdictions require retreat before deadly force). Reasonable mistake about the threat is permitted.

14. What are the limits on defense of property as a defense to intentional torts?

    Reasonable, non-deadly force may be used to prevent intrusion onto property after a request to desist (unless futile/dangerous). Deadly force or deadly mechanical devices (e.g., spring guns) may never be used solely to protect property. A privileged entrant (e.g., necessity) is not subject to such force.

15. Distinguish public necessity from private necessity as defenses.

    Public necessity (acting for the public good, e.g., destroying property to stop a fire) is an absolute defense with no liability. Private necessity (acting to protect one's own interests) is a qualified/incomplete defense: the actor may use the property but must pay for actual damage caused.

16. What are the elements of the shopkeeper's privilege (recapture of chattels)?

    A merchant may detain a suspected shoplifter if there is (1) a reasonable belief as to the fact of theft, (2) the detention is conducted in a reasonable manner with only non-deadly force, and (3) the detention lasts only a reasonable period of time to make an investigation.

17. State the four elements of a negligence cause of action.

    (1) Duty (a legal obligation to conform to a standard of care), (2) Breach (failure to meet that standard), (3) Causation (actual/cause-in-fact and proximate cause), and (4) Damages (actual harm).

18. What is the general standard of care in negligence and to whom is a duty owed?

    The standard is that of a reasonably prudent person under the circumstances (objective). Under the majority Cardozo view (Palsgraf), a duty is owed only to foreseeable plaintiffs within the zone of danger; the Andrews minority view holds a duty is owed to everyone.

19. How are the standards of care adjusted for children, professionals, and those with physical disabilities?

    Children are held to the standard of a child of like age, intelligence, and experience (except for adult/inherently dangerous activities, where the adult standard applies). Professionals must exercise the knowledge and skill of an average member of their profession. A physically disabled person is held to a reasonable person with that disability.

20. What standard of care does a landowner owe to invitees, licensees, and trespassers (traditional approach)?

    Invitees: duty to inspect for and warn/make safe known and reasonably discoverable dangers. Licensees: duty to warn of known concealed dangers (no duty to inspect). Undiscovered trespassers: no duty; discovered/anticipated trespassers: duty to warn of known, concealed, artificial dangers likely to cause serious harm.

21. What is the attractive nuisance doctrine?

    A landowner may be liable for injuries to trespassing children caused by an artificial condition if: (1) a dangerous condition the owner knows/should know of exists, (2) the owner knows/should know children frequent the area, (3) the condition is likely to cause injury (children can't appreciate the risk), and (4) the cost of remedying it is slight compared to the risk.

22. State the Hand Formula (BPL) for determining breach.

    A defendant breaches the duty of care when the Burden of taking precautions (B) is less than the Probability of harm (P) multiplied by the gravity of the Loss/injury (L): liability when B < P × L (Judge Learned Hand, United States v. Carroll Towing).

23. What is negligence per se and its effect?

    Where a statute imposes a specific duty for the protection/benefit of others, violation of the statute establishes the standard of care (and breach) if the plaintiff is in the class meant to be protected and the harm is of the type the statute aimed to prevent. It conclusively establishes duty and breach (still need causation and damages).

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