Multistate Essay Examination (MEE) 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 Multistate Essay Examination (MEE), not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Intentional Torts

   3 topics

   • Harms to the Person
     • Battery and assault
     • False imprisonment
     • Intentional infliction of emotional distress
   • Harms to Property
     • Trespass to land
     • Trespass to chattels and conversion
   • Defenses to Intentional Torts
     • Consent and self-defense
     • Defense of property and necessity
2. 2

   Negligence

   4 topics

   • Duty of Care
     • Reasonable person standard
     • Landowner and professional duties
     • Foreseeable plaintiffs
   • Breach
     • Negligence per se
     • Res ipsa loquitur
   • Causation
     • Actual cause and but-for test
     • Proximate cause and intervening causes
   • Damages and Defenses
     • Comparative and contributory negligence
     • Assumption of risk
3. 3

   Strict Liability and Products

   3 topics

   • Strict Liability
     • Abnormally dangerous activities
     • Animals
   • Products Liability Theories
     • Manufacturing defects
     • Design defects and risk-utility
     • Warning defects
   • Defenses in Products Cases
4. 4

   Other Torts and Vicarious Liability

   4 topics

   • Defamation
     • Elements and per se categories
     • Constitutional limits and public figures
   • Privacy Torts
   • Misrepresentation and Business Torts
   • Nuisance and Vicarious Liability

Torts flashcards for Multistate Essay Examination (MEE)

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

1. What are the elements of battery?

   (1) A harmful or offensive contact (judged by a reasonable person standard) with the plaintiff's person, (2) intent to cause that contact, and (3) causation. Contact with anything connected to the plaintiff (e.g., clothing, a held object) counts.

2. What are the elements of assault?

   (1) An act creating a reasonable apprehension of an imminent harmful or offensive contact, (2) intent to cause that apprehension, and (3) causation. Words alone are usually insufficient; apprehension is not the same as fear.

3. What are the elements of false imprisonment?

   (1) An act or omission that confines or restrains the plaintiff to a bounded area, (2) intent to confine, and (3) causation. The plaintiff must be aware of the confinement or harmed by it; there must be no reasonable means of escape known to the plaintiff.

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

   (1) Extreme and outrageous conduct, (2) intent or recklessness, (3) causation, and (4) severe emotional distress. Unlike other intentional torts, actual damages (severe distress) are required and nominal damages are unavailable.

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

   Intent transfers when a defendant intends one tort but commits another, or intends to harm one person but harms another. It applies among the five 'trespassory' torts: battery, assault, false imprisonment, trespass to land, and trespass to chattels.

6. What are the elements of trespass to land?

   (1) Physical invasion of the plaintiff's real property, and (2) intent to enter the land (intent to trespass is not required; mistake is no defense). The invasion may be by a person or by a physical object the defendant causes to enter.

7. Distinguish trespass to chattels from conversion.

   Both involve intentional interference with personal property. Trespass to chattels is a minor interference (small damage or brief dispossession), with damages measured by the harm. Conversion is so serious it warrants the defendant paying the full value (forced sale); remedy is fair market value at the time of conversion.

8. What is required for the defense of consent to an intentional tort?

   Consent (express or implied) is a complete defense if the plaintiff had legal capacity to consent and the defendant stayed within the scope of consent. Consent obtained by fraud, duress, or to a criminal act may be invalid.

9. What are the limits on using self-defense as a defense to intentional torts?

   A person may use reasonable force to defend against an imminent threat; deadly force is allowed only when facing a threat of serious bodily harm or death. There is generally no duty to retreat (majority), and the privilege is lost once the threat ends.

10. When may a person use force in defense of property?

    Reasonable, non-deadly force may be used to prevent a tort against property after a request to desist (unless futile). Deadly force or deadly mechanical devices (e.g., spring guns) may never be used solely to protect property.

11. What is the 'shopkeeper's privilege'?

    A merchant may detain a suspected shoplifter for a reasonable time and in a reasonable manner if there is a reasonable belief that theft occurred. It is a defense to false imprisonment.

12. Explain the privilege of necessity (public vs. private).

    Necessity is a defense to property torts. Public necessity (acting for the community to avert a greater harm) is an absolute defense with no liability for damage. Private necessity (acting to protect one's own interests) is a qualified defense: the actor must pay for actual damage caused but cannot be ejected.

13. What are 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 and proximate), and (4) Damages (actual harm).

14. To whom is a duty of care owed under the majority (Cardozo) view?

    Under Cardozo (Palsgraf), a duty is owed only to foreseeable plaintiffs within the 'zone of danger.' The minority (Andrews) view holds a duty is owed to everyone harmed by the defendant's negligent act.

15. What is the general standard of care in negligence?

    The reasonably prudent person under the same or similar circumstances — an objective standard. The defendant's mental deficiencies and inexperience are not considered, but superior skill/knowledge and relevant physical characteristics are.

16. What standard of care applies to children in negligence?

    A child is held to the conduct of a child of like age, intelligence, and experience (subjective). Children under about age 5 are generally incapable of negligence. Exception: a child engaged in an adult/inherently dangerous activity is held to the adult reasonable-person standard.

17. What duty does a land possessor owe to an invitee?

    An invitee (one entering for the possessor's business or as a member of the public) is owed a duty to make reasonable inspections to discover non-obvious dangerous conditions and to make them safe or warn of them.

18. What duty does a land possessor owe to a licensee vs. a discovered trespasser?

    To a licensee (social guest), the possessor must warn of known concealed dangers and not act with willful/wanton conduct, but need not inspect. To a discovered/anticipated trespasser, the duty is to warn of known, hidden, artificial conditions involving risk of serious harm.

19. What is the 'attractive nuisance' doctrine?

    A land possessor may be liable for injuries to child trespassers caused by an artificial condition if: (1) the possessor knows kids are likely there, (2) knows the condition poses an unreasonable risk to children, (3) the children cannot appreciate the danger, and (4) the burden of remedying is slight compared to the risk.

20. What is negligence per se and what must a plaintiff show to use it?

    A statute's standard replaces the common-law duty when the plaintiff (1) is in the class of persons the statute was designed to protect and (2) suffers the type of harm the statute was designed to prevent. Violation establishes duty and breach (conclusive in many jurisdictions).

21. What are the elements and effect of res ipsa loquitur?

    The plaintiff shows (1) the harm is of a type that does not normally occur absent negligence and (2) the instrumentality was in the defendant's exclusive control. It creates an inference of breach, allowing the case to reach the jury (defeats a directed verdict for defendant).

22. What is the 'Hand Formula' (B < PL) for breach?

    Judge Learned Hand's test: a defendant breaches if the burden of taking precautions (B) is less than the probability of harm (P) multiplied by the gravity of the resulting injury/loss (L). If B < P×L, failing to take the precaution is unreasonable.

23. What is the test for actual cause (cause in fact)?

    The 'but-for' test: the injury would not have occurred but for the defendant's conduct. When multiple causes combine, use the 'substantial factor' test; when multiple defendants and unclear who caused harm, use 'alternative causation' (burden shifts to defendants).

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