Strict Liability (Mischief / abnormally dangerous activity)
What are the elements of strict liability?
What is: (1) the activity is one for which the defendant is strictly liable
(2) the defendant engaged in such activity
(3) the defendant's activity caused plaintiff's injury
under common law, strict liability is always imposed on owners of_______unless______
what is: (1) wild animals and (2) it is a zoo
what is: (1) the item that caused the injury is one that is classified as a product, (2) the defendant was a commercial seller, manufacturer, or distributor of the product that injured the plaintiff, (3) the product was defective at the time the product left the defendant's control, and (4) the product defect caused the plaintiff's harm
what are the elements of a defamation action?
(1) the defendant made a defamatory statement
(2) the defamatory statement was of an concerning the plaintiff
(3) the defamatory statement was published to a third-party
(4) the defamatory statement caused damages
Is there a limit on the number of Requests for Production of Documents you can serve on an opposing party? If so, what is that limit?
what is: there is no limit.
What are the two main categories of strict liability
What is (1) wild animals
(2) abnormally dangerous activities
What is the affirmative defense that defendants have available to them in strict liability actions?
What is: Assumption of Risk
What are the arguments lawyers must make to establish "x" thing is a product?
what is:
(1) American competitiveness
(2) worldwide accident prevention
(3) insurance costs
(4) whether regulatory systems provide sufficient protections
defamation encompasses two separate torts known as:
(1) libel
(2) slander
What is required to succeed on a rule 56(a) motion?
what is: (1) no genuine dispute as to any material fact and (2) movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
What is the rule that comes from Rylands v. Fletcher?
What is "establishes that when a person, for her own purposes, brings on her land anything non-natural and likely to do "mischief," she does so at her own peril, and is strictly liable for damages that occur due to its escape."
When it comes to domestic animals, defendants are strictly liable when they:
What is: knew or had had reason to know of the dangerous propensity / quality of the animal
Whether someone is a commercial seller, manufacturer, or distributor of a product depends on what?
what is:
how much of the product was sold and the percentage of the profit made from its sale.
A statement is defamatory if it
what is adversely affects a person's reputation
How many peremptory challenges does a party get when selecting a jury?
what is: 3
Whether a defendant is strictly liable for the escape of the dangerous activity depends on whether plaintiff had an opportunity to engage in__________. Further, define what belongs in the blank.
What is (a) a risk calculus
(b) risk calculus refers to whether plaintiff knew of the dangerous activity at the time she purchased her property.
For a plaintiff to succeed on a strict liability claim dealing with an animal the reason for her injury must be:
what is: the dangerousness of the activity or the animal
to prove that a product is defective, a plaintiff must establish at the time of the distribution or sale, the product was
(1) defectively designed
(2) defectively manufactured
(3) contained an inadquate warning
for libel per se and slander per se what is presumed?
damages
Is the meaning of an ambiguous contract term a question of law or fact?
what is a question of fact
List the restatement factors that courts weigh when determining whether strict liability should apply to an abnormally dangerous activity
What is (a) whether the activity creates a high degree of risk of some harm to the person, land, or chattels (how likely is the harm), (b) the likelihood that the harm that results from it will be great (how severe the actual harm is), (c) whether the risk cannot be eliminated by the exercise of reasonable care, (d) the extent to which the activity is not a matter of common usage, (e) the inappropriateness of the activity to the place where it is carried on, and (f) the extent to which its value to the community is outweighed by its dangerous attributes.
Define wild animal and domestic animals as the court did in Gallack v. Barto.
What is:
(a) wild animals are those wild by nature, which, because of habit, mode of life, or natural instinct, are incapable of being completely domesticated, and require the exercise of art, force, or skill to keep them in subjection.
(b) domestic animals are those which are tame by nature, or from time immemorial have been accustomed to the association of man, or by his industry have been subjected to his will and have no position to escape his dominion
According to Pavlides v. Galveston Yacht Basin, the question of whether or not a given warning a legally sufficient depends upon:
what is: the language used and the impression that such language is calculated to make upon the mind of the average user of the product
what are the two affirmative defenses to defamation actions?
what is
(1) truth
(2) qualified privilege
List, in order, the importance of the following in order from most important to least on contract interpretation: trade usage, the terms of a contract itself, course of dealing, course of performance
-the contract terms
-course of performance
-course of dealing
-trade usage