The Legal Environment of Business and Online Commerce, 7e (Cheeseman)
Chapter 6 Torts and Strict Liability
1) Actual physical contact is not necessary for a tort to be considered an assault.
2) Direct physical contact, such as intentionally hitting someone with a fist, is considered battery.
3) Assault and battery are mutually exclusive torts that do not occur together.
4) A threat of future harm or moral pressure is not considered false imprisonment.
5) If a shoplifting suspect is detained for an unreasonably long time and is found to be innocent,
the merchant is liable for the tort of malicious prosecution.
6) If a defendant makes an untrue statement of fact about the plaintiff and the statement was
intentionally or accidentally published to a third party, the defendant is held liable for
misappropriation of the right to publicity.
7) If a magazine publishes a false statement about a public personality, it is liable for invasion of
the right to privacy.
8) If a newspaper review calls a commercially successful actor talentless, it is liable for
defamation of character.
9) A disparagement is an untrue statement made by one person or business about the products,
services, property, or reputation of another business.
10) Intentional misrepresentation occurs when a wrongdoer deceives another person out of
money, property, or something else of value.
11) If a person did not have knowledge that his representation of facts was false, he is still liable
for fraud.
12) In a lawsuit for malicious prosecution, the original defendant sues the original plaintiff.
13) Jessica files a frivolous lawsuit against Thomas claiming emotional distress because he
plucked flowers from her garden without her permission. The judge exonerates Thomas who can
now sue Jessica for malicious prosecution.
14) Reasonable person standard is a test used to determine whether a tort is intentional or
unintentional.
15) If a plaintiff is injured, the damages recoverable depend on the effect of the injury on the
plaintiff’s life or profession.
16) Causation in fact refers to a point along a chain of events caused by a negligent party after
which this party is no longer legally responsible for the consequences of his or her actions.
17) If the defendant’s act caused the plaintiff’s injuries, there is causation in fact
18) Disparagement refers to the liability of a professional who breaches his or her duty of
ordinary care.
19) John watches his brother being killed in a road accident. The perpetrator was driving under
the influence of alcohol. John can recover damages for negligent infliction of emotional distress
for the mental trauma he suffered from watching his brother die.
20) Res ipsa loquitor is a tort in which the violation of a statute or an ordinance constitutes the
breach of the duty of care.
21) A doctor driving on the wrong side of the road crashes into an eight-year-old boy riding a
bicycle. Fearing the consequences, the doctor flees without reporting the accident or giving first-
aid to the boy. The doctor is liable for professional malpractice.
22) A lawyer who fails to file a document with the court on time, causing the client’s case to be
dismissed is liable for legal malpractice.
23) Malicious prosecution is a tort that permits a person to recover for emotional distress caused
by the defendant’s negligent conduct.
24) A bystander who suffers severe emotional distress on witnessing a heinous crime can claim
damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress.
25) If a woman is informed of her husband being run over by a bus the previous night, she can
recover damages for negligent infliction of emotional distress.
26) The violation of a statute that proximately causes an injury is termed as negligence per se.
27) A homeowner is liable for negligence per se, if he or she fails to repair a damaged sidewalk
in front of his or her home, and a pedestrian who trips on the unrepaired sidewalk is injured.
28) In order to claim damages for negligence per se, the plaintiff need not prove that he or she
was within a class of persons meant to be protected by the statute.
29) Res ipsa loquitur switches the burden to the plaintiff to prove that the defendant was
negligent.
30) Res ipsa loquitur applies when the plaintiff had exclusive control of the instrumentality or
situation that caused his or her own injury.
31) If a nurse administers CPR to save the life of a dying man and negligently injures the man’s
arm in the process, the nurse cannot be sued as he or she is protected by Good Samaritan statutes.
32) The defendant can held liable for injuries caused by the superseding event.
33) Assumption of the risk is a defense a defendant can use against a plaintiff who knowingly
and voluntarily participates in a risky activity that results in injury.
34) Comparative negligence is a doctrine that says a plaintiff who is partially at fault for his or
her own injury cannot recover against the negligent defendant.
35) Strict liability applies to services, but not products.
36) Under the doctrine of strict liability, bystanders who are injured by a defective product are
entitled to the same protection as the consumers or users.
37) The doctrine of strict liability holds the manufacturers of a defective product solely liable for
injuries caused by that product.
38) Privity of contract between the plaintiff and the defendant is not required in a strict liability
suit.
39) A seller of a defective product cannot be held strictly liable if it can be proved that he or she
took all possible care in the preparation and sale of the product.
40) Casual sales and transactions are not covered under the strict liability doctrine.
41) Which of the following is an intentional tort?
A) breach of duty of care
B) defect in product manufacture
C) disparagement
D) negligence
42) The threat of immediate harm or offensive contact is termed as ________.
A) battery
B) assault
C) disparagement
D) libel
43) Which of the following statements is true of the tort of assault?
A) An assault is considered an unintentional tort.
B) An attack is considered an assault only if the defendant was provoked to attack a plaintiff.
C) An attack is not considered an assault if the defendant was provoked to attack a plaintiff.
D) Actual physical contact between plaintiff and defendant is not necessary.
44) John Harley was on his way home when an assailant stopped his car and threatened to
physically harm him if he ever saw him drive on that street again. John can sue the assailant to
recover damages for ________.
A) assault
B) battery
C) libel
D) disparagement
45) Which of the following best describes the tort of battery?
A) unauthorized and harmful or offensive physical contact with another person that causes injury
B) an action that arouses reasonable apprehension of imminent harm
C) oral or written defamation of another person’s character
D) intentional confinement or restraint of another person without that person’s consent
46) Which of the following torts constitutes battery?
A) stealing a person’s wallet
B) threatening to shoot a person
C) blackmailing a person
D) poisoning a person’s drink
47) Which of the following statements is true of battery?
A) Battery refers to intentional infliction of emotional distress.
B) Assault and battery often occur together.
C) Actual physical contact is not necessary for a tort to be termed as battery.
D) Indirect physical contact between the victim and the perpetrator is not battery.
48) Harvey was at his college reunion where he noticed Raymond, his former roommate. Harvey
and Raymond did not get along well at the reunion. Offended by something Raymond
mentioned, Harvey punched him in the face which broke his jaw. Harvey is liable for ________.
A) breach of duty of care
B) disparagement
C) battery
D) assault
49) Which of the following actions would make Sarah liable for battery?
A) She publishes an article calling for the current U.S. President to quit because she thinks he is
not doing a good job.
B) She extends the boundary of her plot of land encroaching two feet of her neighbor’s plot.
C) She smuggles marijuana into the country.
D) She slaps her ex-husband because he denied her alimony.
50) Michael wanted to shoot Gary but accidentally injured Stella with the bullet. Which of the
following can Stella use to recover damages from Michael?
A) Doctrine of unintentional tort
B) Doctrine of proximate cause
C) Doctrine of negligence
D) Transferred intent doctrine
51) Jessica is babysitting Kyle one afternoon when Kyle starts bleeding from his nose. Jessica
manages to stop the bleeding and rushes out to the nearest pharmacy–three miles away–to get
medication for him. While doing so, she locks the house from outside and asks Kyle not to leave
the house till she returns. The only way he can get out of the house is by breaking a window. Due
to a roadblock on her way back, Jessica is delayed by an hour. Which of the following statements
is true in this case?
A) Jessica is liable for kidnapping.
B) Jessica is liable for negligence as well as breach of duty of care.
C) Jessica can be sued for false imprisonment.
D) Jessica is not liable for prosecution for an intentional tort.
52) ________ refers to an attempt by another person to take over a living person’s name or
identity for commercial purposes.
A) Invasion of the right to privacy
B) Tort of appropriation
C) Defamation of character
D) Disparagement
53) Sending an objectionable telegram to a third party and signing another’s name constitutes the
tort of ________.
A) invasion of the right to privacy
B) defamation of character
C) battery
D) intentional misrepresentation
54) The tort of defamation of character requires a plaintiff to prove that the defendant ________.
A) publicized a private fact about the plaintiff
B) insulted people closely related to the plaintiff, such as family or friends
C) published an untrue statement of fact about the plaintiff to a third party
D) made one or more financial deals with the plaintiff under a false identity
55) Gary Govetty is a famous movie star. A tabloid published an interview with his ex-girlfriend
in which she falsely claimed that Gary was completely bald and had been wearing a wig for
several years. Gary can sue his ex-girlfriend for ________.
A) slander
B) invasion of the right to privacy
C) tort of appropriation
D) negligent infliction of emotional distress
56) Libel and slander constitute ________.
A) the tort of outrage
B) defamation of character
C) the tort of appropriation
D) intentional misrepresentation
57) Making false statements about a competitor’s products, services, property, or business
reputation could make a company liable for ________.
A) intentional misrepresentation
B) tort of appropriation
C) disparagement
D) misappropriation of the right to publicity
58) Which of the following instances depict the tort of outrage?
A) A farmer’s crops are set on fire by an unidentified miscreant.
B) A gym teacher verbally abuses an overweight kid in every gym class and the kid suffers
severe emotional distress.
C) A cosmetics company uses Julia Roberts’ image without her consent to depict her as its brand
ambassador.
D) A beverage-manufacturer claims that its competitor uses coffee beans of poor quality.
59) One student actor wins a part in a play over another student actor. To get back at the winning
student, the rejected student files a lawsuit against the winning student alleging intentional
infliction of emotional distress, defamation, and negligence. The jury returns a verdict
exonerating the defendant. The defendant is now entitled to sue the plaintiff for ________.
A) tort of outrage
B) malicious prosecution
C) intentional misrepresentation
D) misappropriation of the right to publicity
60) ________ is a doctrine that says a person is liable for harm that is the foreseeable
consequence of his or her actions.
A) Tort of outrage
B) Tort of misappropriation
C) Disparagement
D) Unintentional tort
61) The obligation people owe each other not to cause any unreasonable harm or risk of harm is
termed as ________.
A) libel
B) res ipsa loquitur
C) Good Samaritan law
D) duty of care
62) Throwing a lit match on the ground in the forest and causing a fire is a breach of ________.
A) appropriation
B) Good Samaritan law
C) duty of care
D) res ipsa loquitur
63) Which of the following is true about the duty of care?
A) Breach of duty of care is not actionable unless the plaintiff suffers injury or injury to his or
her property.
B) Reasonable person standard is used to determine the amount of damages that a defendant
owes a plaintiff.
C) A firefighter who refuses to put out a fire when his safety is not at stake does not breach his
duty of care.
D) The damages recoverable for breach of the duty of care are independent of the effect of the
injury on the plaintiff’s life or profession.
64) George, Jerry, and Harry are passengers on a flight from Chicago to New York. They injure
their legs when their seatbelts do not fasten during take-off. The airline is sued by all three
together for injuries caused and the airline is found to be negligent and is directed by the court to
pay damages to the injured parties. Which of the following parties is entitled to recover
maximum damages?
A) George, a retired professor who gets a pension of $50,000 a year
B) Jerry, a football player who earns $2 million a year
C) Harry, a chartered accountant who earns $200,000 a year
D) All the men recover the same amount of damages, irrespective of their income or profession.
65) What is meant by “causation in fact”?
A) the facts stated by a plaintiff during trial
B) a defendant’s negligent act that caused the plaintiff’s injuries
C) a defendant’s defense against a case of negligence
D) a defendant’s plea of guilt due to negligence