Tort law worksheet with answers

Exemplary (punitive) damages in English tort law aim to:

1. ACompensate the claimant's financial loss
2. BReflect the claimant's injured feelings
3. CReturn any profit the claimant has lost
4. DPunish the defendant for outrageous conduct

Under Part I of the UK Consumer Protection Act 1987, liability for a defective product is:

1. AFault-based, so the claimant must prove negligence
2. BOnly available if there is a contract with the producer of the product
3. CLimited to products bought directly from the producer
4. DStrict, so the claimant need not prove the producer was at fault

The tort of assault is:

1. AHolding someone in a room against their will
2. BCausing someone to reasonably expect immediate unlawful force
3. CInsulting someone in front of others
4. DActually applying force to someone directly and without their consent

A surgeon fails to warn a patient of a small risk of a serious complication. The patient would have had the operation anyway, but later. The risk materialises. In Chester v Afshar, the House of Lords held:

1. AThe surgeon was not liable, as the "but for" test failed
2. BThe surgeon was liable only for the cost of the operation
3. CThe surgeon was liable, modifying normal causation principles
4. DThe patient consented, so there was no claim

A driver is in a minor collision, suffers no physical injury, but his chronic fatigue illness becomes permanent. In Page v Smith, he could recover because:

1. APsychiatric injury is always recoverable after any road accident, however minor
2. BThe defendant intended to injure him
3. CHe had a close tie of love with the other driver
4. DHe was a primary victim and personal injury of some kind was foreseeable

Under Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board, a doctor must inform a patient about:

1. AMaterial risks of treatment and reasonable alternatives
2. BOnly the risks other doctors would usually mention
3. CNothing, unless the patient asks
4. DEvery possible risk, however remote

A mother arrives at hospital about two hours after a road accident and sees her family injured and covered in blood. In McLoughlin v O'Brian, she:

1. ACould recover only for financial losses
2. BCould not recover, as she was not at the scene
3. CCould not recover, as she was only told about it
4. DCould recover, as she saw the immediate aftermath

Under the EU Product Liability Directive, the "development risks" defence allows a producer to escape liability if:

1. AThe consumer did not read the instructions
2. BThe product was sold at a low price
3. CThe state of scientific and technical knowledge when the product was circulated did not allow the defect to be discovered
4. DThe producer was not negligent in manufacturing