Tort law worksheet with answers

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

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

Under the Defamation Act 2013, the defence of truth requires the defendant to show that:

1. AThe statement was on a matter of public interest
2. BThe defendant honestly and reasonably believed the statement was true
3. CThe imputation conveyed by the statement is substantially true
4. DEvery single word of the statement is accurate

Defamation protects a person's:

1. APhysical safety
2. BReputation
3. CProperty
4. DPrivacy of medical records only

A solicitor negligently delays preparing a new will, and the client dies before signing. The intended beneficiaries lose their gifts. In White v Jones, the solicitor:

1. AWas not liable, because there was no contract with them
2. BWas not liable, because the will was never signed
3. CWas liable only to the client's estate
4. DWas liable to the disappointed beneficiaries

Workmen leave an open manhole with paraffin lamps. A boy knocks a lamp in, causing an unexpected explosion and burns. In Hughes v Lord Advocate, the defendants were:

1. ANot liable, because the explosion was unforeseeable
2. BNot liable, because the boy was a trespasser
3. CLiable only for half of the damage
4. DLiable, because burns were a foreseeable type of harm

Patients are paralysed by anaesthetic contaminated through invisible cracks in glass ampoules, a risk unknown to doctors at the time. Under Roe v Minister of Health, the hospital was:

1. AStrictly liable for any harm from drugs
2. BNot negligent, judged by the knowledge available at the time
3. CNegligent, judged by the medical knowledge available at trial
4. DNegligent, because harm occurred in hospital

A woman's 999 call is wrongly graded, and the police arrive too late to stop her former partner killing her. In Michael v Chief Constable of South Wales Police, the Supreme Court held:

1. AThe police were strictly liable for the delay
2. BThe police owed a duty because they took the call
3. CThe call handler alone was personally liable
4. DThe police owed no duty in negligence to protect her

A petrol station kiosk attendant racially abuses a customer, follows him outside and assaults him. In Mohamud v WM Morrison Supermarkets, the employer was:

1. ANot liable, because the assault took place outside the kiosk and after the conversation ended
2. BLiable only if it had trained him poorly
3. CVicariously liable, as the assault was closely connected to his job of serving customers
4. DNot liable, because violence was not part of his job