The lawyer that teaches the course is the only one who should be sued, for Public Nuisance, for encouraging this kind of tort foolishness.

The Watcher3. Grandma Jones fell down in the walmart parking lot. There is a chance the cart guy knew there was loose gravel there.

Ha! My 1L Torts Exam was about a supermarket parking lot, kids rolling around in semi-attended carts, distracted drivers, helpful strangers, and the owner knowing of the slope in the black-top, among other things.

Now back to studying for my last “Spartan” exam for the semester… (I got that Michigan State = Sparta, didn’t get the WNE::Homer reference)

The Watcher observes that in real life tort cases take three forms:

1. So and so was drunk and his car hit the new mom’s car (bonus if you can sue the bar who served him).

2. Jenny was at work and her boss made an off color joke. She was fired for stealing the next week.

3. Grandma Jones fell down in the walmart parking lot. There is a chance the cart guy knew there was loose gravel there.

Watcher needs more time in real life.

Also, if Priam’s party was meant to be held just inside he wouldn’t have a duty to warn Helen about the hole in his backyard. Also, you can’t discuss the product liability of the company without discussing any potential warning label the product may have had.

Thanks. Could you tell me in which states it is still used? (I ask for purely intellectual purposes, of course.)

IMHO, Cerberus is not disabled, he is differently abled. He is very good at guarding entryways, but poor at chases.

Hmm. My mother was deaf, but/and she could sense a footfall anywhere in the house. If she had lived to hear anyone call her ‘differently abled,’ she would have decked the poor soul. :-)

Serendiptity: My torts exam is Friday and I wondered exactly the same thing.

I would say still a trespasser since privilege is a defense.

v. Menelaus for defamation, public disclosure of private facts, and tortuous interference with economic relations.

There’s that spellcheck again. Tortious.

Realist: first-year MBAs over at the B-school will be answering a question on company valuation

I had a law school exam with a valuation question. Do I get a prize?

Kuzbad: The one I don’t get is Homer / Western New England? What am I missing?

Springfield

Persephone and Bluto – Sailor gets laid up for the winter.

leo marvin:
Like Oren, I thought that was the one thing nobody would question.The hypothetical exceeded my ability to suspend disbelief when Cerberus couldn’t catch a serially clumsy, injured law professor.I half expected you to have her fall a third time when she broke a high heel, yet still stay a step ahead of the charging wolf.

But Cerebrus is still suffering from the painful and disabling effects of Midas’s mining. I know nothing about torts, but plot devices, I can definitely speak on.

Cerberus has a disability — multiple head syndrome. Apparently, he was not afforded proper accomodations for the chase.

IMHO, Cerberus is not disabled, he is differently abled. He is very good at guarding entryways, but poor at chases.

As for the exam inflicting emotional distress upon the students, wouldn’t the law school require them to sign waivers before enrolling?

1. So and so was drunk and his car hit the new mom’s car (bonus if you can sue the bar who served him).

2. Jenny was at work and her boss made an off color joke. She was fired for stealing the next week.

3. Grandma Jones fell down in the walmart parking lot. There is a chance the cart guy knew there was loose gravel there.

@tvk: I was under the impression that loss of consortium was a type of damages, not an independent cause of action, and therefore actually not covered by the question.

BTW, Eugene, what’s your opinion of jokes made based on the source material in the question? I included such jokes in my Patent Law and Antitrust exams in law school, mostly for my own amusement (in fact patterns based on “Stranger than Fiction” and Futurama, respectively. I mean, how do you write an antitrust question about Planet Express without mentioning Mom’s Friendly Package Delivery Co.?)

On the other hand, if you stand on a porch (stoa?) laughing while your partner is being chased by a multi-headed hell hound, I think you have already achieved the alienation on your own.

Everyone:
v. Homer for right of publicity and public disclosure of private facts.
Helen:
v. Midas for negligence for whistle and occupier’s liability.
v. Hades for strict liability and negligence.
v. Hercules for product liability.
v. Priam for occupier’s liability.
v. Menelaus for duty to rescue due to special relationship.
Midas:
v. Helen for trespass and negligence.
v. Hades for trespass and negligence.
v. Paris for trespass.
Hades:
v. Paris for trespass to chattel.
v. Hercules for product liability.
v. Midas for negligence.
Priam:
v. Midas for nuisance.
Menelaus:
v. Paris for alienation of affections.
v. Midas, Hades, Hercules, and Priam for loss of consortium.
Paris:
v. Menelaus for defamation, public disclosure of private facts, and tortuous interference with economic relations.

GainesvilleGuest: I’m glad I’m almost done with law school.

I love law, and found this question incredibly interesting, but right at this moment I am really glad I became an engineer.

Will: My torts final is tomorrow. Anyway, this question raises at least one issue which I am completely unsure of. Presumably the necessity defense entitles Helen to enter Midas’s land, since she needs to escape the dog. However, for the purposes of the traditional landowner liability categories, is she still considered a trespasser, or now considered a licensee?

My torts exam is Friday and I wondered exactly the same thing.

Anyway, this question raises at least one issue which I am completely unsure of. Presumably the necessity defense entitles Helen to enter Midas’s land, since she needs to escape the dog. However, for the purposes of the traditional landowner liability categories, is she still considered a trespasser, or now considered a licensee?

DjDiverDan: Rather than asking a question which requires some detailed analysis of a complex issue (which would actually show more than a passing familiarity with the subject matter), you ask a question which asks students to “spot all the issues”, without requiring them to actually analyze them.

Actually, no. Professor Volokh was clear (to any student who read the entire question) that You need not predict which of them would win and which would lose, but you should analyze them as thoroughly as you can, giving the best arguments for both sides.

I suspect someone who spotted all the issues, but didn’t do a duty-breach-causation analysis would pass, but get well below the median. He also asked for you to apply both majority and minority jurisdiction rules, when appropriate. Most likely, that is dispositive on some of these issues.

The problem is that some of these students are creative and smart and will find holes in my question that I didn’t see. Although this question has so many separate legal issues, they probably won’t have time to do much factual musing.

sitzpinkler: West > East

Ha!

I teach Torts too, and there’s a lot of fun stuff (well, from a prof’s perspective) in there, but I wanted to ask you explicitly about what a couple of folks have mentioned above: the final clause stating, “If some fact on which your answer would turn isn’t included in the question, state this, and state how the fact would affect your answer.”

That seems to me to be a recipe for problems, especially in testing a first semester class. I always tell my students NOT to make up or add any additional facts. I understand that sometimes an exam question has unintended ambiguities or even factual gaps. But I wouldn’t want to invite speculation (“well, if defendant had a gun,” “if there was some pre-existing problem,” etc.).