Exam Question: Wrongful Death and Tort Compensation, Exams of Law of Torts

Download Exam Question: Wrongful Death and Tort Compensation and more Exams Law of Torts in PDF only on Docsity! TORTS I PROFESSOR DEWOLF SUMMER 2006 July 10, 2006 MID-TERM EXAM Instructions DO NOT GO BEYOND THIS PAGE UNTIL THE EXAM ACTUALLY BEGINS. THIS IS A CLOSED BOOK EXAM! While you are waiting for the exam to begin, be sure that you have your EXAM NUMBER, that you have read these instructions, and that you are otherwise ready to begin. IMPORTANT: This exam will last THREE HOURS. You should plan on spending AT LEAST 20 minutes reading the questions carefully and outlining your answers on a separate sheet of paper. Before writing your answers, REREAD each question to be sure you haven't missed anything. DOUBLE-SPACE your answers in the bluebook. Treat each question SEPARATELY. Do not assume that descriptions or discussions in one question can be transferred to the other question. Within each question, however, you may cross- reference previous discussion of issues if appropriate. You are welcome to use abbreviations, but indicate what they are, e.g., `Andropov ("A") would be sued by Brezhnev ("B"), alleging that A would be liable to B ... .' Plan on spending at least 15 minutes at the end PROOFREADING your answers. You may not write ANOTHER WORD after time is called. The exam covers Chapters 1-2 of the casebook, plus Chapter 3 up through wrongful death. Do not address any issues beyond that point, such as contributory fault, governmental liability, or other issues. All of the events in this exam took place in the state of Linden. A STATUTORY APPENDIX for some Linden statutes is provided. Each question has been assigned a point total, and the exam as a whole has a point total of 135. Spend the amount of time on each question reflecting its relative worth. You may KEEP your copy of the exam questions if you wish. REMEMBER THE HONOR CODE! Don't identify yourself. DOUBLE SPACE! DOUBLE SPACE! DOUBLE SPACE! GOOD LUCK!!! TORTS I, SUMMER 2006 MID-TERM EXAM Page 2 of 5 QUESTION 1 (85 points) Lynn Knowles married Randy Ulmer shortly after her eighteenth birthday in 1987. Lynn and Randy had two children: Cassandra, born in 1987; and Chad, born in 1988. At Lynn's instigation, Lynn and Randy separated in August 1989 and were divorced in January 1990. Originally upon their separation, Lynn had physical custody of the children. A strike occurred at Randy's workplace so he was able to help take care of the children during the day. In December 1989, Randy got a new job and was no longer able to help care for the children. Within a couple of weeks, just before Christmas 1989, Lynn asked Randy to take physical custody of the children. He agreed to take the children, and Lynn never had physical custody of the children after that time. Although Randy had physical custody of the children at the time of the divorce in January 1990, the divorce decree granted legal custody of the children to Lynn. That arrangement, however, did not last long. In March 1990, Lynn asked Randy to assume legal custody of the children because she was thinking about joining the Navy. Randy assumed legal custody, but Lynn never did enlist. Nor did she ever attempt to regain legal or physical custody of the children. Over the course of the next several months, she saw the children only infrequently. She never paid any child support, nor was she required to under the divorce decree or custody agreement. In the fall of 1990, Lynn left her hometown to go to college. She went to Iowa City and stayed with her brother briefly, then briefly tried the college dorms, which she did not like, then lived with a female roommate off-campus. She placed at most two phone calls to Randy after she left her hometown. During one of these calls Lynn informed Randy that she was going to go to another school, perhaps in Bethany, but she did not give any more information. That was the last communication Randy had with Lynn. On October 31, 1990, Lynn placed a phone call to her sister's house, stating that she was in Marysville. That was the last contact any of her family ever had with Lynn. Eventually, around October or November 1990, Randy received a phone call from an employee at a truck stop. The employee investigated a car that was apparently abandoned in the truck stop parking lot. The automobile (still registered in Randy's name) had some of Lynn's clothes in it. Lynn's family picked up the car. We now know that in the early morning hours of November 2, 1990, Lynn was struck and killed by a vehicle driven by Deborah Corkill in Dairytown, Linden. Corkill was apparently operating the vehicle under the influence of alcohol. Corkill fled the scene of the accident without rendering aid to the victim or reporting the incident to authorities. Investigators and police officers were able to identify Corkill as the driver because pieces of her vehicle's grill were left on the highway when she struck the decedent. Corkill was cited for leaving the scene of an accident involving injury or death. However, at the time authorities were unable to identify Lynn's body. Her purse and her wallet were missing, and she carried no other form of identification. For the next fourteen years Lynn's family did not know what had happened to her. Her two children thought she had abandoned them. Clark Tyler Knowles, Lynn's father, hired a private investigator to find his daughter, but to no avail. Fourteen years later, after making further inquiries, investigating dental records, and exhuming the body, authorities were finally able to identify Lynn and contact her family. On March 6, 2005, Knowles reviewed police photographs of Lynn's body, read a note found on her body, and identified the body as that of his daughter. Knowles had the body cremated, and the ashes were