Legal Case Analysis: Wrongful Death and Tort Damages, Exams of Law of Torts

Download Legal Case Analysis: Wrongful Death and Tort Damages and more Exams Law of Torts in PDF only on Docsity! TORTS I PROFESSOR DEWOLF FALL 2000 December 9, 2000 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 written your EXAM NUMBER on EACH bluebook, 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. Use SEPARATE BLUEBOOKS for EACH QUESTION. Label each bluebook according to each question and, if necessary, book number, e.g., "Question 1, Book 1"; "Question 1, Book 2"; "Question 2"; etc. When you are finished, turn to the back cover of the first bluebook, and place the second, third, fourth, etc. bluebook in order inside the end of the first bluebook, so the whole makes a single package and can be read from front to back. Then put it in the box at the front. 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 the subjects covered up to Chapters 3B2 of the casebook. Do not address any issues beyond that point, such as contributory fault, governmental liability, or other issues. A STATUTORY APPENDIX is provided that gives the law of this jurisdiction, the State of Linden, on some issues. If no law is specified on the point you are interested in, please comment on the possible alternatives. 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, FALL 2000 EXAM Page 2 of 5 QUESTION 1 (90 points) At 11:30 p.m. on May 14, 1999, John Allen was driving home from his night shift at Foodsavers Grocery. He was driving at the speed limit, but apparently that was not fast enough for a Bolton Industries truck, an empty flatbed semi-truck (a so-called 18-wheeler) driven by Michael Bolton. On an open stretch of highway the Bolton Industries truck passed him and disappeared around a curve in the highway. About five minutes later Allen saw a truck tire in the middle of the highway. He swerved to the right to avoid it, but in doing so he overcorrected and, to avoid going into a ditch, pulled the car sharply to the left. That put him into the path of an oncoming ambulance driven by Mark Ruggerio. At 11:15 p.m. Thomas M. Williams called emergency services from his home in Hudson, complaining of chest pains. The town of Hudson had a contract with Ruggerio Ambulance Services (Ruggerio) to provide emergency ambulance service and related emergency medical services. Mark Ruggerio was driving Cab 1 to Williams' home when he collided with Allen's car. Ruggerio determined that his ambulance was no longer operable, and called for a second ambulance, which was immediately dispatched and arrived at Williams's home at 11:48 p.m. By that time Williams had stopped breathing at his home. He died while being transported to a hospital. You represent Williams' widow Charlene. She would like to know what options, if any, she has for recovery of tort damages resulting from Williams' death. In the course of your investigation, you discover the following facts: (1) The truck tire found in the middle of the road is of a type that would be used as a spare tire for the flatbed trailer that Bolton was transporting on the evening of the accident. However, approximately 30% of the trailers on the highway use the same kind of tire. While Bolton doesn't deny that the tire could have come from him, he doesn't admit it, either. Moreover, Bolton takes the position that spare tires can come loose from their storage position underneath the bed of the trailer, because the chains that hold them in place may become weakened by rust over time. (2) Ruggerio was driving with his emergency lights on, but no siren. The normal practice among ambulance drivers is to use sirens wherever there is traffic that would slow down the ambulance's progress, but that at night where there is light traffic, lights are normally sufficient. John Allen has stated that he was not aware that the ambulance was headed in his direction, and because of the curve in the road he was unable to see the ambulance lights. He believes that if he had heard the siren he would have slowed down or pulled over, and would not have struck the tire in the middle of his lane. (3) Williams' physician, Dr. Myron Dexter, has given an opinion that Williams would have had a much better chance of recovery if he had been treated promptly. Williams was sixty years old and did not have a history of heart problems. Nonetheless, Dr. Dexter acknowledges that there is a high mortality rate for heart attack victims; when pressed, he is unable to say that Williams probably would have recovered if the ambulance had gotten there on time. Please analyze Charlene's prospects in light of what you have learned. QUESTION 2 (45 points)