| Problem 18.3 a. Lenny is a sucessful (i.e., rich) bank robber. He is also careful not to harm bank tellers. In fact, he always uses weapons without bullets. Unfortunately for Lenny he holds up one bank too many, and the police catch him. The day before he is caught he had stuck an unloaded gun into the face of Cynthia, the teller at the Last National Bank. Cynthia wants to bring a civil suit for assault against Lenny. Will she be successful? b. The tort of battery can be committed against someone who is asleep or unconscious, but the tort of assault cannot. Explain Problem 18.5 Give a specific example of a situation in which you beleive someone should be able to recover for infliction of mental distress. Write the dialogue, showing exactly what was said and done by each party. Determine the amount of damages that should be awarded. Problem 18.10 Read each case carefully. Identify the usefullness of the action complained of and the harm caused, Decide whether a nuisance exists. If it does, decide on a fair remedy. Give your reasons. a. Mr. Iwamoto works the 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. shift at the factory and then comes home to sleep. On his way to school Tommy Jones walks by Mr. Iwamoto's house every weekday at 8:30 a.m. with his "boom box" blaring. The loud music awakens Mr.Iwamoto. b. An oil tanker runs aground, spilling more than a million barrels of oil. Some of the oil washes up on privately owned beachfront property. The property owners sue the oil company for damage to their beaches. They also ask the judge to prohibit oil tankers from using the port near their property in order to avoid harm from future accidents. c. Morgan owns a restuarant next to High Penn's oil refinery. The refinery occasionally emits gases and odors that make people feel sick. Morgan, believing that this hurts her restaurant, business, brings a suit. High Penn argues that (1) the refinery was properly constructed, (2) there is no way to operate the refinery without theses occasional odors, and (3) the refinfery was in operation before Morgan opened her restaurant. d. Gomez owns a house with a view of the oean, When he built the house, the county owned all the land between the house and the ocean. The land was completely undeveloped. Ten years later, the county rezoned the land and sold it to a seafood restaurant, As the construction started, Gomez sued. He argued that he would lose his unobstructed view of the ocean and that the value of his house would be greatly reduced. e. Adriana Stein is a sucessful musician who travels extensively to give concerts. She buys a house in the countryside only five miles from the nearest airport. As the metropolitian area grows, traffic at the airport increases. Eventually, the airport area grows, traffic at the airport increases. Eventually, the airport needs another runway. Experts report that the runway can be built in only one loaction at the airport. Planes using this runway would descend directly over Stien's house. She organizes her neighbors into a citizen action group called RAMP (residents against more planes). It sues the airport, seeking an injunction to stop construction of the new runway. Problem 18.14 Determine whether any intentional torts have been committed in the following situations. Is there a legal defense in each situation? Give reasons for your answer. a. A pitcher in high-school baseball games loses control of an inside pitch. The ball hits the batter, shattering a bone in his arm. b. Hal arranges to have an oral surgeon remove a tooth that has been causeing him great discomfort. While he is under anesthesia, the surgeon notices that two other teeth are emerging in a crooked position and are likely to cause Hal great pain on the near future, so shes removes theses teeth as well. c. Sandy,17,throws a snowball at a friend on a crowded street corner. The snowball misses the friend but hits an elderly man, who falls to the ground and is injured. d. As a joke, Annette removes the bullets from her fathers revover, takes the gun outside, and points it at the head of her neghbor, Mrs. Joiner, who is just leaving her house. Mrs. Joiner, who unnknown to Annette suffers from serious heard disease, hs a stroke and dies instantly. e. Martha, a prison guard, is attacked by an inmate. The inmate knocks Martha down and kicks her in the head and ribs. MArth gets up, knocks the inmate down, and kicks her in a simliar fashion. f. During the bus ride home on the last day of school, the children become rowdy and began vandalizing seats and poster advertisements, breaking dome lights, and destroying seat belts. After several warnings, the bus driver announces taht he is taking the kids to the loacl police station. On the way to the police station, the driver passes the children's regular stops and refuses to let the kids out of the bus. g. Allen borrows money from the bank to purchase a car. After Allen fails to make the required payments, the bank sends somebody to Allen's house. This person drives Allen's car away while Allen is not at home. |