Test: Law Of Tort - 5 - CLAT MCQ

Principle: A master shall be responsible for the wrongful acts of his servants in the course of his employment.

Facts: The Syndicate Bank was running a small savings scheme under which its authorized agents would go round and collect small savings from several people on a daily basis. These agents would get commission, on the deposits so collected. Ananth was one such agent, collecting deposits from factory workers engaged on daily wages. Though he regularly carried on his business for some time, slowly he started appropriating deposits for his personal use and one day he just disappeared. One Fatima, who had been handing over her savings to him found that nearly for a month before his disappearance, he was not depositing her savings at all. The bank, when approached, took the stand that Ananth was not its regular and paid employee and, therefore, it was not responsible for his misconduct. She filed a suit against the bank.

LEGAL PRINCIPLE: If there is infringement of legal right of a person, he can sue under torts for compensation even if he has not suffered any harm or loss of a single penny.

FACTUAL SITUATION: Mr. B, a bank manager refuses to honour a cheque presented by C, a customer. He knows that C has sufficient funds in his account. Can C sue B under torts and claim compensation?

LEGAL PRINCIPLE: Violation of a legal Right, with or without damage, give rise to a tort

FACTUAL SITUATION: ‘A’ establishes a coaching class and charge ‘5000 per year as fees. A’s neighbour ‘B’ establishes another coaching class thereby creating a competition. This forces A to reduce his fees to ‘3000 per year.

​Q. Can ‘A’ claim damages from ‘B’ for the loss caused to him?

LEGAL PRINCIPLE: No remedy for the injury caused by an act; to which one has voluntarily consented.           

FACTUAL SITUATION: In an exhibition cricket match, Sachin hit a full toss delivery of Shane Bond over the fence for a six. The ball fell on the head of Egghead, a spectator, and severely injured him. Egghead had purchased a ticket costing 1000 to watch the match. Egghead and the organizers of the match are sworn enemies.           

LEGAL PRINCIPAL: Damage cannot be claimed against a risk to which consent has been given. The principal does not apply to rescue cases.

FACTUAL SITUATION: X and Y bought tickets to have a ringside view of a football match. During the course of the game a hard kick from one of the players caused the ball of hit X on his nose, causing bleeding and nausea. After half time the organizers allowed entry of more spectators than the seating capacity of the stadium. In the resulting stampede R and S who were watching the match since the beginning got injured. Five minutes before close of play, a part of the stadium rood broke loose. Y rushed to save children sitting beneath the roof and in the process injured herself. In separate actions filed by the injured persons, Decide

LEGAL PRINCIPAL: Even if the sovereign functions of the State are discharged negligently the state is not vicariously liable in tort.

FACTUAL SITUATION: A was a trader in gold. There he was arrested by police and was detained in the police lock up after search. The gold with him along with sundry other things were seized. Later he was discharged. His possessions seized by the police were returned, except the gold. He moved against the State in tort. In the words of Supreme Court, “There can be no escape from the conclusion that the Police Officers were negligent in dealing with the property after it was seized” One of the Constables was a Muslim. He fled with gold to Pakistan.

Assertion (A): when you invite somebody to your house, you cannot sue him for trespass.

Reason (R): one cannot enforce a right which one has voluntarily waived or abandoned

‘X’ with a view to murdering ‘Y’ enters ‘Y’ bedroom at night when ‘Y’ is out of station. What is ‘X’ guilty of?

Legal principle: whoever uses force without any lawful justification is deemed to commit battery

Facts: Mary and Maya have an argument over an issue in the classroom. In order to take revenge over this Mary tries to humiliate maya in front of the other classmates by pulling the chair the moment she is about to sit on the chair. Though maya falls, she is not hurt. However she files a case against mary for battery.

Q. Is mary liable?

Legal Principle: A person is entitled to use reasonable force for self defence.

Facts: Gokul was living in a farm house with a few family members. One night, a group of robbers broke open a door of the house and there was scuffle b/w the intruders and the residents. Gokul took out his pistol and fired a shot at one of the intruders. The shot did not hit the target and the robbers ran out of the house and by that time, the neighbors gathered in front of the house. Gokul in a fit of anger came out of the house and fired at fleeing robbers who by that time mingled with the neighbors. The shot injured a neighbor and he filed a suit against Gokul.

Legal principle: A master will be liable for the wrongful acts of his servants in the course of employment.

Facts: Mahesh was working as a driver in a company Lipton & Co. one day the manager asked him to drop a customer at the airport and get back at the earliest. On his way back from the airport, he happened to see his fiancé Roopa waiting for a bus to go home. He offered to drop her at home, which happened to be close to his office. She got into the car somersaulted due to the negligence of Mahesh. Roopa was thrown out of the car and suffered multiple injuries. She seeks compensation from Lipton & Co.

Legal principle: An unlawful interference with a person’s use or enjoyment of land or some right over or in connection with it is a nuisance in tort.

Facts: Mr. Prasad filed suit against Mr. Shyam for a permanent injunction to restrain him from installing and running flour mill in their premises. According to Mr. Prasad, it created nuisance to them as they were put on the first floor of the same premises.

Q. Will his action succeed?

Complete the sentence:To constitute trespass actual damage is………………………..

In an action for trespass, burden to prove justification is on the…………………….

X actually beats B with a stick. He has committed the offence of………………….

A throws water on B and the drop of the water falls on B. A committed

Vicarious liability is based on which of the following principle?

PRINCIPLE: In a civil action for defamation, truth of the defamatory matter is an absolute defence. However, the burden of proving truth is on the defendant; and he is liable if he does not successfully discharge this burden.

FACTS: D, who was the editor of a local weekly, published a series of articles mentioning that P, who was a government servant, issued false certificates, accepted bribe, adopted corrupt and illegal means to mint money and was a “mischief monger”. P brought a civil action against D, who could not prove the facts published by him.

Q. Under the circumstances, which of the following derivations is CORRECT?

PRINCIPLE: A gift comprising existing property is valid and a gift comprising future property is void

FACTS: X has a house which is owned by him. He contracted to purchase a plot of land adjacent to the said house but the sale (of the plot of land) in his favour is yet to be completed. He makes a gift of both the properties (house and land) to Y.

Q. Under the afore-mentioned circumstances, which of the following derivations is CORRECT?

PRINCIPLE: Caveat emptor, “let the buyer beware”, stands for the practical skill and judgment of the buyer in his choice of goods for purchase. It is the business of the buyer to judge for himself that what he buys has its use and worth for him. Once bought and if the buy is not up to his expectations then he alone is to blame and no one else.

FACTS: For the purpose of making uniform for the employees, “A” bought dark blue colored cloth from B but did not disclose to the seller the specific purpose of the said purchase. When uniforms were prepared and used by the employees the cloth was found unfit. However, the cloth was fit for a variety of other purposes (such as, making caps. boots and carriage lining. etc).

Q. Applying the afore-stated principle which of the following derivations is CORRECT as regards remedy available to A in the given situation?

PRINCIPLE: The transferor of goods cannot pass a better title than what he himself possesses.

FACTS: X sells a stolen bike to Y. Y buys it in good faith.

Q. As regards the title to bike which of the following derivations is CORRECT?

PRINCIPLE: Negligence is a breach of duty or a failure of one party to exercise the standard of care required by law, resulting in damage to the party to whom the duty was owed. A plaintiff can take civil action against the respondent, if the respondent’s negligence causes the plaintiff injury or loss of property.

FACTS: D went to a café and ordered and paid for a tin/can of soft drink. The tin was opaque, and, therefore, the contents could not be seen from outside. She consumed some of the contents and then lifted the tin to pour the remainder of the content into a tumbler. The remains of a snail in decomposed state dropped out of the tin into the tumbler. D later complained of a stomach pain and her doctor diagnosed her as having gastroenteritis and being in a state of severe shock. She sued the manufacturer of the drink for negligence.

Q. Applying the afore-stated principle which of the following derivations is CORRECT as regards liability of the manufacturer in the given situation?

PRINCIPLE: Master is liable for the wrongful acts committed by his servant; provided the acts are committed during the course of employment. However, the master is not liable if the wrongful act committed by his servant has no connection whatsoever with the servants contract of employment.

FACTS: D is a driver employed by M, who is the owner of a company. During the lunch time, D goes to a close by tea shop to have a cup of tea. There he picks up fight with the tea shop owner (T), which resulted in some damage to his shop. T wants to sue M for claiming compensation for the damage caused by the fight.

Q. Which of the following derivations is CORRECT?

PRINCIPLE: Trespass to land means direct interference with the possession of land without lawful justification. Trespass could be committed either by a person himself entering the land of another person or doing the same through some tangible object(s).

FACTS: A throws some stones upon his neighbor’s (B’s) premises.

Q. Which of the following derivations is CORRECT?

PRINCIPLE: Nuisance is an unlawful interference with a person’s use or enjoyment of land or some right over or in connection with it. If the interference is direct, the wrong is trespass; whereas, if the interference is consequential, it amounts to nuisance

FACTS: A plants a tree on his land. However, he allows its branches to project over the land of B.

Q. Which of the following derivations is CORRECT?

PRINCIPLE: Interference with another’s goods in such a way as to deny the latter’s title to the goods amounts to conversion, and thus it is a civil wrong. It is an act intentionally done inconsistent with the owner’s right, though the doer may not know of, or intends to challenge the property or possession of the true owner.

FACTS: R went to a cycle-stand to park his bicycle. Seeing the stand fully occupied, he removed a few bicycles in order to rearrange a portion of the stand and make some space for his bicycle. He parked his bicycle properly, and put back all the bicycles except the one belonging to S. In fact, R was in a hurry, and therefore, he could not put back S’s bicycle. Somebody came on the way and took away S’s bicycle. The watchman of the stand did not take care of it assuming that the bicycle was not parked inside the stand. S filed a suit against R for conversion.

Q. Which of the following derivations is CORRECT?

PRINCIPLE: Whosoever by his act or omission causes environmental pollution shall be held liable for any loss caused by such pollution. It shall be no defence in such cases that all due diligence or reasonable care was taken while carrying out the act or omission in question.

FACTS: Hari is carrying on a chemical and fertilizer industry near a bank of a river. In order to prevent and control any kind of harm to the environment, suitable waste treatment and disposal plants were installed in the factory. Due to some sudden mechanical/ technical problem, these plants ceased to work properly and therefore, caused environmental pollution, which ultimately caused substantial harm to the environment and to the people living around the factory. Victims of such pollution file a suit for suitable remedy.