During the last 2 years, police interviewed M twice after co-workers reported that he was making remarks in support of terrorists. The police concluded that M was not a terrorist. M was not taken into custody or placed on a list that barred him from buying a gun. M later bought a gun and murdered 49 people in a nightclub. Family members of the murder victim want to receive damages from the police.

You have found that there are 4 elements of an unintentional tort:

Duty to care

Negligence

Proximate cause

Damages

Required: a) List each of the 4 items, and in just a sentence for each, describe what it means in general. Don't make any reference to M.

b) You are representing family members. Pick the one item on the list that you believe will be the hardest to prove. Why do you believe that?

Ben was the defendant in a lawsuit. The plaintiff claimed that Ben assaulted her. At the trial, Ben testified that the plaintiff had assaulted him. The jury agreed with the plaintiff and ordered Ben to pay the plaintiff $50,000.

Ben has appealed the decision. He wrote to the appellate court, "All I'm asking for is a new trial. The plaintiff's testimony was not believable. The jury should have believed me. I was telling the truth."

Required: You are a judge on the Court of Appeals. Will you grant Ben's appeal? Why?