True or False

1* Liability for the consequences of negligence are limited to physical harm to persons or property

2* A person can be held concurrently liable for both a breach of contract and in the tort of negligence

3* Any harm suffered that but for a person's negligence would not have arisen has to be compensatedby the negligent party

4* A professional indemnity insurance policy is designed to bear the costs of defending an actionagainst the policy holder for his/her negligence but not to cover the cost of damages if it is provens/he was negligent

5* Designers are particularly vulnerable to claims for negligence because their designs may lead todefective work or even structural failure

6* Just because a design is defective does not mean it was done negligently, for example the state ofindustry knowledge when the design was produced was such that it was believed to be satisfactory

7* Quantity surveyors are never held liable in negligence because they do not provide design services

8* If a quantity surveyor negligently provides a client with a cost estimate for construction work that is fartoo low, so when tenders are called, the bids are much higher, the client can accept the lowest bidand successfully claim the difference in price between the lowest bid and the quantity surveyor'sestimate of cost, as damages

9* Builders are less likely to be found liable in negligence when working under a contract to follow adesign provided by the building owner than they are to be found liable for breach of contract becauseany deviation from the design leading to defective work or structural failure is a breach of contractand the builder is liable for the consequences without any need to prove the builder was negligent

10* Even when a builder accurately follows a design produced by the building owner it does not followthat the builder cannot be held liable to some extent for the defective work that results

11* A builder is in a difficult position when told to follow a design the builder believes to be defectiveunless the builder makes it clear it only does so on the basis that the building owner indemnifiesthe builder against any adverse consequences of doing so, otherwise when problems arise, thethe builder may be held responsible for proceeding according to a design it knew was defective

12* A designer with limited experience is not required to perform to the same standard of care anan experienced practitioner must work to in order to avoid being held liable for negligence

13* An agent is someone who acts for a principal and the agent can bind the principal by his/her actions,for example the supervisor on a building site acts as agent for the building company employinghim/her and can agree on the building company's behalf to do extra work for the principal

14* If an agent acts beyond the authority the principal gives the agent but it appears to a third party thatthe agent is acting correctly, then the agent's wrongful actions nevertheless bind the principal

15*An example of an agent binding his/her principal for their wrongful action is a real estate agent sellinga house for the owner, the agent misrepresents the location of the boundaries of the property toa potential purchaser who buys the house in reliance on where the agent says the boundaries are,later discovers the site is much smaller than it was represented to be by the agent, the purchaser thensues the vendor [not the agent] for misrepresentation, and seeks damages to compensate for thelesser value of the house

16* The instructions a principal gives to an agent to act for him/her are a warranty of authority

17* Breach of a warranty given in respect to the sale of goods gives the injured party the right tocompensation but breach of a condition also allows the sale and purchase agreement to be cancelled

18* In a business partnership each partner acts as agent for every other partner as his/her principalwhich is why each partner is responsible for the torts committed by any other partner when it appearss/he has acted according to the business conducted by the partnership for example a firm of architectsin which one partner negligently designs a defective building and the other partners are also liablefor the consequences

19* Partners in an ordinary partnership are only liable for the value of their shares in the partnershipwhen issues of legal liability arise for any reason

20* In the order of development of English law, rules of equity preceded the common law

21* In NZ the common law and the rules of equity were always applied in the same Court

22* The role of equity in New Zealand has largely been supplanted by legislation

23* Common law developed in the courts of England by the judges who followed earlier decisions withsimilar facts and circumstances and by analogy determined principles to apply to similar situationsit is arguable whether judges today make law or simply discover it

24* A precedent is a decision made by a judge in court with sufficient authority to serve as an example tobe followed by other judges. Lower courts follow the decisions made by judges in higher courts

25* The principle of "stare decisis" is a fundamental aspect of the doctrine of judicial precedent wherebythe courts follow earlier decisions. It means "look intently at the decision"

26* Civil laws relating to wrongs or harm done by one person to another person or his/her property isknown as the 'law of torts'

27* There are a number of individual torts including negligence, nuisance, trespass, defamation, and themost common of all, invasion of privacy

28* If the nature of an act or omission is recognised by the law as being a tort, the person causing theharm is liable for the consequences in a civil action

29* Liability in contract, criminal law, or breach of some statutory obligation may render a person liablefor his/her acts or omissions independent of liability in tort

30* Private nuisance concerns the rights of the public's use of land such as blocking a highway

31* If a person who occupies land unreasonably interferes with an occupier of nearby or neighbouringland and his/her proper use and enjoyment of the land s/he occupies, then that unreasonableinterference is the tort of public nuisance.

32* The common law only developed two forms of trespass, 'trespass to goods' and 'trespass to land'

33* TheAccident Compensation Act 2001 compensates for accidental injury to persons withoutthem having to prove their injuries were caused by someone's fault such as a negligent employer, andhaving to sue for damages in court.

34* The 'no fault' compensation scheme of the Accident Insurance Act 2001 allows injured parties tobe compensated for their injuries but effectively removes their right to sue the person who causedtheir injuries, unless they are claiming "exemplary damages"

35* 'Trespass to the land' only gave rise to a civil action until the Trespass Act 1980 was enacted

36* Negligence is a word used in the legal sense that in the ordinary sense of the word meanscarelessness. Basically a person who is careless thereby causing harm to others by his/her acts oromissions may be held liable for the consequences.

37* The tort of negligence was one of the first torts to be established in the English legal system

38* It is usually a straightforward process in court to decide whether someone accused of being negligentwas actually negligent under the law

39* In the absence of a court saying that a person owes a 'duty of care', a person will not be liable for theconsequences of his/her acts or omissions in the tort of negligence

40* A duty of care is owed to the 'world at large'

41* If a claimant brings a claim for the tort of negligence the court will first establish whether therespondent owes a duty of care in those circumstances and then decide whether his/her acts oromissions fell below the required standard of care so at to make him/her liable in negligence to theclaimant. The standard required is subjective according to the defendant's personal circumstances.

42* Originally the tort of negligence was restricted to acts or omissions causing physical harm to personsor property but in 1963 the English House of Lords held that a person giving negligent advice couldbe held liable for loss in value of property I.e. economic loss without physical harm.

43* The tort of defamation consists of an oral statement made in private that lowers a person's standingamongst other optional factors.

44* The only remedy available for the tort of defamation is an award of damages

45* The substantial difference between a morally binding agreement and a legally binding contract is thatthe former has an intention by the parties to it to create legal relations whereas the latter does not

46* Apart from one or two exceptions set out in legislation, which should include some building work acontract does not have to be in writing to be enforceable at law

47* A contract can consist of an exchange of money for services or goods by the actual exchange itselfe.g. buying something in a shop, or it can consist of an exchange of promises where delivery andpayment are postponed so an action for breach can be based on either of two grounds, breach ofterms by failing to carry out the contract correctly or breach of promise by a failure to perform at all

48* A contract exists when the following factors can be identified in an agreement: intention to createlegal relations; offer and acceptance; capacity to contract; genuine consent; absence of duress;legality of purpose; and consensus ad idem (I.e. agreement on what has been agreed to).

49* Freedom to contract on any terms the parties think fit is an important element of contract although inpractice it can lead to unfortunate results where for example there may be inequality of bargainingpower so that one party is taken unfair advantage of

50* In addition to express terms in a contract a court will imply terms into it if such terms are in commonuse in the trade to which the contract is related, regardless of whether such terms are essential forthe operation of the contract.