• Shopping Cart
  • Store
  • Testimonials
  • Contact
JD Advising

JD Advising

  • Blog
  • Bar Exam
    • Early Bar Prep
      • Free Early Bar Prep (5 Mins a Day)
      • Free 3L Bar Exam Primer Course
    • Bar Exam Private Tutoring
    • Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) Services & Private Tutoring
      • Uniform Bar Exam Course
      • Uniform Bar Exam Private Tutoring
      • MBE Services
        • MBE Course
        • MBE Tutoring
        • Real MBE Questions
        • MBE Favorites
        • MBE Seminar
        • MBE One-Sheets
        • MBE Guide
        • MBE Diagnostic
      • MEE Services
        • MEE Course
        • MEE Seminar
        • MEE One-Sheets
        • MEE Books
        • Bar Exam Essay Feedback
      • MPT Services
        • MPT Guide
        • MPT Seminar
        • MPT Books
        • Bar Exam Essay Feedback
    • New York Bar Exam Services
      • Uniform Bar Exam Course
      • New York Bar Exam Tutoring
      • MBE Services
      • MEE Services
      • MPT Services
    • MBE Services
      • MBE Course
      • MBE Tutoring
      • MBE Favorites
      • MBE Seminar
      • MBE One-Sheets
      • MBE Guide
      • Real MBE Questions
      • MBE Diagnostic
    • MEE Services
      • MEE Course
      • MEE One-Sheets
      • MEE Seminar
      • Bar Exam Essay Feedback
      • MEE Books
    • MPT Services
      • MPT Guide
      • MPT Seminar
      • Bar Exam Essay Feedback
      • MPT Books
    • Michigan Bar Exam Services
      • MICHIGAN BAR EXAM COURSE
      • MICHIGAN BAR EXAM SEMINAR
      • Private Tutoring for the Michigan Bar Exam
      • MICHIGAN BAR ESSAY COURSE
      • MICHIGAN BAR EXAM BOOK
      • Michigan Bar Exam One-Sheets
      • Bar Exam Essay Feedback
    • California Bar Exam Services
      • California Bar Exam Course
      • California Bar & Baby Bar Tutoring
      • California Bar Exam One-Sheets
      • Bar Exam Essay Feedback
      • FYSLE (Baby Bar Exam) One-sheets
      • MBE Services
    • Bar Exam Appeals
    • Bar Exam Consultation
  • Law School
    • Law School Prep Course
    • Law School Tutoring
    • Legal Writing Tutoring
    • Law School Exam Prep
    • Free Guide on How to Succeed in Law School
    • Law School One-sheets
  • MPRE Services
    • MPRE Course
    • MPRE tutoring
    • MPRE Questions
    • Free MPRE Resources
  • Pre Law
    • FREE Law School Prep Course
    • LSAT Tutoring
    • Law School Application Assistance
    • PRELAW GUIDE
    • JD Advising’s Scholars Program
    • Free Guide on How to Succeed in Law School
    • Blog
  • Free Resources
    • Law School Prep Course
    • How to Pass the Bar Exam the First Time
    • Free MBE Guide: How to Pass the MBE
    • What to Do If You Failed the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE)
    • Highly Tested Multistate Essay Exam (MEE) Topics Guide
    • MEE Guide: The Best Way to Study for the Multistate Essay Exam
    • California Bar Exam Essay Guide
    • Guide to Hiring a Bar Exam Tutor
    • MPRE Guide
    • Free Baby Bar Exam Guide: A Guide to Conquering the First-Year Law Students’ Exam (FYLSE)
    • Guide on How to Succeed in Law School
    • Newsletter
    • Free Webinars

MBE Tip of the Day: Torts

MBE tips, Tort MBE tips, MBE tip of the day, MBE Tip of the Day: Torts

Welcome to our MBE tip of the day series. This “MBE tip of the day” post focuses on torts.

You will see 25 scored Tort MBE questions on the Multistate Bar Exam. Most of the questions (about 12-13) will test negligence. In this post, we will review a negligence question together. Note that we have posted several MBE tips (which you can find links to at the bottom of this post) that focus on a specific multiple-choice question that many students answer incorrectly.  If you can master these questions, it could increase your MBE score by that many points if you see any of these issues tested again (which, by the way, you will!). These posts of MBE tips and tricks will not only cover substantive law but also strategy.  So each “MBE tip of the day” post covers one highly-tested area of substantive law as well as an important MBE strategy. You can sign up to receive these posts directly to your inbox for the upcoming administration at the bottom of this page.

MBE Tip of the Day Instructions:

Do your best to answer this torts MBE question (before even looking at the answer choices and before looking at the answer below!) Ask yourself:  What is the subject? What is the legal issue? What is the rule and analysis? What is the conclusion? Try to answer these beginning questions before even reading the answer choices. Then, uncover the answer as well as read more about our MBE tip of the day.

Show the MBE Question...

Torts MBE Question

A local resident arrived at his favorite fast-food restaurant intending to purchase lunch.  When the resident entered the building he accidentally bumped into another patron, causing some of the patron’s drink to spill on the floor.  The collision was not observed by any restaurant employees.  The resident proceeded to order his food.  About one minute later, another customer entered, slipped on the wet floor, and sustained a broken wrist from the fall which necessitated a surgical operation. Arguing that the restaurant was negligent in protecting patrons from dangers, the customer sued the restaurant in tort.

Will the customer succeed in his cause of action?

(A) Yes, because the restaurant breached its duty to inspect the premises and warn of the dangerous condition or make it safe.
(B) Yes, because the restaurant is vicariously liable for the torts of its patrons.
(C) No, because the customer’s true claim is against the resident that caused the drink to spill.
(D) No, because the restaurant did not breach any duty owed to the customer.

Subject: 

Legal Issue:

Legal Rule and Analysis:

Choose an answer choice that most closely matches your conclusion and explain why the others are incorrect:  

Show the Answer to the MBE Question...

Answer to the Torts MBE Question

Subject: Torts

Legal Issue: Is the restaurant liable for negligence?

Legal Rule and Analysis:  An invitee is a person that is entering a place held open to the public or is entering the premises with the purpose of conveying an economic or business-related benefit on the premises owner.  Premises possessors must exercise ordinary care to protect invitees from dangers that they either know or should know of.  Premises possessors owe invitees the duty to reasonably inspect the premises for dangerous conditions.

In the question at hand, the customer is clearly an invitee because he entered the property to convey an economic benefit to the owner.  The restaurant, therefore, had the duty to warn or make safe any dangers and to reasonably inspect the property.  However, in this case, there are no facts to indicate the restaurant acted unreasonably.  The spill occurred merely 1 minute prior to the accident and it would not be unreasonable for the spill to remain undiscovered by the restaurant at that time. Further, the facts state that no employees observed the collision.

Conclusion: The restaurant is not liable for negligence as no duty was breached.

Look at the answer choices provided. Choose an answer choice that matches your conclusion. Review the other answer choices provided.  The answer choice (D) is therefore correct. (A) is incorrect because there was no breach of duty. The duty is simply to behave reasonably and inspect the premises. The restaurant is not strictly liable for all harms that occur on the premises. (B) is incorrect because while the restaurant is liable for the torts of its employees in many cases, the restaurant is generally not liable for torts committed by customers (unless the restaurant itself responds inappropriately to those torts, which did not occur here). (C) is incorrect because just because there is a second guilty party does not negate any liability of the restaurant. Indeed, the customer could go after one or both parties (but could not recover twice for the same injury).

MBE Tip: Look for incorrect statements of law that allow you to eliminate an answer choice immediately.  Even if you don’t understand the fact pattern or are confused by how to apply the law in a specific situation, you can still increase your chances of getting the answer right through the process of elimination.  Take the question above. You may be immediately able to eliminate (B) or (C) if you understand the basics of vicarious liability. If so, only two or three possible answers remain.  A one in two or one in three chance of getting the answer right is certainly better than one in four!  By contrast, if you don’t know the law, you might first pick answer choice (D) (the correct one) but then second-guess yourself and choose (B) or (C) instead because they “sound better.” This is why knowing the law by itself is so important!

Show Summary of the Two Key Takeaway Points for the Day

Key Takeaways and MBE tips from prior posts

Takeaway for the Law:  A premises owner owes invitees the duty to reasonably inspect the property, but will not be held liable if there are no facts indicating unreasonable behavior.

MBE Tip: Memorizing the rules will allow you to immediately eliminate choices with incorrect statements of law, thereby improving your chances of getting the answer right!

Want to see Past MBE Tip of the Day Posts? 

If you would like to see “MBE tip of the day” posts from prior days, please check out all of our past MBE tip of the day archives here! We have several of them and we list them by subject!

Looking for additional MBE help?

 If you are looking for MBE help, read our 10 expert MBE tips here. Check out our step-by-step guide to improving your MBE score, please review this post for an overview of tips. If you would like to have the next MBE tip emailed to you when we come out with another one, please fill out the form below.

  • Looking for MBE Help?

    Free or discounted resources

    • A five-star MBE course that provides you with the best instruction, outlines, and questions. Preview our course for free here! (on sale now!)
    • Free popular bar exam guides (an MBE guide, a guide on how to pass the bar exam, and a guide to hiring a bar exam tutor) written by bar exam experts!
    • Free bar exam webinars taught by top bar exam experts

    Other resources

    Our most POPULAR and highly rated bar exam resources are:

    • Our On Demand Bar Exam Course (on sale now!)
    • MBE private tutoring for those seeking one-on-one help to pass the MBE.
    • Real MBE questions —the best practice questions available!
    • Our MBE favorites series, which dissects the “favorite” issues the MBE tests. You have instant access to them online!
    • An MBE guide, which has a guaranteed 7-point score increase.

    You can read more about our MBE services here.

Posted in
Bar Exam
Related posts
Bar Exam MPT Templates for Common Tasks
Which States are Delaying or Modifying the July 2021 Bar Exam?
Which States are Delaying or Modifying the July 2021 Bar Exam?
Efficiently Study For The MBE
How To I Efficiently Study For The MBE?

Search

Categories

Categories

TAGS

PRIVACY POLICY
TERMS OF USE
EMPLOYMENT
WE CARE
PUBLIC INTEREST

© Copyright 2021 JD Advising

Website Management Provided by Genacom
MENU
  • Blog
  • Bar Exam
    • Early Bar Prep
      • Free Early Bar Prep (5 Mins a Day)
      • Free 3L Bar Exam Primer Course
    • Bar Exam Private Tutoring
    • Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) Services & Private Tutoring
      • Uniform Bar Exam Course
      • Uniform Bar Exam Private Tutoring
      • MBE Services
        • MBE Course
        • MBE Tutoring
        • Real MBE Questions
        • MBE Favorites
        • MBE Seminar
        • MBE One-Sheets
        • MBE Guide
        • MBE Diagnostic
      • MEE Services
        • MEE Course
        • MEE Seminar
        • MEE One-Sheets
        • MEE Books
        • Bar Exam Essay Feedback
      • MPT Services
        • MPT Guide
        • MPT Seminar
        • MPT Books
        • Bar Exam Essay Feedback
    • New York Bar Exam Services
      • Uniform Bar Exam Course
      • New York Bar Exam Tutoring
      • MBE Services
      • MEE Services
      • MPT Services
    • MBE Services
      • MBE Course
      • MBE Tutoring
      • MBE Favorites
      • MBE Seminar
      • MBE One-Sheets
      • MBE Guide
      • Real MBE Questions
      • MBE Diagnostic
    • MEE Services
      • MEE Course
      • MEE One-Sheets
      • MEE Seminar
      • Bar Exam Essay Feedback
      • MEE Books
    • MPT Services
      • MPT Guide
      • MPT Seminar
      • Bar Exam Essay Feedback
      • MPT Books
    • Michigan Bar Exam Services
      • MICHIGAN BAR EXAM COURSE
      • MICHIGAN BAR EXAM SEMINAR
      • Private Tutoring for the Michigan Bar Exam
      • MICHIGAN BAR ESSAY COURSE
      • MICHIGAN BAR EXAM BOOK
      • Michigan Bar Exam One-Sheets
      • Bar Exam Essay Feedback
    • California Bar Exam Services
      • California Bar Exam Course
      • California Bar & Baby Bar Tutoring
      • California Bar Exam One-Sheets
      • Bar Exam Essay Feedback
      • FYSLE (Baby Bar Exam) One-sheets
      • MBE Services
    • Bar Exam Appeals
    • Bar Exam Consultation
  • Law School
    • Law School Prep Course
    • Law School Tutoring
    • Legal Writing Tutoring
    • Law School Exam Prep
    • Free Guide on How to Succeed in Law School
    • Law School One-sheets
  • MPRE Services
    • MPRE Course
    • MPRE tutoring
    • MPRE Questions
    • Free MPRE Resources
  • Pre Law
    • FREE Law School Prep Course
    • LSAT Tutoring
    • Law School Application Assistance
    • PRELAW GUIDE
    • JD Advising’s Scholars Program
    • Free Guide on How to Succeed in Law School
    • Blog
  • Free Resources
    • Law School Prep Course
    • How to Pass the Bar Exam the First Time
    • Free MBE Guide: How to Pass the MBE
    • What to Do If You Failed the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE)
    • Highly Tested Multistate Essay Exam (MEE) Topics Guide
    • MEE Guide: The Best Way to Study for the Multistate Essay Exam
    • California Bar Exam Essay Guide
    • Guide to Hiring a Bar Exam Tutor
    • MPRE Guide
    • Free Baby Bar Exam Guide: A Guide to Conquering the First-Year Law Students’ Exam (FYLSE)
    • Guide on How to Succeed in Law School
    • Newsletter
    • Free Webinars