Question

Please identify each tort in the facts above.   Then identify the elements of the tort and the relevant facts that support each element.  

Facts:

Just for fun, “Floyd Checkov” decided to fly to Los Angeles and rent a car to tour the city. He was a low-key, whimsical sort of person who was very wealthy. At the airport, while departing the airplane using steps down to the tarmac, he noticed a small dog running rapidly toward him. Being a lifelong dog lover, he opened his arms to hug the dog when it arrived. However, the dog was not friendly. It bit him on the arm, causing considerable pain but no puncture wounds or damage to his clothing. Floyd nudged the dog away from him and proceeded toward the airport arrival grate.

Meanwhile, the owner of the dog, a famous movie star who had taken the dog aboard and let it run freely after arrival, screamed loudly at Floyd in front of the startled plane passengers, which included a newspaper reporter, a television reporter with his “live” camera, and a local politician. As loud as he could, he screamed “Why did you attack my poor, defenseless dog foo-foo? He is old and suffers from arthritis, confusion, and narcolepsy, and will now undoubtedly require a veterinarian visit, canine psychological counseling, and extensive physical and psychological therapy from veterinary specialists across the country. He’ll just never be the same—and, you know what, this is attempted murder! Leave him alone!”

The local politician later told the television reporter that “Our fair city is a peaceful, law abiding society. It does not tolerate animal abuse of any kind or nature, especially from creepy people like Mr. Checkov who are never welcome here and ought to be locked up in prison for life as a safeguard to civilized people. We will do everything in our power to bring this criminal to justice and put him behind bars.”

The newspaper reporter recorded all of the above statements and took several photographs of the entire event. The reporter then sold the story and photos to a famous newspaper, the Great City Times. Without asking Checkov for comment, the Great City Times published the pictures on its first page, under a caption that read “Idiot goes on rampage, attacking small dog of famous movie star.”

Meanwhile, a local hotel manager, who was viewing the events from his office at the top floor via a camera, fainted when he saw what had happened. In so doing, he fell forward and hit the hotel fire alarm, triggering all of the hotel fire alarms. Panicked people could hear the alarms in the street. One person rushed quickly away, but unfortunately ran into a group of government secret service officials protecting the President of the United States. Thinking that this was an “attack” on the President, the secret service officials hurried about in a panic and bumped into pedestrians causing a number of minor injuries. Much worse yet, they mistakenly dropped the “nuclear football” that is always carried with the President and contains the launching devices used to defend the United States in an attack. The drop caused the “nuclear football” to launch missiles to a remote area in Utah, killing a rare heard of “Big Horn” sheep and frightening local backpackers who sustained mild radiation poisoning from the blast and personal injuries when they tried to run from the scene.

Just to be funny, a newspaper reporter who witnessed the events at the hotel and did not know Checkov rushed back to the Great City Times newspaper and submitted a story entitled “Idiot Checkov Messes up Once Again.” The newspaper published the story immediately without first reviewing it, and gave the reporter a pay raise.

Answer 1

1. Tort of negligence - The movie star is laible under th tort of negligence to allow its dog to run around, which bite Checkov.

2. Intentional tort ( Libel) - This includes the wrongful defamation of an individual by newspaper "The City Times" without examining the facts and knowing that he has been wrongly accused of assaulting the dog. It is again laible for the same offence of defaming Checkov again without ascertaining the facts. The same tort applies to the local politician who defamed Checkov by reporting the matter to television and falsely accused him.