Contractor Automatically Breaks Control
This trap appears as a wrong-answer choice in 1 active question. Spotting how it is built is the repair: read each example's “why it's attractive” before the “why it's wrong.”
Subject distribution
- Torts1
Example wrong choices
20328_bethlehem_star_drop · TORTS · Choice ANo, because hiring a rigging contractor always defeats Lydia's responsibility for res ipsa.
Why it's attractive
A student sees Timothy's contractor role and assumes Lydia is out. The breaker is the absolute word always, plus Lydia's retained operational responsibility.
Why it's wrong
The word always makes the contractor point an overclaim.
Spot it next time
Circle always and look for retained responsibility facts.
20328_bethlehem_star_drop · TORTS · Choice BNo, because Martha cannot identify the precise rigging defect.
Why it's attractive
A student thinks a negligence plaintiff must identify the precise mechanical failure. The breaker is the Gold Key that res ipsa can supply a circumstantial inference without direct defect proof.
Why it's wrong
It invents a precise-defect-proof requirement that the Gold Key defeats.
Spot it next time
Say: res ipsa is the bridge when exact direct proof is missing.
20328_bethlehem_star_drop · TORTS · Choice CYes, because res ipsa requires judgment for Martha once the overhead prop falls.
Why it's attractive
A student recognizes res ipsa and overcorrects into a plaintiff win. The breaker is that res ipsa permits an inference rather than requiring judgment.
Why it's wrong
It pushes a permissible inference into required judgment.
Spot it next time
Replace requires judgment with permits inference.
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