Product Liability Case Study: Answer Key

Exercise 1: prepositions

a) to 
b) in 
c) from
d) between 
e) towards 
f) before 
g) at 
h) for 
i) by 
j) on 

Exercise 2: anagrams

1) tort
2) proceedings
3) trial
4) jury
5) litigation

Exercise 3: verbs

1) heard 
2) ordered 
3) suffered 
4) lasted 
5) claimed 
6) initiated 
7) accusing 
8) Applying
9) found 
10) cited

Exercise 4: true or false?

(1) false (she was sitting in the passenger seat of her grandson’s car)
(2) false (she spent eight days in hospital and lost nine kilograms in weight)
(3) true (the $20,000 offer was to cover actual and anticipated – i.e. future – medical expenses)
(4) true (the coffee was served hot because it was mostly bought by commuters who wanted it to stay hot during their journey)
(5) false (the parties settled the case out of court)

Exercise 5

No answers given.

Product Liability Case Study & Exercise: Liebeck v McDonalds (1994)

Read the summary of case of Liebeck v McDonald’s Restaurants below and then try the exercises on it.

Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants (also known informally as the ‘McDonald's coffee case’ and the ‘hot coffee lawsuit’) was an American product liability case (1) ________ in 1994. It triggered debate over tort reform after the jury awarded $160,000 (in addition to $2.7 million in punitive damages) (a) ____ the claimant, who had spilled hot coffee purchased from a McDonald’s restaurant over herself, causing third degree burns.

The facts of the case were that (b) _____ 1992, Stella Liebeck, a 79-year-old woman (c) ______ Albuquerque, (2) ________ a coffee from the drive-through window of a local McDonald's restaurant. She was sitting in the passenger seat of her grandson’s car, put the coffee cup (d) _______ her knees and pulled the lid (e) ______ her to open it. In the process, she spilled the contents of the whole cup on her lap, causing extensive scalding. She was taken to hospital, where it was found that she had (3) _______ third-degree burns on six percent of her skin, as well as other lesser burns. These had to be corrected with skin grafts. Her stay in the hospital (4) _______ eight days, during which she lost nine kilograms in weight. Two years of medical treatment followed.

Liebeck (5) _______ $20,000 from McDonald's to cover her actual and anticipated medical expenses, but the company was only prepared to offer $800. When McDonald’s refused to increase its offer, Lieback (6) _______ proceedings in New Mexico District Court (7) ________ McDonald's of ‘gross negligence’ for selling coffee that was ‘unreasonably dangerous’ and ‘defectively manufactured’. 

The trial took place during August 1994 (f) ______ Judge Robert H. Scott. Liebeck's attorneys had discovered that McDonald's required franchisees to serve coffee at 82-88 degrees centigrade, a temperature (g) _______ which coffee would cause a third-degree burn in two to seven seconds. They argued that coffee should never be served hotter than 60 degrees centigrade, and pointed out that a number of other establishments served coffee at a much lower temperature than McDonald's. In its defence, McDonald's argued that the coffee was served hot through its drive-through windows because those who bought it were typically commuters who wanted to drive a long distance with the coffee; the high initial temperature would keep the coffee hot during the trip. 

(8) _______ the principles of comparative negligence, the jury (9) _______ that McDonald's was 80% responsible (h) ______ the incident and Liebeck 20% responsible. Although the coffee cup had a warning on it, the jury decided that this was not large enough and insufficient. They awarded Liebeck US$200,000 in compensatory damages, which was then reduced (i) ____ 20% to $160,000. They also awarded her $2.7 million in punitive damages, which the judge reduced to $480,000. The decision was appealed by both McDonald's and Liebeck in December 1994, but the parties settled out of court for an undisclosed amount of less than $600,000.

The case has been (10) _______ by many as a glaring example of frivolous litigation (ABC News called it ‘the poster child of excessive lawsuits’), while others have taken a more sympathetic view based (j) ____ the actual facts of the case.

Exercise 1: prepositions

Insert the correct preposition from the list numbered (1) to (10) below into the gaps lettered from (a) to (j) in the passage. 

1) before
2) in
3) on
4) between
5) at
6) by 
7) towards
8) from
9) to
10) for

Exercise 2: anagrams

An anagram is a type of word play achieved by rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase, using all the letters once. The examples below are not pure anagrams since the ‘words’ do not mean anything in their current forms. However, once rearranged they reveal themselves to be nouns used in the case summary above.

1) TTRO
2) SGNORPEENIDC
3) ALTRI
4) NOTIGATILI
5) YUJR

Exercise 3: verbs

Insert the following verbs in the appropriate gaps in the passage given above. Note that in order to achieve a correct answer it will, In many cases, be necessary to adjust the form of the given verb into an appropriate tense (e.g. find might be changed to  finding, found or yet another form as necessary).  

order
initiate
cite 
claim
suffer
find
accuse
hear
apply
last

Exercise 4: true or false?

Are the statements below true or false?

(1) Stella Liebeck spilt hot coffee over herself while sitting in a McDonald’s restaurant. (true/false)
(2) She had to stay in the hospital for six days and lost eight kilograms in weight. (true/false)
(3) The sum offered by McDonald’s to Stella Liebeck was intended to cover medical expenses she expected to incur in the future due to the incident as well as those already incurred. (true/false) 
(4) During the trial, the defendant company argued that there were good reasons why take-away coffee should sometimes be served hotter than 60 degrees centigrade. (true/false)
(5) At the appeal hearing, the court reduced the damages award to under $600,000. (true/false)

Exercise 5: terminology research

Research the meaning of the following terms used in the passage.

1) poster child
2) frivolous litigation
3) punitive damages
4) tort reform
5) comparative negligence

How to Use Citations

Here are a few notes on the use of citations in legal text.

References to statutes

The names of statutes should be written without a comma between the name of the statute and the year it was enacted. For example, the ‘Children Act 1995’.

The word ‘the’ should not form part of the name of a statute. Therefore, one should write ‘the Single European Act 1986’ and not ‘The Single European Act 1986’.

When referring to a section of a statute write ‘section’ in full using a lowercase ‘s’ (unless starting a sentence). For example, ‘section 2 of the Sales of Goods Act 1979’.

When referring to a particular sub-section of a statute do not use the word ‘sub-section’. Use the word ‘section’ followed by the relevant number and letter, for example, ‘section 722(1) of the Companies Act 1985’.

References to cases

Case citations fulfil two functions. They name the case and also tell the reader where a report of the judgment can be found. The name of the case itself appears in italics, with the word ‘versus’ replaced by ‘v’. The notation which appears after the name of the case indicates where the case report can be found

For example, the citation Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562 (HL) tells us that the case was decided by the UK House of Lords (HL), involved a claimant called Donoghue and a defendant called Stevenson, and can be found in the 1932 volume of the series of the Law Reports called the ‘Appeals Cases’ at page 562.

Footnotes in academic texts

When citing works in footnotes, the following rules apply:

• The names of authors are generally given with the surname first followed by initials. For example: Rutherford, T. B. , Taylor, R. D. and Footner, B. A.

• The names of individual articles are generally given in quotation marks, with only the first letter of the first word capitalised. For example: ‘The future of fossil fuels’.

• The names of publications are italicised without quotation marks, followed by the year of publication and the name of the publisher. For example: The Environmental Law Review, Vol. 35 (Dogford University Press, 2006).

• The page number or numbers relevant to the point raised in the text are given at the end of the footnote.

Therefore, a footnote citing the information given above would appear as follows: Rutherford, T. B. , Taylor, R. D. and Footner, B. A., ‘The future of fossil fuels’, The Environmental Law Review, Vol. 35 (Dogford University Press, 2006) at p. 35.

Standard bibliographical abbreviations

Here is a list of some of the standard bibliographical abbreviations used when citing works in footnotes.

and others (et alii): et al.
edition: edn.
editions: edns.
editor: ed.
editors: eds.
in the same place (ibidem): ibid.
line: l.
lines: ll.
number: No.
page 35: p. 35
pages 35-43: pp. 35-43
paragraph: para.
paragraphs: paras.
revised/revision: rev.
translator/translated: trans.
volume: Vol.

For further guidance on citing legal sources, have a look at the Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities (‘OSCOLA’), which can be found at www.law.ox.ac.uk/published/oscola.

For further legal English materials, try the Legal English Store.

Subject-Verb Agreement: Guidelines and Examples

When relating the subject of a sentence with the main verb, the basic rule is that a singular subject takes a singular verb, while a plural subject takes a plural verb. The difficulty lies in knowing whether the subject and verb are singular or plural.

Here are some specific rules together with examples of usage. Note that this is by no means an exhaustive list.

(1) When the subject of a sentence is composed of two or more nouns or pronouns connected by and, use a plural verb. For example:

The attorney and her assistant are in court today.

(2) Two singular subjects connected by or or nor require a singular verb. For example:

My lawyer or my accountant is attending the meeting today. 

(3) Two singular subjects connected by either/or or neither/nor require a singular verb. For example:

Neither my lawyer nor my accountant is available.

(4) When a singular subject is connected by or or nor to a plural subject, put the plural subject last and use a plural verb. For example:

Your signature as well as those of the other parties go at the bottom of the document. 

(5) In circumstances where the subject is separated from the verb by words such as along with, as well as, besides, or not, disregard these expressions when deciding which verb form to use. For example:

My lawyer, along with my accountant and one of his colleagues, is expected to arrive later. 

(6) Ignore these expressions when determining whether to use a singular or plural verb.

(7) The pronouns each, everyone, every one, everybody, anyone, anybody, someone, and somebody are singular and require singular verbs. For example:

Each of the candidates is capable of the doing the job well.

(8) The phrase the number should be followed by a singular verb, but the phrase a number should be followed by a plural verb. For example:

The number of different companies involved in this process is five.

But:

A number of different companies are involved in this process.

(9) A singular verb should be used with sums of money or time periods. For example:

Five years is a long time to wait for a court hearing.

(10) Nouns ending in ‘s’ normally require plural verbs but not always. The words news, mathematics, and dollars (among others) require singular verbs. For example:

I'm afraid the news is bad.

Criminal Law Case Study: Answer Key

Here is the answer key for the previous post.

Exercise 1
1) true
2) false
3) false
4) false
5) true

Exercise 2

(1)-(c)
(2)- (a)
(3)-(b)
(4)-(d)
(5)-(c)
(6)-(a)
(7)-(d)
(8)-b)
(9)-(a)
(10)-(d)

Exercise 3

(1) of
(2) from
(3) to
(4) after
(5) on
(6) with
(7) by
(8) on
(9) for
(10) to

Criminal Law Case Study: Exercises

Case summary: R v Arnaouti

Read the case summary below and then try the exercises on it. Refer to the 'answer key' post for the answers.

In 2005, a British court jailed four members (1) ____ a counterfeit money gang for a combined total of 21 years. The gang, whose members hailed (2)_____ Liverpool and Manchester, had printed more than £2.5m worth of fake £10 notes and $3.5m worth of counterfeit US notes. Its members were brought (3) _____ justice as the result of a joint operation between the National Crime Squad and the US Secret Service. The suspicions of the US authorities had been aroused (4) _____ British holidaymakers arriving in Florida started trying to pass fake dollars.

The scam was described as ‘sophisticated and audacious’. Det Supt Lewis of the National Crime Squad commented as follows:

‘This is one of the most sophisticated counterfeit printing operations we've uncovered in recent years. These were good quality banknotes, good quality travellers' cheques which could have had a very significant undermining effect on those economies.’

The crime was uncovered after police raided a printing firm in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, in December 2002. The printing firm turned out to be bogus – a mere front for the counterfeiting operation. Police found counterfeiting machinery (5) ______ the premises, including a four-colour printer, a paper guillotine, papers and inks, as well as a number of holdalls packed (6) ____ fake notes.

One interesting feature of the case was the role played (7) _____ an investigative team from the BBC. During a six-month surveillance operation, a team of undercover BBC reporters infiltrated the gang. Posing as crooks, they were able to secretly film the gang producing £10 and £20 notes and $100 bills.

Commenting (8) _____ this aspect of the case, Judge Bernard Lever said the BBC ‘must ensure they are extremely careful in vetting undercover operatives and must understand the frustrations of police involved in the other matter’. He added: ‘However, senior managers and employed journalists at the BBC acted in good faith and two people sentenced today were sentenced on evidence from the BBC.’

The ringleader of the gang, Anatasios Arnaouti, a 37-year-old Mancunian, was jailed (9) ____ eight years for conspiracy to make counterfeit currency, conspiracy to pass counterfeit currency and conspiracy (10) ____ handle stolen goods.

The judge told him he was a highly intelligent and devious criminal, adding: ‘You were the instigator and prime mover and this massive enterprise was your brainchild.’

Exercise 1: true or false?

Read the case summary and decide whether the statements below are true or false.

1) One of the members of the counterfeiting gang was jailed for a period of eight years. (true/false)
2) The gang’s counterfeiting operations took place both in Manchester and in Florida. (true/false)
3) When the police raided a printing firm in Ashton-under-Lyne in 2002, they caught the gang in the act of manufacturing fake banknotes. (true/false)
4) Det Supt Lewis did not think that the counterfeiting operation could have had a damaging effect on the economic situation in Britain and the USA. (true/false)
5) The judge in the case warned the BBC to be careful when selecting people to take part in undercover operations. (true/false)

Exercise 2: synonyms

The words and phrases listed from (1) to (10) below are all used in the case report. Decide which of the alternative words listed from (a) to (d) is the most appropriate synonym for them in the context of the case report.

1) bogus
a) untrue
b) imitation
c) sham
d) fictitious

2) holidaymaker
a) tourist
b) tour operator
c) hedonist
d) travel agent

3) vet
a) review
b) check out
c) scrutinise
d) treat

4) in good faith
a) with devotion
b) devoutly
c) reasonably
d) with honest belief and intention

5) devious
a) indirect
b) very naughty
c) cunning
d) circuitous

6) instigator
a) leader
b) mentor
c) hooligan
d) agitator

7) holdall
a) box
b) suitcase
c) drawer
d) bag

8) crook
a) culprit
b) criminal
c) malefactor
d) delinquent

9) brainchild
a) idea
b) prodigy
c) fault
d) fancy

10) jail
a) remand
b) suspend
c) sentence
d) imprison

Exercise 3: prepositions

Prepositions are words used with a noun or pronoun which show place, position, time or method. Prepositions such as to, in, from, between, after, before etc. normally come before a noun or pronoun and give information about how, when or where something has happened (‘she arrived before lunch’, ‘I travelled to London’).

Insert the correct prepositions in the gaps numbered from (1) to (10) in the case report.

List of Prepositions Used in Legal English

Here is a non-exhaustive list of prepositions in common usage in legal English, together with examples of usage. Note that prepositions are sometimes used in twos (pursuant to, owing to, due to etc) and even threes (as far as, by means of, in accordance with etc), and examples of prepositions strung together in this way are also included below.

One word

about – the lawyer was about to go into court when the telephone rang
above – please refer to the paragraph above which deals with the insurance arrangements
across – she went across to the court to issue the proceedings
after – the contract was signed after the parties had agreed the prices to be paid for the goods
against – the company began trademark infringement proceedings against one of its competitors
along – the client did not go along with the advice given by the lawyer
among (or amongst) – a copy of the plan of the property was found among the papers in the file
around – we expect the purchase price to be around €500,000
at – the contract stipulates that the goods must arrive at the depot at 10.00 on 13 July
before – the lawyer appeared before the judge in court and argued her client’s case
behind – it seemed likely that a criminal gang was behind the thefts from the local garage
below – the company was not prepared to consider offers below a threshold of $3 million
beneath – the Emperor of Ruritania considered it beneath his dignity to open a supermarket in Inverness
between – an agreement was reached between Haxter Ltd and Tollby Ltd on 14 September 2011
beyond – it is important not to go beyond what was agreed without discussing the matter with the client first
by – the invoice must be paid by the client by 3 May
concerning – we have received further information concerning the warranties to be included in the share purchase agreement
despite – we have instructions to proceed with the case despite the points raised in the defence
down – the lawyer advised her client to turn down the offer made by the defendant
during – a great deal of new evidence emerged during the course of the testimony given by the witness
except – this restriction applies to all applications except those already received by the company
excluding – the contract contains a provision excluding liability in certain cases of default
following – the following items must be supplied no later than 25 January
for – payment for the goods shall be made on delivery
from – we have now received the necessary undertakings from the defendant’s lawyer
in – the price list is set out in schedule 1
including – we seek delivery of all the missing parts, including those currently stored in the defendant’s warehouse
into – the clerk asked the parties to go back into court following the adjournment
near – the court is near to the cathedral
next – the client agreed to bring the documents to the next meeting
of – the attorney was a member of various professional organisations
off – certain discussions took place between the lawyers off the record
on – the new law on employment contracts comes into force tomorrow
opposite – the court is located opposite the cathedral in the central square
out – the lawyers worked out the terms of a compromise agreement
over – a dispute arose between the landowners over the positioning of the boundary
per – a travel allowance of €40 per day was paid to the employee
plus – the invoice came to €400 plus VAT
regarding – negotiations took place regarding usage of the storage facilities owned by the company
since – there have been a number of significant developments in the case since the previous court hearing
than – the amount of damages awarded by the court was more than the lawyer had anticipated
through – the lawyer read through the papers in the file
to – delivery shall be made to an address notified by the purchaser to the vendor
towards – a great deal of progress has been made towards settlement of the case, but a little more time is required in order to reach final agreement between the parties
under – the witness gave evidence under oath
until – it is unlikely that the case will be settled until the morning of the hearing
up – he brought up the question of our fees again
upon – the proceedings were served upon the defendant yesterday
via – all contact with the claimant was conducted via her lawyer
with – he was charged with murder
within – the goods must be delivered within 14 days of signature of the contract
without – the total amount of the invoice is €30,450 without VAT


Two words

according to – according to the contract, rent must be paid on the third day of each month
ahead of – we should schedule a further meeting ahead of the next court hearing
apart from – there are no further matters to be resolved apart from the copyright issue
as of – the new law on employment is in force as of midnight tonight
as regards – as regards payment of our fee, we can offer an instalment option
aside from – there are one or two issues we need to address aside from the question of trademarks
because of – this litigation arose because of the unreasonable position taken by the defendant
close to – the case is now close to settlement, but there are several issues still to be resolved
due to – the office is closed tomorrow due to a public holiday
except for
far from – the contract is far from ready to be signed, since a number of amendments need to be made to it
instead of – overtime worked by the employee shall be compensated by extra holiday instead of payment
out of – payment was made out of the company’s account
owing to – the advice given to the client was amended owing to a recent decision of the Court of Appeal
prior to – the consent of the bank must be obtained prior to the share transfer being made
pursuant to – the company changed its name pursuant to the new legislation on company names
regardless of – our client wishes to seek an injunction against his neighbour regardless of whether the building work is suspended or not
subsequent to – the court’s decision was handed down subsequent to the new law coming into force
thanks to – a satisfactory outcome was achieved in the case, thanks to the meticulous work undertaken by the claimant’s lawyers
that of – one issue still remains to be resolved – that of the payment method to be used

Three words

as far as – the summons has not yet been served as far as I know
as well as – the vendor must deliver the software as well as the hardware no later than 10 December
by means of – payment shall be made by means of direct bank transfer
in accordance with – the sum of $45,000 must be paid on 5 October in accordance with the court order
in addition to – certain legal documents require the signature of witnesses as well as the parties in order to be valid
in case of – in case of fire the lifts should not be used
in lieu of – the employee shall receive time off in lieu of payment
in spite of – the assignment was completed by the agreed deadline in spite of several unforeseen difficulties that arose along the way
on account of – the firm’s usual practice is to ask clients to pay a certain sum on account of costs prior to carrying out any work for them
on behalf of – the lawyer appeared on behalf of her client at the pre-trial review
on top of – we will need to study the documents carefully in order to get on top of the case
with regard to / with respect to – with regard to / with respect to the question of costs, we consider that the sum of €35,000 should be adequate