Below you will find a syllabus supplement with important policies specific to IU Indianapolis. You can expand and read them by clicking the "►" symbol.

TORTS

FA25-IN-LAW-D541-25536

MEETS TU/TH 2:00-4:15pm

DELIVERY IN-PERSON

FINAL EXAM: Wednesday, December 17 @ 9:00am-1:00pm

OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION

Torts (4 cr.) D/N 541 - Required (Basic) - introduces students to actions for intentional and unintentional interference with protectable interests. Strict liability and its extensions, alternatives to the torts compensation system, and the impact of insurance and legislation on the common law of torts are also considered.

GRADING WEIGHTS

Final Exam score is 100% of the grade. An ungraded midterm quiz will familiarize students with the format well in advance, plus multiple ungraded practice problems to self-check learning progress during the semester.

GRADING CURVE

Like most law schools, McKinney follows a mandatory curve policy applicable to first-year required courses.

MCKINNEY REQUIRED GRADING "SPREAD" FOR 1L COURSES

Only 10% of students will get an "A." Please do not make it your personal goal to prove that you are "better" than 90% of all the other incredible future lawyers around you! Focus instead on your personal "why" for coming to law school and learning what you need to learn in pursuit of that goal. Don't sweat the A.

BAR EXAM

No one gets an A on the bar exam - the best you can do is pass. When you take the bar exam three years from now, you will need to answer about 2/3 of questions correctly to pass on the first attempt.

READINGS

Students will have reading assignments to prepare for each day of class, including the first day. These consist primarily of judicial opinions in significant tort cases, supplemented by explanatory material. You are responsible for mastering the concepts covered in the readings. The final exam will test this mastery.

There is no casebook to buy. Digital materials will be provided free of charge. Paper copies of the readings assigned for the first three weeks will be made available to you during orientation, along with a schedule of topics and list of pages and cases for each topic.

MATERIALS

Students are recommended to obtain and use a outside study aid in each 1L course.

For tort law, my favorites are:

DUE DATES

Dates for each topic are subject to change with reasonable notice. Typically, we will cover one topic per day. I will sometimes push an assigned reading later if the class needs more time on the prior day's topic. I will never expect students to be prepared to discuss materials ahead of schedule. Nevertheless, it is good practice is to stay a day or two ahead of the readings so nothing gets missed if you get busy or sick.

OBJECTIVES

This course makes an important contribution to the Indiana and national community by preparing IU Indianapolis law students to serve with competence and excellence in law and leadership roles in government, business, and private practice. By the end of this semester, you will be able to:

Doctrine Tested on the Bar Exam (Substance)

• Explain and analyze the essential elements of major tort claims, including: intentional torts (purpose and knowledge intent, battery, assault, false imprisonment, IIED, trespass to land and chattels, and conversion), negligence (reasonable person standard, duty, foreseeable harm, breach, negligence per se, res ipsa loquitur, but-for and substantial causes, and strict liability (abnormally dangerous activities and product liability).
• Explain and analyze key defenses to tort liability, including consent, self-defense, privileges and immunities, comparative negligence and assumption of risk), workers' compensation, and the concepts of respondeat superior (liability for employee actions) and joint and several liability (shared responsibility for damages).
• Apply tort rules correctly to single-issue hypotheticals and eventually to complex factual scenarios to assess multiple potential claims and defenses. Anticipate and evaluate the strength of counterarguments and practice communicating legal analysis clearly in both written and oral formats.

Professionalism and Legal Reasoning (Style)

• Brief legal opinions effectively, identifying: forum, parties, historical/social context, procedural posture, legal issues, uses of legal authority, legal reasoning, conclusions, holdings, and "essential facts" (those that drive the outcome). Analyze opinions on the intuitive, descriptive, and normative levels.
• Practice strong legal study skills and professional habits - including briefing, outlining, utilization of study groups and resources, time management, self-directed learning, and taking personal responsibility for mastery of subject matter - for success across the law school curriculum and in legal practice.
• Explain and apply core legal concepts including: IRAC structure - issue/rule/application/conclusion, questions of law versus questions of fact, holding v. dicta, interactions between statutory and common law, injunctive relief, and applications of compensatory, punitive, and nominal damages.

Understanding the Legal System (System)

• Identify and explain the practical significance of the varying procedural postures upon which a judicial opinion may be written: motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, motion for summary judgment, bench trials versus jury trials, judgment notwithstanding the verdict, remittur, appealing a question of law, and remand.
• Appreciate the distinction between factual allegations of the plaintiff, facts assumed to be true for the purposes of a motion, testimony of the parties and witnesses, expert testimony, the factual findings of a judge or jury, the plaintiff's facts, the defendant's facts, and "what really happened."
• Explain the relative roles and responsibilities of different actors within the legal system, including: plaintiffs, defendants, counsel, jury members, trial judges and appellate panels (state and federal), legal scholars, policymakers, interest groups, and insurers with realism about law as an imperfect human system.

These objectives emphasize both doctrinal mastery and the development of broader analytical skills and knowledge of the legal system essential for success in law school and legal practice in Indiana or beyond.