Professor Kyle Graham’s holiday 2011 torts exam (closed-book) (he is a guest on the Concurring Opinions group blog):
QUESTION ONE
On Christmas Eve 2011, Santa Claus landed his sleigh atop the roof of the Adams household. …
As Santa prepared to board his sleigh, he slipped and fell on an icy shingle. Santa tumbled down the roof and crashed into the bushes below, hurting his back. Mr. Adams had seen the ice on his roof earlier that day, but decided not to clear it off; the task seemed like a lot of work, it was cold outside, and there was a good football game on TV. As Santa lay injured in the bushes, a partially unwrapped gift—a Chia Pet—inexplicably fell from (or was disgustedly tossed out of) a window at the Adams residence, and clobbered Santa on the head.
The tumult caused Santa’s reindeer to panic and fly off without him. The out-of-control reindeer and sleigh crashed into and pulverized the chimney at the nearby Batista household. …
Finally, the events related above caused some scales to topple onto a woman standing at a train station in Brooklyn.
Identify and evaluate the torts implicated by the foregoing facts, taking care to consider, inter alia:
1) Whether Santa is best classified as an invitee, licensee, or trespasser at the Adams household, assuming that the State of Confusion continues to adhere to these categories;
2) Whether the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur applies to the defenestrated Chia Pet;…
Our English tort exam questions were very similar, if not quite so complex and without any reference to Palsgraf.