Joint Liability and Joint Tortfeasors — MCQs

All questions with answers and explanations

Read the full set here, or use the practice card above to test yourself one question at a time.

1. Joint tortfeasors are persons who:

   • Act independently, their acts happening to combine
   • Act in concert, pursuant to a common design (correct answer)
   • Are always members of the same family
   • Can never be sued together

   Explanation. Joint tortfeasors act in concert pursuant to a common design to commit a single wrongful act.

2. Several concurrent tortfeasors are distinguished from joint tortfeasors because they:

   • Act pursuant to a common design
   • Act independently, with no concert, though their acts combine to cause one harm (correct answer)
   • Cannot be held liable at all
   • Are always employer and employee

   Explanation. Several concurrent tortfeasors act independently and without any prior agreement, their separate acts merely combining to produce one injury.

3. The Koursk (1924) is the leading authority distinguishing:

   • Sovereign and non-sovereign functions
   • Joint tortfeasors from several concurrent tortfeasors (correct answer)
   • Strict and absolute liability
   • Waiver and acquiescence

   Explanation. The Koursk distinguishes joint tortfeasors acting in furtherance of a common design from independent concurrent tortfeasors.

4. Liability of joint tortfeasors to the victim is:

   • Divided equally among them regardless of the victim's choice
   • Joint and several — full recovery possible from any one (correct answer)
   • Limited to the least solvent tortfeasor
   • Only enforceable if all are sued together

   Explanation. Joint tortfeasors are jointly and severally liable — the victim may recover the full amount from any single defendant.

5. An unsatisfied judgment against one joint tortfeasor:

   • Permanently bars any suit against the remaining tortfeasors
   • Does not bar a further suit against the others (correct answer)
   • Automatically doubles the damages available
   • Discharges the entire cause of action

   Explanation. Modern law does not treat a mere unsatisfied judgment as barring further suits; only actual full satisfaction bars further recovery.

6. Merryweather v. Nixon (1799) originally held that:

   • Joint tortfeasors could freely claim contribution from each other
   • A joint tortfeasor who paid full damages had no right to contribution from others (correct answer)
   • Contribution was mandatory by statute
   • Only the plaintiff could claim contribution

   Explanation. This old rule denied any right of contribution among joint tortfeasors, since courts would not assist one wrongdoer against another.

7. Modern law on contribution among joint tortfeasors generally apportions the burden:

   • Equally, regardless of fault
   • According to each wrongdoer's relative degree of responsibility (correct answer)
   • Entirely on the plaintiff
   • Only on the wrongdoer with the least assets

   Explanation. Modern law apportions contribution according to each wrongdoer's actual share of responsibility for the harm.

8. A genuine release of one joint tortfeasor:

   • Releases only that particular tortfeasor
   • Releases all joint tortfeasors, since there is one indivisible cause of action (correct answer)
   • Has no legal effect at all
   • Automatically creates a right of contribution

   Explanation. Because the cause of action is single and indivisible, a genuine release of one joint tortfeasor discharges all of them.

9. A mere covenant not to sue one tortfeasor, while reserving rights against others:

   • Discharges all joint tortfeasors
   • Does not discharge the cause of action against the remaining tortfeasors (correct answer)
   • Is legally impossible to draft
   • Is the same thing as a full release

   Explanation. A covenant not to sue one tortfeasor, unlike a true release, does not discharge the cause of action against the others.

10. A partner acting jointly with a co-partner in the ordinary course of firm business is an example of:

    • Several concurrent tortfeasors
    • Joint tortfeasors (correct answer)
    • Sovereign function
    • Accord without satisfaction

    Explanation. Partners acting jointly in the ordinary course of the firm's business are a typical example of joint tortfeasors.