A Normal Conversation Between Two People Studying for the Bar

K: Hey, wanna hear a gross story?

Me: sure.

K: a man noticed what seemed like blood streaks on his ceiling. As it turned out, his upstairs neighbor hung herself in the bathroom and after weeks of being there, her innards exploded and started to drip all over the floor. Her bathroom was directly above the man’s bedroom, and her blood and innards were seeping through the floor, onto his ceiling.

Me: …That’s nasty

…A short while later…

Me: Hey. Would that man be able to sue the dead woman’s estate for nuisance?

K (looks at me with glee): I wonder!

Me: I mean, it is a substantial and unreasonable interference of the quiet use and enjoyment of that man’s property which he has immediate possession to and a legal right to as a tenant.

K: well, what theory would you sue under though?

Me: You could sue under negligence!

K: But that’s not really a foreseeable result though, having your innards to burst and drip into the floor? I don’t think that man was a foreseeable plaintiff, there’s no proximate cause here.

…Another short while later…

K (screaming with delight): OH MY GOD, it’s trespass to land!

…we laugh…

…Another short while later…

Me: actually, no, trespass to land is an intentional tort.

K: yeah, that’s exactly what I was thinking too…

We go back to study…