04. Torts Flashcards
What is the firefighter’s rule?
An emergency professional, such as a police officer or firefighter, is barred from recovering damages from the party whose negligence caused the professional’s injury if the injury results from a risk inherent in the job.
What are the elements of assault?
1) Plaintiff’s reasonable apprehension,
2) Of an imminent harmful or offensive bodily contact,
3) Caused by the defendant’s action or threat,
4) With the intent to cause either the apprehension of such contact or the contact itself.
What are the elements of intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED)?
1) The defendant’s intentional or reckless,
2) Extreme and outrageous conduct,
3) That causes,
4) The plaintiff severe emotional distress.
What is needed to establish intent?
The defendant acts intentionally if:
i) He acts with the purpose of causing the consequences of his act; or
ii) He acts knowing that the consequence is substantially certain to result.
What is the definition of trespass to chattel?
The defendant intentionally interferes with the plaintiff’s right of possession by either:
i) Dispossessing the plaintiff of the chattel; or
ii) Using or intermeddling with the plaintiff’s chattel.
Note: Trespass to chattels requires that the plaintiff show actual harm to or deprivation of the use of the chattel for a substantial time.
What is the definition of conversion?
THEFT
The defendant intentionally commits an act depriving the plaintiff of possession of her chattel or interfering with the plaintiff’s chattel in a manner so serious as to deprive the plaintiff of the use of the chattel.
Note: The plaintiff may recover damages in the amount of the full value of the converted property at the time of the conversion. Alternatively, the plaintiff may bring an action for replevin to recover the chattel.
What are the elements for intentional misrepresentation (i.e., fraud, deceit)?
The elements for intentional misrepresentation are:
1) The defendant made a misrepresentation of a material fact, opinion, intention, or law or failed to disclose a material fact when under an affirmative duty to do so;
2) The defendant must have known the representation to be false or must have acted with reckless disregard as to its truthfulness (scienter);
3) The defendant must have intended to induce the plaintiff to act (or refrain from acting) in reliance on the misrepresentation;
4) The plaintiff must have actually relied on the misrepresentation;
5) The plaintiff’s reliance must have been justifiable; and
6) The plaintiff must prove actual damages (nominal damages are not awarded).
What is the definition of trespass to land?
The defendant’s intentional act causes a physical invasion of the land of another.
Note: The defendant need only have the intent to enter the land or to cause a physical invasion. The defendant need not know that the land belongs to another. Mistake of fact is not a defense.
What is the doctrine of “transferred intent?”
Transferred intent exists when a person intends to commit an intentional tort against one person but instead commits the intended tort against a different person.
When is conduct considered extreme and outrageous for the purposes of IIED?
Conduct is extreme and outrageous if it exceeds the possible limits of human decency, so as to be entirely intolerable in a civilized society. The character of the conduct must be outrageous and the conduct must be sufficiently unusual to be extreme.
Note: While liability generally does not extend to mere insults, threats, or indignities, a defendant’s abusive language and conduct may be sufficiently “extreme and outrageous” if the defendant is in a position of authority or influence over the plaintiff, or the plaintiff is a member of a group with a known heightened sensitivity.
What are the elements of battery?
1) The defendant intends to cause a contact with the plaintiff
2) His affirmative conduct causes such a contact, and
3) The contact causes bodily harm or is offensive to the plaintiff.
What must a plaintiff generally show to prove an intentional tort?
1) Act (tortious conduct)
2) Intent (requisite mental state)
3) Causation
When may children or mentally incompetent persons be held liable for intentional torts?
If they act with the requisite intent
What is a harmful contact?
Contact that causes an injury, pain, or illness
What is an offensive contact?
Contact that a person of ordinary sensibility would find offensive (e.g., spitting, groping).
The victim need not be conscious of the contact in order for it to be offensive.
