Battery Flashcards

1
Q

Battery - Definition

A
  • an intentional infliction of a harmful or offensive contact w/ the plaintiff (Rst 2d Section 13)
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2
Q

Battery - Intentionality

A

Act must be intentional:

  • must be for the purpose of inflicting harmful or offensive contact
  • OR realize that such harmful or offensive contact is substantially certain to result
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3
Q

What do you need to intend?

A
  • you definitely need intent w/ respect to contact w/ other person’s body, and you DON’T need intent as to the specific injuries suffered as a result of the core battery
  • BUT some debate about whether you need intent as to the harmful or offensive quality of the contact - majority approach says you need to find some slice of a culpable state of mind for this aspect (reasonable person would suspect harmful/offensive) but some are strict liability on this
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4
Q

Garratt v. Dailey - Facts

A
  • Brian Dailey (5 yrs old) visiting Naomi Garratt
  • sister Ruth Garratt goes to sit down in a spot where a chair had been that Brian pulled away to sit in himself -> Ruth breaks her hip
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5
Q

Garratt v. Dailey - Holding

A
  • court ultimately remands to determine whether Brian had sufficient knowledge that Ms. Garratt would be sitting down -> if he did, that constitutes intent
  • on remand, lower court then found Brian did have the knowledge -> ruled for pl
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6
Q

Garratt v. Dailey - Rule

A

Intent for battery can come from either:

  • purpose (hard intent) OR
  • knowledge to a substantial certainty (soft intent)
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7
Q

Ellis v. D’Angelo - Facts

A
  • Ellis pushed to ground by 4 yr old def -> said she suffered physical injuries as a result + sued the 4 yr old for battery
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8
Q

Ellis v. D’Angelo - Rule

A
  • a child can possess the intent necessary to establish an actionable tort claim
  • focuses on the child’s mental capacity to intend the harmful action
  • note that the court did not require the child understand the wrongfulness of the conduct - just needed to intend the physical contact (strict liability-esque conception of battery - you don’t need to intend the action be harmful or offensive, you just need to intend the action itself)
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9
Q

Jones v. Fisher - Facts

A
  • employers loaned employee money for an upper plate in her mouth
  • employee got another job -> when she went to pick up last paycheck, employer requested she pay the $200 back in three days or would take the plate from her -> she refused, + employer used physical force to take plate out of mouth
  • since no question of liability, case is largely about damages
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10
Q

What remedies are available for battery?

A
  • substantial jury discretion
  • only set aside as excessive when there’s indication that it was result of passion, prejudice or corruption, or clear that jury disregarded evidence or rules of law
  • compensatory damages + punitive damages
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11
Q

Compensatory Damages

A
  • compensate individual for whatever loss of well-being he or she has suffered as a result of the injury

Includes:

  • medical costs
  • lost wages
  • pain and suffering (difficult to calculate)
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12
Q

Punitive Damages

A
  • not really about compensating the injured party, more concerned w/ punishment to wrongdoer/deterrent to others
  • test: malice, “character of outrage frequently associated w/ crime”, “wanton, willful or reckless disregard of plaintiff’s rights”
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13
Q

Jones v. Fisher - Holding

A
  • jury gave $1000 for compensatory damages at trial -> appellate cuts down to $500
  • jury gave $5000 for punitive -> appellate cuts down to $2000
  • compensatory damages cover actual harm to pl, vs. punitive set up as punishment to defs so there is specific + general deterrence from act occurring again
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14
Q

Jones v. Fisher - Rule

A
  • In torts, damages may be nominal, compensatory, or punitive, + can also ask for injunction
  • for punitive damages for battery, court needs to see some sort of wanton disregard for rights of another
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15
Q

Battery and Consent

A
  • consent is an affirmative defense to battery -> if you have consent, all the harm + offense of battery goes away

Complicating Factors:

  • q of scope of consent
  • manifestations of consent (objective controls over inward emotion)
  • context matters
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16
Q

Consent - Subjective vs. Objective

A
  • consent has both subjective + objective elements
  • subjective b/c focusing on whether pl really did consent, not just asking whether reasonable person would’ve agreed
  • BUT both presence + content of actual consent determined objectively -> presence deals w/ external manifestation (how pl’s conduct appears to other reasonable persons) + content = blend of convention (what people normally know/think in entering into particular activity) + prescription (fairness - what kind of contact is legit given nature of the activity)
  • content deals w/ what reasonable person would’ve understood self to have consented to in context at hand
17
Q

Mink v. University of Chicago - Facts

A
  • defendants administered drug to pl’s w/o consent -> 20 yrs later, turns out drug could cause their children to be at increased risk for cancer
  • defs brought three claims (battery, negligence for failure to warn, + strict liability claim against drug manufacturer) -> only the battery claim survives
18
Q

Mink v. University of Chicago - Rule

A
  • lack of consent automatically means that the contact was offensive in nature (can qualify as battery even if no actual physical harm to pl’s)
19
Q

Mink v. University of Chicago - Holding

A
  • court leaves scope of pl’s consent for jury to decide, but says battery claim can proceed
  • non-emergency treatment w/o consent -> affirmative act intended to cause offensive contact (offensive b/c lack of consent, + doesn’t matter that pl’s took the pills themselves, it’s enough that defs set this in motion) + administration of drug was intentional -> battery
  • proof of “technical invasion of integrity of person” - the medical treatment doesn’t actually need to be harmful, the lack of consent automatically makes it offensive
20
Q

Battery vs. Negligence in Medical Treatment

A
  • battery when doctor performs non-emergency med treatment on patient w/o consent
  • negligence when lack of informed consent (dr fails to properly inform patient of risk)
  • court says battery if dr has consent to do one procedure but chooses to do another
21
Q

Cooper v. Lankenou Hospital - Facts and Procedural Posture

A
  • 2012, PA Supreme Court
  • Cooper brought medical battery suit - said subjected to C-section w/o consent
  • jury instructions said 1) battery requires intent to cause harmful or offensive contact and 2) if surgery done w/o consent, it constitutes battery
  • jury found in favor of drs
22
Q

Cooper v. Lankenou Hospital - Decision and Dissent

A
  • appeals court upheld verdict - said jury instructions were correct statement of the law
  • dissent argued correct, but confusing to the point of error -> should’ve just said the lack of consent part, harmful/offensive contact confuses jury
23
Q

O-Brien v. Cunard Steamship Co. - Facts

A
  • ship passenger vaccinated while on board -> q of whether or not consent
  • vax’s offered to passengers to help them satisfy Boston vax req-> she was assembled in line of passengers + communicated she’d been vax’d before but left no mark -> dr said she should be vax’d again + she held up arm (not physically forced to do so but did not verbally convey her desire to be vax’d) + ultimately took ticket of vax to use at quarantine
24
Q

O’Brien v. Cunard - Ruling

A
  • court says she indicated by her conduct “desire to avail” self of provisions made for passengers’ benefit + nothing to indicate lack of consent -> ruling of directed verdict for def. in lower court was correct
  • in determining whether pl consented, you look to over acts + manifestations of pl’s consent - if pl objectively manifests consent, unexpressed feelings to the contrary aren’t important
25
Q

Markley v. Whitman - Facts

A
  • 1893
  • Boys playing a “horse”/”rush” game
  • the boy they pushed in the front suffered injuries (boy was not playing the game + did not expect the push)
  • defs argued it was a game
26
Q

Markley v. Whitman - Holding

A
  • court held pl was right - hadn’t shown any real or implied consent that he wanted to be part of the game -> unconsented contact-> BATTERY b/c no reasonable expectation of getting pushed
27
Q

Continuum of Consent

A
  • express
  • tacit (ex: join a game of touch football)
  • “implied” by law - ex: if someone grabs another as they’re falling off a cliff (basically equiavlent to where danger of life or limb) -> assume they WOULD consent if they had the opportunity
28
Q

Medical Consent - Old Rule

A
  • unless it’s a matter of life or death, any extra procedure without consent constitutes a battery
29
Q

Medical Consent - New Rule

A
  • consent is general in nature, may extend to remedy abnormality/disease according to professional judgment
30
Q

Medical Consent - Present Rule

A
  • informed consent
  • try to get consent of a relative, + if no relative avail, most courts recognize dr’s privilege to extend surgery w/in area of initial incision, unless extension involves destruction of a bodily function
31
Q

Medical Consent Where Unconscious Patient Requiring Immediate Treatment

A

Dr has privilege to give treatment if:

  • a reasonable person would consent to it
  • there is no reason to believe that this particular patient would not consent to it
  • delay would involve risk of serious harm
32
Q

Kennedy v. Parrott - Facts

A
  • pl. suffered phlebitis resulting from deliberate + unauthorized puncture of cysts on her left ovary during performance of an authorized appendectomy
33
Q

Kennedy v. Parrott - Ruling

A
  • court rules in favor of dr - says general consent to remedy any abnormal/diseased condition at site of incision whenever dr “in exercise of sound professional judgment” determines correct procedure dictates extension
  • rule applies when patient can’t give consent @ time of decision + no one w/ authority to consent for patient is available
34
Q

Self-Defense as a Defense to Battery

A
  • authorizes use of force to prevent an impending battery or stop one that is in progress
  • defendant must reasonably believe that use of physical force is necessary to prevent an attack or imprisonment (objective standard: reasonable person in a similar situation)
  • no right to go beyond what is necessary