Battery Flashcards
What are the elements of Battery?
- An intentional 2. Harmful or offensive contact 3. Direct or indirect 4. With Plaintiffs person 5. By defendant.
What is the intent required?
When defendant acted he had the intent to cause the harmful or offensive contact or an imminent apprehension of a contact.
What constitutes Plaintiffs person?
- Plaintiffs body 2. Things in contact with Plaintiffs body 3. Things closely connected to Plaintiffs body and identified with Plaintiffs body that considering the nature of the contact that a normal person would deem it an offense against his person.
Must the Plaintiff be aware of the contact?
No, the tort is the contact.
Must Plaintiff also prove that the defendant intended the contact to be harmful?
The courts are split. Some require only a contact which in itself is considered harmful while other courts require the Plaintiff to prove that the contact was actually harmful.
When is harmful contact actionable?
When it causes bodily harm including any physical damage, however slight to any part of Plaintiffs body even if the damage is ultimately beneficial, but not emotional pain.
What constitutes an offensive contact?
When the contact offends Plaintiffs reasonable sense of personal dignity such as conduct amounting to hostility, insults, loathsome or unduly personal.
What type of damages can Plaintiff recover from an offensive contract?
Dignitary or mental distress even if there was no physical harm.
When may consent be assumed in a Battery case?
When there is some preexisting relationship between the defendant and the Plaintiff.
