Battery: Harm or Offense Flashcards
What are the elements of a battery claim? (Feldman)
Battery has three elements: (1) intent; (2) harmful or offensive contact; and (3) lack of consent. (IHOC&LOC)
Intend
Harmful
or
Offensive
Contact
&
Lack
Of
Consent
What does battery protect? (Feldman)
Battery protects both physical integrity and personal dignity – our independent authority over our own persons.
Can a person be liable for offensive contacts? (Feldman)
Yes. An individual can be liable for not just contacts that are harmful but also for those that are offensive. (City of Watagua, Jones v. Fisher)
Does the intentionality requirement for battery also require harm or offense? (Feldman)
Yes. The intentionality requirement also requires harm or offense.
What is deliberate contact? (Feldman)
Deliberate contact is contact that people can control and prevent.
Can persons of unsound mind commit the tort of battery? (Feldman)
Yes because they can intend the act and the contact that are the battery, but they are unable to form the state of mind necessary to commit a crime.
In a battery, does an actor need to intend to harm or offend the victim? (Feldman)
No. The actor does not need to intend to harm or to offend the victim. It is sufficient if the actor intends to cause the contact.
Is an actor’s subjective desire to harm the victim sufficient to establish the element of intent for a claim of battery? (Feldman)
Yes. Evidence showing an actor’s subjective desire to harm the plaintiff is sufficient to establish the element of intent for a claim of battery. This is true even if the actor’s chosen method is extremely unlikely to succeed in causing actual harmful contact.
What type of physical contact will satisfy the intentional tort of battery? (Feldman)
The following types of physical contact will satisfy the tort of battery: direct contact, indirect contact, or remote contact.
What constitutes direct physical contact in the context of the intentional tort of battery? (Feldman)
In the intentional tort of battery, direct physical contact occurs if an actor causes a part of the actor’s body to contact a part of the victim’s body.
For the tort of battery, must harm to the victim be foreseeable at the time the actor makes contact with the victim? (Feldman)
No. For battery, the actor need not intend, know, or otherwise foresee that actual harm will result at the time the actor makes contact with the victim. Rather, the actor must intend, or know with substantial certainty, only that contact will result from the actor’s actions. In addition, that contact must be harmful or offensive. For an intentional tort like battery, the actor is liable for all harms that directly or indirectly result to the victim regardless of whether harm was reasonably foreseeable.
In the intentional tort of battery, what is offensive contact? (Feldman)
In the intentional tort of battery, offensive contact is contact that would offend a reasonable person of ordinary firmness. Contact is also offensive if it is made without the victim’s consent.
Is consent a defense to the intentional tort of battery? (Q)
Yes. Consent is a defense to battery. This is true even if the contact involved is harmful.
Is contact offensive because it subjectively offends a battery plaintiff? (Q)
No. Contact is not offensive merely because it subjectively offends a battery plaintiff. Rather, an objective standard applies. Contact is offensive only if a reasonable person of ordinary firmness in the plaintiff’s position would be offended by the contact. In other words, contact is offensive only if it violates social customs prevalent at the time and place the contact occurred.
Does the objective definition of offensiveness permit battery claims by unusually sensitive plaintiffs? (Q)
No. The objective definition of offensiveness generally precludes battery claims by unusually sensitive plaintiffs. However, contact may still be offensive, even though it would offend only an unusually sensitive person, if the defendant deliberately exploits a plaintiff’s unusual sensitivity.
