Inentional Torts Flashcards
PFC for Intentional Torts
- Act by the Defendent
- Intent
- Causation
General Principles of Intentional Torts
- In determining if P has a COA - ignore his hypersensitivities, assume you are dealing with someone of ordinary sensitivity
- For intentional torts, there are no incapacity defenses
- All of these intentional torts HAVE the element of INTENT
Definition of Intent
Intent = acting on a desire to produce the legally forbidden consequence
An act by a defenent, what is required is:
Volitional movement by D
Types of Intent
- General
- Specific
General Intent
actor knows with substantial certainty that these consequences will result
Specific Intent
purpose in acting is to bring about the specific consequence
Rule for Causation in the PFC for intentional Torts
- Result must have been legally caused by the D or something set in motion by him
- Causation is satisfied when Ds conduct was a substantial factor in bringing about the injury
Intentional Torts
- Battery
- Assault
- False Imprisonment
- Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress
- Trespass to Lands
- Trespass to Chattels
- Conversion
Transferred Intent may be invoked in which intentional torts?
- Battery
- Assault
- False Imprisonment
- Trespass to Lands
- Trespass to Chattels
Battery
- Harmful or Offensive Contact
- to Plaintiff’s person
- Intent; and
- Causation
Damages not Required
Harmful Contact Standard
Contact causes actual injury, pain or disfigurement
Offensive Contact Standard
- An offensive contact is an unpermitted contact by an ordinary person (ignore hypersensitivities)
- Ex: Groping, harassment, sexual harassment, or any not normal shit etc.
Contact for Harmful or Offensive Contact
- Consent is a defense and will be implied for ordinary contacts of everyday life
- Contact can be direct (striking) or indirect (setting traps)
- Contact does not have to be instantaneous for battery
- Ex: Poisoning
Plaintiff’s Person
Includes anything the P is holding or touching - anything connected to the P
Damages for Battery
- P can recover nominal damages even if actual damages are not proven
- P may recover punitive damages for malicious conduct
Assault
- D must place the P in a reasonable apprehension
- That apprehension must be of an immediate harmful or offensive contact
- Intent; and
- Causation
Damages not Required
Apprehension
- Apprehension = knowledge (not fear)
- P must be able to see it coming
- P does not have to have been afraid, nervous, or scared - just aware
Apprehension of an IMMEDIATE HARMFUL OR OFFENSIVE CONDUCT
- Words alone lack immediacy, there must be conduct (talk is cheap)
- Conduct must be a menacing gesture
- Ex: brandishing a weapon or shaking a fist in someone’s face
- Conduct must be a menacing gesture
- Apparent Ability to commit a battery is sufficient
- Even when there is threatening conduct, words can negate immediacy
- Conditional Preface: “if you weren’t my best friend, I would beat the crap out of you”
- Words in future tense: “I’m going to get you tomorrow”
Damages for Assault
- P can recover nominal damages even if actual damages are not proven
- P may recover punitive damages for malicious conduct
False Imprisonment
- D must commit an act of restraint
- P is confined in a bounded area
- Intent; and
- Causation
Damages not Required
An act of restraint
- Restraint can be physical, but threats are sufficient - that would operate on the mind of an ordinary person
- An omission can be an act of restraint - Only true if there was a pre-existing duty owed by the P
- An act of restraint only counts if the P is aware of it or harmed by it
Bounded Area
- A bounded area doesn’t have to be specifically defined or marked out by walls and defenses
- Ex: Detention by mall security - “wait here”: implicit threat of summoning police
Sufficent Methods of Confinement or Restraint
- physical barriers
- physical force
- threats of force
- failure to release, and
- invalid use of legal authority
moral pressure and future threats are insufficient
An area is not bounded if:
There is a reasonable means of escape the P can reasonably discover
- moral pressure and future threats are insufficient
- If the only way out is dangerous, disgusting or humiliating - it is not a reasonable means
- If it is hidden - it is not reasonably discoverable
Awareness of Confinement
P must know of the confinement or be harmed by it
Time of Confinement
Time of confinement is irrelevant
Damages for False Imprisonment
- P can recover nominal damages even if actual damages are not proven
- P may recover punitive damages for malicious conduct
Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress (IIED)
- Extreme & Outrageous Conduct
- Intent or Recklessness
- Causation; and
- Damages - Severe Emotional Distress
This is a fall back tort, find another one before using this alternative
What is and what isn’t outrageous conduct?
- Outrageous conduct is conduct that “exceeds all bounds of decency tolerated In a civilized society”
- One kind of conduct that is not outrageous is Insults, even if it is successful in causing distress
Factors that lead to Outrageousness
- Conduct is repetitive in nature
- Ex: abusive debt collection practices repeated daily
- D is a common carrier (airline) or innkeeper (hotel)
- These types of businesses are held to a hire standard of courtesy to their customer
- P is a member of a fragile class of persons
- If D had prior knowledge of a particular emotional sensitivity by the P, exploiting that is outrageous (it is outrageous to push somebody’s buttons)
Exception to when an insult would be enough to be outrageous:
P is a member of a fragile class of persons
- Insults are outrageous to these classes (pick on someone your own size)
Fragile Classes of Persons
- Young children
- Elderly
- Pregnant women
- You would have to know the woman is pregnant
Requisite Intent for IIED
Recklessness is sufficient
Proof of Severe Distress
- No specific evidence required
- P can prove however he wants
- Do not have to prove specific symptoms
Causation in Bystander Cases for IIED
When the D intentionally causes physical harm to a 3rd person and the P suffers sever emotional distress because of it, the P may recover by showing either the PFC for emotional distress or that:
- she was present when the injury occured
- she is a close relative of the injured person, and
- the D knew the facts of 1 and 2.
Damages for IIED
- IIED is the only intentional tort where damages is required
- Actual damages (severe emotional distress), not nominal, are required
- Proof of physical injury is not required
- the more the outrageous conduct, the less proof of damages is required
