intentional battery Flashcards
Battery
Battery is the intentional causing of harmful or offensive contact
intent for battery
For intent to commit a battery, D must either act with (a) the purpose
of bringing about harmful or offensive contact [specific intent] or (b) knowledge to a
substantial certainty their act(s) will bring about a harmful or offensive contact.
single dual intent rule battery
Courts are split between the “single”
and “dual” intent approaches to battery. In those following “single
intent,” intent is satisfied even where D merely intended to bring about
bodily contact, irrespective of whether D intended the contact to be
harmful or offensive. By contrast, “dual intent” jurisdictions require both
that D intended to bring about bodily contact and intended the contact
be harmful or offensive.
Harmful
Contact is “harmful” if it causes pain, disfigurement, or injury.
offensive
Contact is “offensive” if it violates the plaintiff’s reasonable sense of personal dignity
bodily contact battery
While bodily contact is satisfied by
direct, physical contact between persons, it is also satisfied when D’s acts directly or
indirectly caused another person or object to make bodily contact with P. This
extends to objects closely or intimately connected to P’s person, as consistent with
the dignitary interest battery protects. Moreover, the contact requirement is satisfied
even by D causing “intangible” objects to come into bodily contact with P where such
objects produce tangible or harmful effect
Assault
intentional causing of apprehension of imminent harmful or offensive bodily contact
intent for assault
intent to commit assault is satisfied where D either (a)
acted with the purpose of causing in P an apprehension of imminent harmful or
offensive contact [specific intent] or (b) knows to a substantial certainty their acts will
result in such apprehension [general intent
imminent harmful or offensive contact test
Courts apply an
objective test—asking whether a reasonable person would have been put in
apprehension of imminent contact under the circumstances. Verbal threats (“mere
words”) are generally not enough. However, verbal threats accompanied by
objective manifestations (a.k.a. overt acts) demonstrating D’s “intent” to carry out the
threat of contact will satisfy the apprehension test so long as a reasonable person
under the circumstance would perceive the contact to be imminent under the
circumstances. On the other hand, a P’s subjective state of mind, including
diagnoses or other sensitivities particular to P, is not taken into account unless D
had prior knowledge suggesting P would be more (or less) likely to apprehend the
contact.
h or c contact apprehension
unlike the battery claim, for purposes of the assault
theory of the case not only would the offensiveness aspect be satisfied but also
clearly the harmfulness aspect—that’s because assault focuses on the intended
“apprehension” of a contact rather than the contact D actually accomplished.
iied
A D is liable for IIED if D intentionally or recklessly causes
severe emotional distress [4] by means of D’s extreme and outrageous conduct.
intention or reckless iied
Intent for IIED is satisfied
where (a) D’s acts for the purpose of causing P emotional distress; (b) D knows
with substantial certainty their conduct will cause P emotional distress; and/or (c)
D recklessly disregards the high probability their conduct will cause P emotional
distress.
extreme or outrageous conduct
Conduct is extreme and
outrageous when it goes beyond all possible bounds of decency such that the
conduct is intolerable in a civilized society.
severe and emotional distress
A P suffers “severe”
emotional distress for purposes of IIED when P’s distress, at a minimum,
requires P to seek medical / mental health assistance for that distress. And
where P suffers subsequent physical injuries manifesting from the distress,
damages for those physical injuries are also compensable.
trespass to chattels
A D is liable for trespass to chattel if D [1] intentionally [2] causes [3]
interference [4] with P’s use or possession of P’s chattel.