Intentional Torts

Question 1

Battery is:

Answer 1

an intentional act that causes a harmful or offensive contact with the plaintiff or with something closely connected thereto.

Defendant must either desire to cause an immediate harmful or offensive contact; or know such contact is substantially certain to occur

Question 2

Assault is:

Answer 2

an intentional act that casues plaintiff to experience reasonable apprehension of an immediate harmful or offensive contact.

Defendant must act with the desire to cause an immediate harmful or offensive contact or the immediate apprehension of such a contact, or know that such a result is substantially certain to occur.

Question 3

False imprisonment is:

Answer 3

an intentional act that causes plaintiff to be confined or restrained to a bounded area against plaintiff’s will, and the plaintiff knows of the confinement or is injured because of it.

Defendant’s intent exist when he desires to confine or restrain plaintiff to a bounded area; or knows that such confinement is virtually certain to occur.

Question 4

A plaintiff is not “confined” if:

Answer 4

a reasonable means of escape of which she is actually aware exists.

Question 5

Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress:

Answer 5

an intentional or reckless act amounting to extreme and outrageous conduct that causes plaintiff severe mental distress

Distress is severe where it is more than the level of mental distress a resaonable person could be expected to endure

Question 6

Extreme and outrageous conduct is:

Answer 6

satisfied if the defendant’s conduct is beyond the bounds of decency - conduct that a civilized society will not tolerate.

Question 7

Where a defendant’s conduct is directed at a 3d party, the defendant is subject to liability for IIED to plaintiff assuming the elements of IIED are met and:

Answer 7

1) To a plaintiff who is an immediate family member or close relative of the 3d party, where the plaintiff is present at the time and the defendant is aware of the plaintiff’s presence. Recovery is available whether or not such distress results in bodily harm; or
2) To any other plaintiff (regardless of relationship) who is present at the time, if such distress results in bodily harm and the defendant is aware of the plaintiff’s presence.

Question 8

Tresspass to Land:

Answer 8

An intentional act that casues a physical invasion of plaintiff’s land.

Defendant need only act with intent to cause a physical invasion of a particular piece of land, not the specific intent to invade plaintiff’s land.

Question 9

Is mistake a defense to a trespass action?

Answer 9

No. Intentional entry onto land is a trespass even though defendant does notrealize he has crossed the boundary line, or has a good-faith belief that his entry is lawful.

Question 10

For a plaintiff to bring a trespass action, plaintiff must be:

Answer 10

in actual possession or have the right to immediate possession of that land.

Question 11

In a trespass action, the element of physical invasion will be satisfied by:

Answer 11

1) defendant’s entry or defendant causing a 3d party or object to enter onto plaintiff’s land; or
2) defendant enters onto plaintiff’s land lawfully but then remains under a legal duty to leave; or
3) fails to remove an object from plaintiff’s land when under a legal duty to do so.

Question 12

Unintentional entry onto land:

Answer 12

A person is not liable for trespass for negligent or reckless entries unless he causes damages to the land.

Question 13

Trespass to chattels:

Answer 13

an intentional act by defendant that interferes with plaintiff’s chattel, causing harm.

Intent is satisfied when defendant intentionally performs the physical act that interferes with plaintiff’s chattel. Defendant is liable even though he did not intend or recognize the legal significance of his act. Mistake is not a defense.

Question 14

Unlike other intentional torts, trespass to chattels actions requires:

Answer 14

proof of actual damages as an element of the cause of action

Question 15

Conversion:

Answer 15

Intentional act by defendant that causes the destruction of or a serious and substantial interference with plaintiff’s chattel.

Mistake is not a defense.

Question 16

Defense of consent:

Answer 16

Defendant will not be liable if plaintiff consented to the act that constituted the tort.

The consent must be effective, and defendant must not exceed the scope of the consent.

Plaintiff can manifest consent expressly, by implication, or as a matter of law

Question 17

Consent may be found to exist as a matter of law where plaintiff is unable to consent and:

Answer 17

1) emergency action is necessary to prevent death or serious injury;
2) a reasonable person would be expected to consent under the circumstances; and
3) no reason exists to believe that plaintiff would not consent

Question 18

Self-defense:

Answer 18

If defendant used reasonable fore to prevent plaintiff from engaging in an imminent and unprivileged attack.

Defendant otherwise acting in self-defense may only use the degree of force reasonably necessary to avoid the harm threatened by plaintiff

Question 19

The defense of self-defense will not work when:

Answer 19

the purported threat represented by plaintiff’s conduct is not about to happen, has been averted, or has ended

Question 20

Even where no harm is actually threatened against defendant, she may successfully assert self-defense if:

Answer 20

a reasonable person in the same circumstances would have believed that she was under attack.

Question 21

A defendant is entitled to defend another person from attack by the plaintiff to the same extent that:

Answer 21

the 3d person would be lawfully entitled to defend himself from plaintiff.

Question 22

A defendant who makes a mistake about whether a defense of a 3d person is justified or the degree of force that is reasonable:

Answer 22

CANNOT assert the defense and will be liable to the plaintiff for an intentional tort.
(Majority Rule)

Question 23

In defense of property, defendant is permitted to use:

Answer 23

reasonable force and must be no greater than necessary to prevent the threatened harm

Question 24

Defense of necessity:

Answer 24

Defendant is permitted to injure plaintiff’s property if this is reasonably necessary to avoid a substantially greater harm to the public, to himself, or to his property.

Question 25

Shopkeeper’s privilege:

Answer 25

A defendant/shopkeeper is not liable for false imprisonment or a related tort if

1) he has reasonable suspicion that plaintiff has stolen goods,
2) uses reasonable force to detain person, and
3) detains plaintiff for a reasonable period and in a reasonable manner on the premises or in the immediate vicinity