Intentional Torts Flashcards
Affirmative Defenses
- Defendant might convince the judge that he or she is immune from all tort causes of action, some tort causes of action, or tort causes of action arising out of activities at a certain level of detail.
- Defendant might convince the judge or jury (as the case might be) that he or she had a privilege to injure plaintiff.
- Defendant might convince the judge or jury (as the case might be) that plaintiff also breached a duty recognized in tort law.
Three General Disability Rules
- The plaintiff is disabled from suing the defendant in tort if the defendant “has failed to act” to protect or rescue.
- The plaintiff is disabled from suing the defendant in tort if all injured persons suffer “wholly psychic loss” or some mix of psychic and economic loss.
- The plaintiff is disabled from suing the defendant in tort if all injured persons suffer “wholly economic loss” or some mix of economic and psychic loss.
Battery I
1 he acts
2 intending to cause
3 (a) a contact (b) which is “harmful” or “offensive”
4 with the person of another or a third person (or an imminent apprehension of such a contact), and
5 a contact which is “harmful” or “offensive” with the person of the other directly or indirectly results.
Assault I
1 he acts
2 intending to cause
3 (a) a contact (b) which is “harmful” or “offensive”
4 with the person of another or a third person (or an imminent apprehension of such a contact), and
5 the other is thereby put in such imminent apprehension..
False Imprisonment I
1 he acts
2 intending to
3 (unlawfully) “confine” the other or a third person within boundaries fixed by the actor, and
4 his act directly or indirectly results in such a confinement of the other, and
5 the other is conscious of the confinement or is harmed by it.
Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress I
One who by “extreme and outrageous conduct” intentionally or recklessly causes severe emotional distress to another is subject to liability for such emotional distress, and if bodily harm to the other results from it, for such bodily harm.
Wrongful Discharge I
1 The employee is employed at will, and
2 the employer discharged the employee, and
3 the discharge constituted “a violation of a clearly mandated public policy” which “strikes at the heart of a citizen’s social rights, duties, and responsibilities”, and
4 the employer had no other permissible grounds for terminating the employee.
Malicious Prosecution I
1 he initiates or procures the proceedings
2 “without probable cause”, and
3 primarily for a purpose other than that of bringing an offender to justice, and
4 the proceedings have terminated in favor of the accused.
Probable Cause
One who initiates or continues criminal proceedings against another has probable cause for doing so if he correctly or reasonably believes
1 that the person whom he accuses has acted or failed to act in a particular manner, and
2 that those acts or omissions constitute the offense that he charges against the accused, and
3 that he is sufficiently informed as to the law and the facts to justify him in initiating or continuing the prosecution.
Abuse of Process I
One who uses a legal process, whether criminal or civil, against another primarily to accomplish “a purpose for which it is not designed”, is subject to liability to the other for harm caused by the abuse of process.
Trespass to Land I
1 enters land in the [“legally protected exclusive”] possession of the other, or causes a thing or a third person to do so, or
2 remains on the land, or
3 fails to remove from the land a thing which he is under a duty to remove.
Trespass to Chattel I
A trespass to chattel may be committed by intentionally
(a) dispossessing another of the chattel, or (b) using or intermeddling with a chattel in the possession of another.
Trespass to Chattel I dispossession
1 taking a chattel from the possession of another without the other’s consent, or
2 obtaining possession of a chattel from another by fraud or duress, or
3 barring the possessor’s access to a chattel, or
destroying a chattel while it is in another’s possession, or
4 taking the chattel into the custody of the law.
Doesn’t need to be damaged
Trespass to Chattel I using or intermeddling
1 the chattel is impaired as to its condition, quality, or value, or
2 the possessor is deprived of the use of the chattel for a substantial time, or
3 bodily harm is caused to the possessor, or harm is caused to some person or thing in which the possessor has a legally protected interest.
Conversion I
1 Conversion is an intentional exercise of dominion or control over a chattel which so seriously interferes with the right of another to control it that the actor may justly be required to pay the other the full value of the chattel.
2 In determining the seriousness of the interference and the justice of requiring the actor to pay the full value, the following factors are important:
A the actor’s intent to assert a right in fact inconsistent with the other’s right of control;
B the the extent and duration of the actor’s exercise of dominion or control;
C the actor’s good faith;
D the extent and duration of the resulting interference with the other’s right of control;
E the harm done to the chattel;
F the inconvenience and expense caused to the other.
Appropriation of Name or Likeness I
One who [“unlawfully or without privilege”] appropriates to his own use or benefit the name or likeness of another is subject to liability to the other for invasion of his privacy.
Intrusion upon Seclusion I
One who intentionally [“unlawfully or without privilege”] intrudes, physically or otherwise, upon the [“legally protected”] solitude or seclusion of another or his private affairs or concerns, is subject to liability to the other for invasion of his privacy, if the intrusion would be highly offensive to a reasonable person.
Defamation I
1 a false and defamatory statement concerning another;
2 an unprivileged publication to a third party;
3 fault amounting at least to negligence on the part of the publisher; and
4 either actionability of the statement irrespective of special harm or the existence of special harm caused by the publication.
Libel/Slander
(Libel) consists of the publication of defamatory matter by written or printed words, by its embodiment in physical form or by any other form of communication that has the potentially harmful qualities characteristic of written or printed words.
(Slander) consists of the publication of defamatory matter by spoken words, transitory gestures or by any form of communication other than those [constituting libel].
