Intentional Torts

Question 1

specific intent

Answer 1

the purpose in acting is to bring about specific consequences

Question 2

general intent

Answer 2

the actor knows with substantial certainty that these consequences will result

Question 3

What torts can invoke transferred intent?

Answer 3

Battery
Assault
False imprisonment
Trespass to land 
Trespass to chattels

Question 4

Causation is satisfied if

Answer 4

defendant’s conduct was a substantial factor in bringing about the injury

Question 5

Prima facie case for battery

Answer 5

harmful or offensive contact, to plaintiff’s person, intent, and causation

Question 6

Contact is harmful for the purposes of battery if it

Answer 6

causes actual injury, pain, or disfigurement.

Question 7

Contact is offensive if it

Answer 7

would be considered offensive to a reasonable person.

Question 8

Prima facie case for assault

Answer 8

An act by defendant creating a reasonable apprehension in plaintiff;
Of immediate harmful or offensive contact to plaintiff’s person;
Intent; and
Causation

Question 9

Prima facie case for false imprisonment

Answer 9

An act or omission on the part of defendant that confines or restrains plaintiff to a bounded area;
Intent; and
Causation

Question 10

Sufficient Methods of Confinement for False Imprisonment

Answer 10

(i) physical barriers
(ii) physical force directed against plaintiff, immediate family, or personal property (confiscating purse);
(iii) direct threats of force;
(iv) indirect or implied threats of force;
(v) failure to release plaintiff when under a legal duty to do so (taxi)
(vi) invalid use of legal authority

Question 11

Prima facie case for Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress

Answer 11

(i) An act by defendant amounting to extreme and outrageous conduct;
(ii) Intent or recklessness;
(iii) Causation; and
(iv) Damages—severe emotional distress

Question 12

Conduct that is not normally outrageous may become so if:

Answer 12

1) It is continuous in nature
2) It is directed toward a certain type of plaintiff (children, elderly persons, pregnant women, supersensitive adults if the sensitivities are known to defendant); or
3) It is committed by a certain type of defendant (common carriers or innkeepers may be liable even for mere “gross insults”)

Question 13

When the defendant intentionally causes physical harm to a third person and the plaintiff suffers severe emotional distress because of it, the plaintiff may recover by showing,

Answer 13

either the prima facie case for emotional distress or that (i) she was present when the injury occurred, (ii) she is a close relative of the injured persons, and (iii) the defendant knew facts (i) and (ii).

Question 14

Prima facie case for trespass to land

Answer 14

(i) physical invasion
(ii) intent; and
(iii) causation

Question 15

Prima facie case for trespass to chattels

Answer 15

(i) An act by defendant that interferes with plaintiff’s right of possession in a chattel;
(ii) Intent;
(iii) Causation; and
(iv) Damages.

Question 16

Elements of prima facie case for conversion:

Answer 16

(i) An act by defendant that interferes with plaintiff’s right of possession in a chattel;
(ii) Intent;
(iii) Causation; and
(iv) Damages—an interference serious enough in nature or consequences to warrant that defendant pay the chattel’s full value

Question 17

Remedies for conversion

Answer 17

Plaintiff may recover damages (full market value at time of conversion) or replevin (possession)

Question 18

An assault is

Answer 18

an affirmative act by the defendant with the intent to place the plaintiff in apprehension of an imminent harmful or offensive contact to his person and that actually causes the plaintiff apprehension.