Intentional torts

Question 1

What is battery?

Answer 1

A harmful or offensive (unpermitted) contact with the plaintiff’s person intentionally caused by the defendant

Question 2

what are the two elements of battery?

Answer 2

1)harmful and offensive contact and has to be the 2)plaintiff persons

Question 3

when is contact deemed offensive?

Answer 3

Contact is deemed “offensive” if the plaintiff has not expressly or impliedly consented to it

Question 4

Under battery is the defendant still liable for transferred intent

Answer 4

yes it looks like an accident but still liable under transferred intent

Question 5

what is assault?

Answer 5

Intentional creation by the defendant of a reasonable apprehension (Knowledge/awareness) of immediate harmful or offensive contact (Battery) to the plaintiff’s person

Question 6

what is apprehension and what isn’t apprehension?

Answer 6

apprehension isn’t fear but knowledge (plaintiff reasonably believes the defendant can and will do it)

Question 7

are words alone okay to constitute an assault?

Answer 7

just words alone are generally not enough as it does not prove immediacy. Conduct is needed.

Question 8

what kind of words negate conduct for assault?

Answer 8

Conditional words negate the conduct e.g if you weren’t my best friend i would have slapped you or Future tense words

Question 9

what is false imprisonment?

Answer 9

An intentional act or omission by the defendant that causes the plaintiff to be confined or restrained to a bounded area

Question 10

what are the two elements that must be present for false imprisonment?

Answer 10

1)the defendant must commit an act of physical restraint and 2)the plaintiff must be confined in a bounded area.

Question 11

what counts as confinement or restraint?

Answer 11

threats of force, false arrests, and failure to provide a means of escape when under a duty to do so.

Question 12

when is an area not bounded?

Answer 12

An area is not bounded if there is a reasonable means of escape that the plaintiff can reasonably discover. (You’re not locked in if you can get out). If it is disgusting, hidden or dangerous then it is not a reasonable means of escape.

Question 13

When does an act of restraint not count?

Answer 13

Act of restraint only counts if the plaintiff is aware of it or harmed by it.

Question 14

Does time and size of the area of confinement matter when it comes to false imprisonment cases?

Answer 14

There’s no minimum time that one must be confined. Time only impacts damages received by the plaintiff. The area of confinement can be as small as a room or as big as a state.

Question 15

What is intentional infliction of emotional distress?

Answer 15

Intentional extreme and outrageous conduct by the defendant that causes the plaintiff to suffer severe emotional distress

Question 16

What two elements must exist for intentional infliction of emotional distress?

Answer 16

Defendant must engage in 1)outrageous conduct (conduct that exceeds all bounds of decency tolerated in a civilised society) and the plaintiff has 2)suffered emotional distress

Question 17

What counts as outrageous conduct?

Answer 17

• Conduct is continuous or repetitive in nature
• Innkeepers and couriers conduct is always outrageous
• Plaintiff is in a fragile class, therefore defendants conduct is outrageous. Defendant has to know they are a fragile class (Children, eldery, pregnant).
• If a defendant uses knowledge of a hypersensitivity then that is outrageous conduct

Question 18

what does not constitute as outrageous conduct?

Answer 18

Mere insults are not outrageous conduct

Question 19

Can recklessness be sufficient to prove intent when it comes to intentional infliction of emotional distress?

Answer 19

Only intentional tort where recklessness is sufficient to prove intent and plaintiff has to prove damages

Question 20

What is trespass to land

Answer 20

An intentional act by the defendant that causes a physical invasion of the plaintiff’s real property
The defendant need not have intended to commit a trespass, only to do the act of entering onto land

Question 21

What two elements must exist for trespass to land to occur?

Answer 21

Defendant must 1) convict an act of physical invasion and must be 2) of the plaintiff’s land (air above and land below also).

Question 22

Can throwing a ball unto someone’s property be counted as trespass to land?

Answer 22

To throw or project something tangible on the property is a physical invasion

Question 23

When can’t the plaintiff make a case of trespass to land?

Answer 23

if the defendant winds up on the land through no volitional act of his own such as if a horse dragged him there, then the plaintiff can’t make a case of trespass to land.

Question 24

What is trespass to chattels?

Answer 24

An intentional act by the defendant that causes an interference with the plaintiff’s right of possession in a chattel, resulting in damages

Question 25

what is conversion?

Answer 25

An intentional act by the defendant that causes a serious interference with the plaintiff’s right of possession in a chattel

Question 26

what is the difference between trespass to chattels and conversion

Answer 26

if the damage to chattel is more serious then conversion is more appropriate. Permanent deprivation. Defendant will have to pay the full market value of the chatttel at the time of conversion .

trespass to chattel is generally physical damage

Question 27

Would thinking the chattel was yours absolve you from trespass to chattels or conversion?

Answer 27

Mistake of thinking it was yours will not absolve you

Question 28

what is transferred intent?

Answer 28

• Intent will transfer from the intended tort to the committed tort, or from the intended victim to the actual victim
• Both the tort intended and the tort committed must be battery, assault, false imprisonment, trespass to land, or trespass to chattels

Question 29

what are the defenses to intentional torts?

Answer 29

1. Consent
2. self defense, defense, defense of others or defense of property
3. Necessity

Question 30

what are the two types of consent?

Answer 30

1. Express consent - explicit i.e oral or written. Exception is if the consent was obtained through fraud or duress then the consent is void. E.g someone pretending to be your doctor
2. Implied consent by custom and usage e.g shoved when playing basketball.
   Body language consent e.g closing eyes and moving head towards a kiss.

Question 31

what must the plainitff have in order to be able to consent?

Answer 31

plaintiff must have had capacity to consent

Question 32

when can the defense of Self defense, defense of others or defense of property be applicable?

Answer 32

the threat has to be imminent and The defendant must have a reasonable belief that the threat is genuine.
There can be a reasonable mistake

Question 33

what kind of force can be used for Self defense, defense of others or defense of property?

Answer 33

Only reasonable force may be used. Force must be proportionate and not excessive

1) Deadly force is permitted if reasonably believed to be necessary to prevent serious bodily injury
2) Deadly force is never permitted to defend only property unless feared for your life.

Question 34

what is shopkeepers privilege?

Answer 34

The shopkeeper’s privilege permits the reasonable detention of someone the shopkeeper reasonably believes has shoplifted goods. They are not required to notify the police.

Question 35

how else does shopkeeper’s privilege extend?

Answer 35

Although the privilege usually applies as a defense to a false imprisonment action, it is equally applicable as a defense to other intentional torts. Hence, if the security guard’s belief that the shopper was a shoplifter was reasonable, the defense would be available and the store would not be liable for the assault.

Question 36

When is defense of necessity available?

Answer 36

Only available for property torts. Which are trespass to land, trespass to chattels and conversion.

Question 37

what is public necessity and what is private necessity?

Answer 37

public necessity has an absolute defense - in an emergency to protect the community as a whole e.g steals fire extinguishers to put out a fire destroying a whole neighbourhood
b. If justified only by a private necessity, the defense is qualified (the defendant must pay for any damage caused). if you do no harm, technical tort is excused.

Question 38

When is a defendant liable for private necessity ?

Answer 38

The defendant must pay for any damage caused

Question 39

what must the plaintiff prove to establish a prima facie case of intentional tort?

Answer 39

To establish a prima facie case of intentional tort, plaintiff must prove
Act by defendant - act required is a vocational movement by defendant
Intent - may either be specific or general

Question 40

what does it mean for an area to be bounded?

Answer 40

for an area to be “bounded”, freedom of movement must be limited in all directions. There must be no reasonable means of escape known to the plaintiff

Question 41

Intention infliction of emotional distress is the only intentional tort that the person requires what?

Answer 41

Intentional infliction of emotional distress is the only intentional tort to the person that requires damages

Question 42

In a Bystander cases for intentional infliction of emotional distress what must the plaintiff prove

Answer 42

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 either the prima facie case of elements of emotional distress or that
(i) she was present when the injury occurred
(ii) she is a close relative of the injured person
(III) the defendant knew facts (i) and (II)

Question 43

explain capacity when it comes to consent as a defense to intentional tort

Answer 43

Individuals without capacity are deemed incapable of consent e.g incompetents, drunken persons and very young children.

Question 44

How can someone go about to recapture chattels?

Answer 44

When another’s possession began lawfully, one may use only peaceful means to recover the chattel. Force may be used to recapture the chattel only when in hot pursuit of one who has obtained possession wrongfully e.g theft

Question 45

when is the defense of recapture of chattels available?

Answer 45

• Timely demand required
• Recovery only from wrongdoer
• On wrongdoers land - when chattels are located on the land of the wrongdoer, the owner is privileged to enter onto the land and reclaim them at a reasonable time in a reasonable manner, after first making a demand for the return

Question 46

Explain the doctrine of joint and several liability

Answer 46

The doctrine of joint and several liability provides that when two or more tortious acts combine to proximately cause an indivisible injury to plaintiff, each tortfeasor will be jointly and severally liable for that injury. This means that plaintiff can recover the entire amount of his damages from any one defendant.