Intentional Torts Flashcards
BATTERY
(1) Harmful or offensive contact
(2) To P’s person
(3) Intent
(4) Causation
- Contact unpermitted by a person of ordinary sensitivity - Contact with anything P is holding/touching or is connected to
ASSAULT
(1) An act by D creating a reasonable apprehension in P
- Apprehension = knowledge/awareness
(2) Of an imminent battery (immediate harmful or offensive contact to P’s person)
- Conduct required - words alone without accompanying gestures lack immediacy
- Words can negate/eliminate immediacy
(3) Intent
(4) Causation
FALSE IMPRISONMENT
(1) D must commit an act of restraint that confines or restrains P
- Threats are sufficient
- Omissions
- P must know of confinement OR be harmed by it
(2) P must be confined in a bounded area
- No reasonable means of escape P can reasonably discover
(3) Intent
(4) Causation
INTENTIONAL INFLICTION OF MENTAL DISTRESS
(1) Act by D amounting to extreme and outrageous conduct
- Exceeds all bounds of decency in a civilized society
(2) Intent OR recklessness
(3) Causation
(4) Damages - P must suffer severe emotional distress
- No specific evidentiary requirements
- Only intentional tort that requires damages
HALLMARKS OF OUTRAGEOUS CONDUCT
- Repetitive or continuous
- D is common carrier or innkeeper
- Owes a duty of courtesy
- P is member of fragile class of persons
- Small children, elderly, pregnant women
- P knows of D’s unusual/extreme sensitivity
TRESPASS TO LAND
(1) Act of physical invasion
- Projecting intangible forces = not a physical invasion (maybe nuisance)
(2) Act must interfere with P’s exclusive possession of land
- Includes air above and soil below to a reasonable distance
(3) Intent
- Does not need to know boundary line was crossed
- Intent to be where you are by a volitional act/movement
(4) Causation
TRESPASS TO CHATTELS
-Interference with PERSONAL property
(1) Act by D that interferes with P’s right to possession in a chattel
(2) Intent
(3) Causation
(4) Damages
- Not necessarily to the chattel, but at least to a possessory right
- Usually involves physical harm to a chattel to a relatively modest degree (i.e. vandalism)
- Recovery limited to damages for amount of harm caused
CONVERSION
-Interference with PERSONAL property
(1) Act by D that interferes with P’s right of possession in a chattel
(2) Interference is so serious that it warrants requiring D to pay the chattel’s full value
(3) Intent
(4) Causation
- Usually involves interference with P’s right to possess (i.e. theft), or significant amount of physical harm to the chattel
- Recovery can be full market value of the item (i.e. “forced sale”)
CONSENT
- Defense to ALL intentional torts
- Depends on whether P had legal capacity
- Must stay within scope of consent
IMPLIED CONSENT
- Based on customary practice
- Based on D’s reasonable interpretation of P’s objective conduct/body language
NECESSITY
- ONLY a defense to the 3 property torts
- Public Necessity arises in an emergency to protect a group as a whole or a significant group of people
- Private Necessity arises in an emergency to protect one’s own interest/limited # of people
- Remains liable for compensatory damages (any actual harm to the property)
- Right of sanctuary on P’s property
FOR WHICH TORTS CAN TRANSFERRED INTENT BE INVOKED?
- Assault
- Battery
- False imprisonment
- Trespass to land
- Trespass to chattel
INTENT REQUIRED FOR INTENTIONAL TORTS
- “Specific” intent to bring about specific consequences
- “General” intent knowing with substantial certainty that these consequences will result
-CHILDREN & MENTALLY INCOMPETENT PEOPLE are capable of intent for intentional torts - incapacity is not a defense
TRANSFERRED INTENT
D intends to commit a tort against one person but instead-
(1) commits a different tort against that person OR
(2) Commits the same tort as intended against a different person OR
(3) Commits a different tort against a different person
IIED IN BYSTANDER CASES
When D causes intentionally causes physical harm to a 3rd person and the P suffers severe emotional distress because of it, the P may recover by showing the prima facie elements OR
(1) She was present when the injury occurred
(2) Close relative of the injured person
(3) D knew facts 1 and 2
