Intentional Torts Involving Personal Injury Flashcards
What are the three general elements of a intentional tort involving personal injury?
You need a:
- Tortious conduct
-> voluntary act
OR
-> failure to act - Requisite mental state
-> purposeful (or reckless for IIED),
OR
-> defendant (D) knows the consequence is substantially certain to result from the tortious conduct - Causation
-> resulting harm legally (factually and proximately) caused by D’s conduct.
The 2nd Restatement elements include: act, intent and causation.
What are the elements of.a battery?
There are three elements to a battery:
- D intends to cause contact with plaintiff’s (P’s) person (or anything connected to P’s person)
–> transferred intent applies - D’s conduct causes such contact
–> indirect contact counts
–> D’s conduct must be voluntary and affirmative - The contact causes bodily harm or is offensive to P
–> harmful: physical injury, illness, disease, impairment, death
–> offensive: reasonable-person standard (objective standard), OR when D knows that the contact is highly offensive to P’s sense of personal dignity then you switch to this more subjective standard
How does intent to cause contact, under battery, vary among states?
Single-intent rule (majority rule) - D may be liable if
-> D (i) intends to bring about the contact
-> BUT D need not intend (ii) that the contact is harmful or offensive
Double-intent rule (minority rule) - D must
-> (i) intend to bring about a contact
AND
-> (ii) intend that the contact be harmful or offensive
What is an assault and what are its elements?
- The D intends to cause the P to anticipate an imminent, AND harmful or offensive, contact with the plaintiff’s person; and
-> no actual contact required
-> P must be aware of D’s act (“apprehend”) - The D’s affirmative conduct causes the P to anticipate such contact with the P’s person.
What kind of contact is insufficient for the imminence element of assault?
Threats of future harm OR threats made by D who is physically too far away do not usually satisfy this requirement.
What is IIED and what are its elements?
IIED is the intentional infliction of emotional distress.
It happens when D,
-> by extreme and outrageous conduct,
-> intentionally OR recklessly
-> causes P severe emotional distress.
What is extreme and outrageous conduct under IIED?
It means that the actions are beyond human decency and/or outrageous.
What must public figures provide in order to recover under IIED?
Public figures must show
-> FALSITY of a statement of FACT
AND
-> MALICE
of publication.
When can a private person not recover under IIED?
When the issue in question is related to speech of public concern.
Do you need proof of physical harm to recover under IIED?
No you do not, severe emotional distress is sufficient.
What is transferred intent?
Transferred intent exists when a D intends to commit a battery, assault, or false imprisonment against one person but instead commits the intended tort against a different person.
When does transfer of intent not work?
Transferred intent does not apply to
-> transfer intent from an intentional tort based on personal injury (e.g., battery, assault) to an intentional tort based on harm to property (e.g., trespass to land).
It also generally does not apply to intentional infliction of emotional distress, but may under limited circumstances.
What happens if IIED causes emotional harm to a third party?
Can be applied to a third party if the actions of D distressed members of victim’s immediate family – with or without resulting in bodily injury – or other bystanders RESULTING in bodily injury.
What is false imprisonment?
D
-> intends to confine another within a limited area,
-> D’s conduct causes P’s confinement or D fails to release P from confinement despite a duty to do so,
AND
-> P is conscious of the confinement.
What does confinement mean under false imprisonment?
Limit area or when P is compelled to move in a highly restricted way (e.g. physical barriers or force, threats, invalid use of legal authority, duress, failure to provide means of escape).
