Intentional Torts to the Person Flashcards
Battery
The key testable elements for battery are:
(1) Harmful/offensive contact
(2) Contact must be with P’s person
Tip: Remember in addition to the key testable elements, all intentional torts also require proof of
intent and causation.
Harmful or Offensive Contact
- Contact is harmful if it causes actual injury, pain, or disfigurement.
- Contact is offensive if it would be considered offensive
to a reasonable person. - Tip: Contact is considered offensive only if it hasn’t
been permitted or consented to. However, consent
will be implied for the ordinary contacts of everyday
life (for example, minor bumping on a crowded bus).
Direct or Indirect Contact
- Contact can be direct (for example, striking the plaintiff) or
indirect (for example, setting a trap for the plaintiff to fall into).
Plantiff’s Person
- Plaintiff’s person includes anything connected to the plaintiff (for example, clothing or a purse).
Battery: Damages Not Required
- P can recover nominal damages even if actual damages aren’t proved.
- P may recover punitive damages for malicious conduct
Assault
- The key testable elements for assault are:
(1) Act by the defendant
(2) Creating a reasonable apprehension in P
(3) Of an immediate battery (harmful or offensive contact to P’s person)
Apprehension Must be Reasonable
- Courts generally will not protect a plaintiff
against exaggerated fears of contact.
Fear Not Required
- Apprehension shouldn’t be confused with fear or intimidation (for example, a weakling can cause a bully to apprehend offensive contact for purposes of assault).
Knowledge of Act
- For apprehension to be shown, P must be
aware of the threat from D’s act - P need not be aware of D’s identity.
Apparent Ability Sufficient
- If D has the apparent ability to commit a battery,
this will be enough to cause a reasonable apprehension.
Effect of Words
- Words alone are not enough.
- For the D to be liable, words must be coupled with conduct. - Words can negate reasonable apprehension (for example, D shakes their fist but states that they are not going to strike P).
Requirement of Immediacy
- P must be apprehensive that they are about to
become the victim of an immediate battery.
Assault: Damages not Required
- P can recover nominal damages even if actual
damages are not proved. - Malicious conduct may permit recovery of punitive damages.
False Imprisonment
- The key testable elements for false imprisonment are:
(1) An act or omission on the part of the D that confines
or restrains P
(2) To a bounded area
Methods of Confinement or Restraint
Sufficient acts of restraint include:
* Physical barriers
* Physical force directed against P, immediate
family, or personal property (for example, confiscating the
P’s purse)
* Direct threats of force
Indirect or implied threats of force
* Failure to release the plaintiff when under a legal duty to
do so (for example, a taxi driver refusing to let a customer
out)
* Invalid use of legal authority (for example, false arrest)
Insufficient acts of restraint include:
* Moral pressure
* Future threats
Time of Confinement
- It is irrelevant how short the period of the confinement is.
Awareness of Confinement
- P must know of the confinement or be harmed by it.
What is a Bounded Area
- Freedom of movement must be limited in all directions.
- There must be no reasonable means of escape known to P
FI: Damages Not Required
- P can recover nominal damages even if actual
damages are not proved. - Punitive damages may be recovered if D acted maliciously.
Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress
The key testable elements for intentional infliction of
emotional distress are:
* An act by D amounting to extreme and outrageous
conduct
* P must suffer severe emotional distress
IIED: Extreme & Outrageous Conduct
- This is conduct that transcends all bounds of decency.
- Conduct that is not normally outrageous may become so if:
(1) It is continuous in nature
(2) It is committed by a certain type of D (common
carriers or innkeepers may be liable even for mere “gross insults”) OR
(3) It is directed toward a certain type of P (children,
elderly persons, someone who is pregnant, supersensitive adults if the sensitivities are known to defendant)
IIED: Requisite Intent
- Unlike for other intentional torts, recklessness as to the effect of D’s conduct will satisfy the intent requirement.
IIED: Actual Damages Required
- Actual damages (severe emotional distress), not nominal damages, are required.
- Proof of physical injury generally isn’t required.
- The more outrageous the conduct, the less proof of
damages is required.
IIED: Causation in Bystander Cases
- When D’s conduct is directed at a 3rd person,
and P suffers severe emotional distress because of
it, P may recover by showing either the prima facie case elements of emotional distress or that
(1) they were present when the injury occurred;
(2) the distress resulted in bodily harm or P is a close relative of the 3rd person; and
(3) D knew these facts.
