Intentional Torts to the Person

Question 1

Battery

Answer 1

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.

Question 2

Harmful or Offensive Contact

Answer 2

• 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).

Question 3

Direct or Indirect Contact

Answer 3

• Contact can be direct (for example, striking the plaintiff) or
  indirect (for example, setting a trap for the plaintiff to fall into).

Question 4

Plantiff’s Person

Answer 4

• Plaintiff’s person includes anything connected to the plaintiff (for example, clothing or a purse).

Question 5

Battery: Damages Not Required

Answer 5

• P can recover nominal damages even if actual damages aren’t proved.
• P may recover punitive damages for malicious conduct

Question 6

Assault

Answer 6

• 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)

Question 7

Apprehension Must be Reasonable

Answer 7

• Courts generally will not protect a plaintiff
  against exaggerated fears of contact.

Question 8

Fear Not Required

Answer 8

• 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).

Question 9

Knowledge of Act

Answer 9

• 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.

Question 10

Apparent Ability Sufficient

Answer 10

• If D has the apparent ability to commit a battery,
  this will be enough to cause a reasonable apprehension.

Question 11

Effect of Words

Answer 11

• 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).

Question 12

Requirement of Immediacy

Answer 12

• P must be apprehensive that they are about to
  become the victim of an immediate battery.

Question 13

Assault: Damages not Required

Answer 13

• P can recover nominal damages even if actual
  damages are not proved.
• Malicious conduct may permit recovery of punitive damages.

Question 14

False Imprisonment

Answer 14

• 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

Question 15

Methods of Confinement or Restraint

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Time of Confinement

Answer 16

• It is irrelevant how short the period of the confinement is.

Question 17

Awareness of Confinement

Answer 17

• P must know of the confinement or be harmed by it.

Question 18

What is a Bounded Area

Answer 18

• Freedom of movement must be limited in all directions.
• There must be no reasonable means of escape known to P

Question 19

FI: Damages Not Required

Answer 19

• P can recover nominal damages even if actual
  damages are not proved.
• Punitive damages may be recovered if D acted maliciously.

Question 20

Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress

Answer 20

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

Question 21

IIED: Extreme & Outrageous Conduct

Answer 21

• 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)

Question 22

IIED: Requisite Intent

Answer 22

• Unlike for other intentional torts, recklessness as to the effect of D’s conduct will satisfy the intent requirement.

Question 23

IIED: Actual Damages Required

Answer 23

• 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.

Question 24

IIED: Causation in Bystander Cases

Answer 24

• 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.