Intentional Torts to the Person Flashcards
Battery - Key Elements
- harmful or offensive contact
- such contact must be with the plaintiff’s person
- still requires intent and causation (this is required for all intentional torts)
Battery - Harmful or Offensive Conduct
- harmful if causes actual injury, pain or disfigurement
- offensive if would be considered offensive to a reasonable person
-> only if not permitted or consented to (implied for certain ordinary contacts involved in everyday life)
Battery - Direct vs Indirect Contact
- can be either
- ex: setting a trap for pl to fall into can count as indirect contact
Battery - Plaintiff’s Person
- includes anything connected to pl (ex: clothing or purse)
Battery - Damages
- pl DOESN’T need to prove actual damages -> can still recover nominal damages even if actual damages not proved
- may also recover punitive damages for malicious conduct
Assault - Key Elements
- act by def creating reasonable apprehension in pl
- of an immediate battery (harmful or offensive contact to the person)
-> note the requirement of immediacy - still includes intent + causation too
Assault - Apprehension
- needs to be reasonable -> courts won’t protect pl against exaggerated fears of contact
- DON’T need fear/intimidation -> apprehension = more along the lines of anticipation/expectation
Assault - Knowledge
- to establish apprehension, pl needs to have been AWARE of the threat (ex: if somebody fake punches your face while you’re sleeping, it’s not an assault because you didn’t know it was happening)
- doesn’t need to have been aware of def’s identity though
Assault - Apparent Ability
- if def has apparent ability to commit a battery, that might be enough to cause a reasonable apprehension
Assault - Effect of Words
- usually not enough -> typically need to be coupled with conduct to count as battery
- keep in mind extent to which this is in keeping with immediacy (if someone says they will do something, the threat doesn’t feel as immediate)
- BUT words CAN negate reasonable apprehension (seems to be a words speak louder than actions kind of thing)
Assault - Damages
- similar to battery
- actual damages NOT required -> can get nominal damages w/o them
- malicious conduct may get you punitive damages
False Imprisonment - Key Elements
- an act or omission on the part of the defendant that confines or restrains the plaintiff
- pl must be confined to a bounded area
- intent + causation too
False Imprisonment - Sufficient Acts of Restraint
Include:
- physical barriers
- physical force directed against pl, immediate family, or personal property
- direct threats of force
- indirect or implied threats of force
- failure to release pl when under legal duty to do so
- invalid use of legal authority
False Imprisonment - Insufficient Acts of Restraint
Include:
- moral pressure
- future threats
False Imprisonment - Timing + Awareness
- timing is IRRELEVANT -> can be super short confinement + still qualify
- awareness IS required though -> must know of the confinement or be harmed by it
False Imprisonment - Bounded Area
- freedom of movement must be limited in all directions for an area to be bounded
- must be no reasonable means of escape known to pl
False Imprisonment - Damages
- similar to battery and assault
- DON’T need actual damages -> can recover nominal damages
- punitive damages if def aced maliciously
Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress - Key Elements
- an act by def amounting to extreme + outrageous conduct
- pl must suffer severe emotional distress
- intent + causation too
- book refers to this tort as a “fallback tort position” -> says to pick another tort if there’s a different one that will allow pl to recover
IIED - Extreme and Outrageous Conduct
- conduct that transcends all boundaries of decency
Conduct not normally outrageous may become so if:
- continuous in nature
- committed by a certain type of def (common carriers or innkeepers may be liable even for mere gross insults) OR
- directed toward a certain type of pl (children, elderly, pregnant people, supersensitive adults if the sensitivity is known to def)
-
IIED - Intent
- recklessness as to effect of def’s conduct will satisfy intent req
-> note that this is different from other intentional torts (usually DOESN’T suffice)
IIED - Damages
- actual damages ARE required here (unlike the other intentional torts to the person noted)
-> b/c need to establish severe emotional distress - proof of physical injury generally not required
- sliding scale - the more outrageous he conduct, the less proof of damages is required
IIED- Causation in Bystander Cases
- when def’s conduct is directed at a third person, + pl suffers severe emotional distress b/c of it, pl 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 pl is a close relative of he third person AND
3) def knew these facts
