TORTS Flashcards
Battery
Intentional Tort:
- Elements
- Intentional Act
- Suffered harm or offense
- Touch (a contact with the body
- Extended personality rule: The plaintiff’s body is considered to include anything the plaintiff is holding or touching
Assault
Intentional Tort
- Elements:
- Intent
- Apprehension of battery (Reasonable)
- Iminancy
Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress
Intentional Tort
- Elements:
- D acted intentionally or recklessly
- D engaged in extreme and outrageous conduct
- P suffered severe distress as a result
- To Immediate family member if present and emotional distress happens OR IF
- Any other person if present AND bodily harm results from emotional distress.
- You can claim IIED if:
- Relationship between the parties
- Repeated pattern of conduct
- Previously aware of the person’s susceptibility to the conduct
False Imprisonment
Intentional Tort
- Elements:
- Intent
- An act of restraint
- Resulting confinement of the pl;aintiff within a bounded area.
- Physical restraint is not always required, acts and threats are a good sign.
- There must be no reasonable escape
- Reasonable time (be brief), reasonable grounds (be certain), reasonable manner (be polite).
Trespass to Land
Intentional Tort
- Elements:
- Intent
- Possession of the property by the plaintiff
- Act of physical invasion of the property by the defendant
Trespass to Chattels
Intentional Tort
- Elements:
- Intent
- Small Interference with P’s property in some way
Conversion
Intentional Tort
- Elements:
- Intent
- Interference with property or property is severely damaged
- Replevin (damages)
Espressed Consent
Defenses to Intentional Torts
- Explicit statement by the plaintiff giving the defendant permission to act in a way that would otherwise be an intentional tort
Informed Consent
Defenses to Intentional Torts
- Two types of informed consent violations:
- Negligence
- Type of informed consent where someone fails to explain the risk involved
- Battery
- Type of informed consent where treatment is unauthorized and performed without consent
- Negligence
Implied Consent
Defenses to Intentional Torts
- By virtue of what is considered customary
- Reasonable interpretation of conduct [body language]
Case Example:
- O’Brien v. Cunard Lines
- Facts: Irish lady (17 years old) on a ship, surgeon examined her arm and didn’t see mark, she didn’t have a certificate; she says she got vaccinated in Ireland; surgeon vaccinated her anyway and she did not object; she extended her arm
- Rule: There was valid consent here because of body language. Objective test rather than subjective
Substituted Consent
Defenses to Intentional Torts
- Legal guardian
- Power of Attorney
- Spouse
- Parent
Invalid Consent
Defenses to Intentional Torts
- Ways consent is invalid: (Friends Frolic In Lakes)
- Force
- Fraud
- Illegal
- Lack of Capacity
Self-Defense
Defenses to Intentional Torts
- Elements:
- D is responding to an imminent threat
- D has a reasonable belief that the threat is imminent
- Response limited to force necessary under the circumstances
- No duty to retreat
- UNLESS deadly force is threatened
- OR you are in your own home
Cases:
- Touchet:
- Rule: Words/provocation are generally not sufficient to raise the self-defense privilege
Public Necessity
Defenses to Intentional Torts
- Permites an individual who is confronted with a sudden emergency to engage in a tort against property.
- A person is permitted to trespass on another’s property AND take, use, or destroy another’s property
- Private party not liable when private party damages another private party’s property for the common good
- No individual liability
Case Examples:
- Surroco v. Geary
- Facts: Geary is a public officer. He destroyed Surocco’s house during a fire to prevent the fire from spreading. Surroco was in the process of removing his belongings and would have saved more had Geary not interfered
- Rule: Geary not liable for damages because he was acting in public necessity
Private Necessity
Defenses to Intentional Torts
- Privileged to enter/remain on someone else’s land if it’s reasonable to prevent imminent harm to actor, land, chattels or a third person
- Still responsible for damages
Case Examples:
- Vincent v. Lake Erie Transportation Co.
- Facts: Boat causes damage to Vincent’s dock in the amount of $500 because of securing the ties to the dock; they were replacing the lines
-
Coase Theorem:
- Forces the boat owner to take into consideration the cost of the dock and choose the least expensive option
Defense of Others
Defenses to Intentional Torts
-
Elements:
- Imminent threat
- Proportional force
- Reasonable Belief
- **retaliation is not a defense**
Arrest & Detention
(Shopkeeper’s Privilege)
Defenses to Intentional Torts
- Elements:
- Person may be held if:
- Reasonable suspicion of theft/shopping
- Reasonable manner of arrest
- Reasonable period of time
Defense of Property
Defenses to Intentional Torts
- Privilege to use reasonable and non-lethal force if:
- Intrusion is not privileged;
- Intrusion can be prevented only by force used;
- You’ve first requested the other to desist and they’re not leaving
- May use deadly force only where:
- Owner reasonable believes without deadly force, death or serious bodily harm will occur
- May use mechanical device to protect property only if you’d be privileged to use a similar degree of force if you were present and acting yourself
Case Examples:
- Katko:
- Facts: After series of break-ins, D sets up spring gun (shotgun) to go off if there is any unlawful injury. P goes in for bottles and gets shot in the leg.
- Court holds human life is more valuable than property and rules in favor of P
Castle Doctrine
Defenses to Intentional Torts
- Elements:
- Some jurisdictions
- Imminent lethal threat to you
- While you are in your home
- Make My Day Laws (extends)
- Duty to retreat unless you are in a stand your ground laws
Negligence
Negligence
- Elements: (Do Bad Crimes Dude)
- Duty to care
- What type?
- Breach of duty
- Causation
- Factual Cause
- P would not have been injured “BUT FOR” D’s conduct
- Proximate Cause (“Legal Cause)
- Foreseeability
- Factual Cause
- Damages
- Duty to care
Negligence Per Se
Negligence
- Elements:
- Two part test: Statute is designed to protect the same:
- Class of persons
- Class of risk or harm
- Two part test: Statute is designed to protect the same:
- Exceptions:
- When it is physically impossible to comply with the law (having a seizure while driving)
- When it is less safe to comply with the statute that it is to not comply (a child darting out into the street in front of your car).
Negligent Inflicition of Emotional Distress
Negligence
- Elements: (ORS)
- Type:
- Near Miss Cases:
- Outrageous or intolerable conduct
- Physical Harm Results
- Severe emotional distress resulted
- Will lose in most jurisdictions
- Bystander Cases:
- P observes injury to close family member as it happens
- Relationship Cases:
- P & D in business relationship
- Highly foreseeable that negligence in business will result in significant distress to P
- Near Miss Cases:
- Type:
Tests for Negligence
Three tests for Negligence:
- Contributory
- Assess plaintiff’s conduct
- If contributorily negligent, P wins nothing
- Pure Comparative
- Percentage-Based (proportional)
- P always recovers something even if majority actor
- Modified/Partial Comparative:
- P’s recover is reduced to a threshold
- After threshold (tends to be half) is met, P is barred from recovery
Contributory Negligence
Negligence
- Elements:
- P’s failure to use relative care for their own safety
- P loses suit and wins nothing
- Has been abolished in most states
- Assumption of the Risk (Exceptions to contributory negligence)
- Expressed: (because you did it
- Verbal or written consent to the possibility of harm
- Completely bars recovery
- Implied: (because you did it)
- Knowledge of risk
- Voluntarily encounter with risk
- Expressed: (because you did it
- Bars to Recovery
- D behaves recklessly
- Last Clear Chance Rule:
- P can recover despite contributory negligence
- D had the last clear to avoid accident, but didn’t
- Typically applies when P is helpless or unaware
Comparative Negligence
Negligence
- Elements
- Will reduce recover in some cases as opposed to creating an absolute bar (like contributory negligence)
- Replaces contributory negligence and implied assumption of risk
- Types
- Pure
- Percentage-Based (proportional)
- P always recovers something even if majority actor
- Modified or Partial
- P’s recover is reduced to a threshold
- After threshold (tends to be half) is met, P is barred from recovery
- Pure
Reasonably Prudent Person Standard
Negligence
- Elements:
- Reasonably prudent person under the same circumstances
- Objective & rigid
- Few exceptions
- Doesn’t take into account previous lack experience
- Reasonably prudent person under the same circumstances
Duty of Care for Children
Negligence
- Elements:
- Must exercise the same care as a child of like age, intelligence, and experience
- A child will be held to the rigid adult standard if they are engaged in an adult activity
Duty of Care for Professionals
Negligence
- Elements:
- A person who hold herself out as a learned professional are required to both possess and exercise the knowledge and skill as an ordinary member of the profession in good standing
- A mistake will not qualify as negligence if it is a mistake that an ordinary professional might make.
- Medical Professionals
- Necessary for consent in medical procedures:
- Risk of procedure
- Necessity of procedure
- Alternative procedures
- Necessary for consent in medical procedures:
- No duty to inform if:
- Common knowledge situation
- Emergency situation
- Lack of capacity to consent (child)
Duty of Possessors of Land
Negligence
- Elements:
- Duty of Care Calculation:
- Source of injury
- Activity on land?
- Artificial condition
- Static Condition?
- Natural condition
- Activity on land?
- Entrant (Unicords Don’t Lick Ice)
- Undiscovered Trespasser
- Discovered Trespasser:
- Licensee:
- Invitee
- Source of injury
- Duty of Care Calculation:
Undiscovered Trespessers
Negligence
- Elements:
- Duty of Care
- No duty - artificial danger
- No duty - static condition
- Always loses lawsuit
- Duty of Care
Discovered Tresspassers
Negligence
- Elements:
- A trespasser the landowner should have known about
- Duty Owed: Reasonable care except:
- Duty to Warn for dangers that are: (All Horses Can Kick)
- Artificial
- Highly dangerous
- Concealed
- Known to Land Owner
- In other words (Man-made Death Traps)
- Duty to Warn for dangers that are: (All Horses Can Kick)
Liscensee
Negligence
- Elements:
- On the land with the possessor’s consent (Invited)
- Duty Owed: Reasonable care except:
- Duty to Warn for dangers that are:
- Concealed
- Known to Land Owner
- Not expected to remedy
- Duty to Warn for dangers that are:
Invitee
Negligence
- Elements:
- Public or Business guest (Induced to come) on land.
- Duty Owed:
- Inspect, Warn, and/or Protect.
- Reasonable care
- Duty to Warn for dangers that are:
- Concealed
- Known/Should have known by Land Owner
- Does not include LE or Fire Fighters
Bailments
Negligence
- Elements:
- Arises when owner transfers possession of personal property to a nonowner to maintain temporary custody of the property for a limited purpose.
- Definitions:
- Bailee: the person (or custodian) entrusted or given temporary possession of good or chattel
- Bailor: person giving or leaving the good or chattel to another person to hold temporarily.
- Gratuitous bailment – sharing of property by a bailor or the free provision of custodial services by the bailee
- Bailment for hire, in which the bailor and bailee both benefit.
Distress Damaged Feasant
Negligence
- Elements:
- Allows owner to hold trespassing chattel for payment of damages under distraint damage feasant or distress damage feasant.
- No right to wound or kill the trespassing animals
Attractive Nuisance
Negligence
- Elements:
- Attractive
- Dangerous
- Child cannot appreciate Danger
- Meant to protect child trespassers
- Duty Owed: Reasonable Care
- Could the owner anticipate that children may be attracted to an entity on their land?
No Duty to Rescue
Negligence:
- Elements:
- Exceptions to no duty to rescue rule:
- Responsible for putting P in peril
- Relationship with P
- Family/Relative
- Common Carrier
- Innkeeper/ Guest
- Invitor/ Invitee
- Exceptions to no duty to rescue rule:
Duty to Guard Against Harm Caused by Third Parties
Negligence
- Elements:
- Duty to stop somebody else from injuring P
- D has both ability and authority to control third party
- Requirements:
- Risk of harm was foreseeable
- D has relationship with third party or victim
- Examples:
- Parents (when careless)
- Employers
- Land Owners (Invitors & Licensers)
Factual Causation
Causation
- Elements
- “But For” Test
- The plaintiff’s injury would not have occurred without the defendant’s act
Proximate Causation
Causation
- Elements:
- Wagon Mound Test - Foreseeability (Cardozo)
- Foreseeability test - Was the outcome foreseeable? Did they take reasonable precautions?
- More dominant/common test
- Restricts scope of liability
- Wagon Mound Test - Foreseeability (Cardozo)
- Polemis Test - Directness (Andrews)
- Directness Test - Liability for all damages directly traceable to the negligent act, and not due to the operation of independent causes having no connection to the negligent act?
- Broadens scope of liability
Intervening Causes
Causation
- A limitation on the scope of D’s liability
- Use foreseeability “snapshot” test (Cardoza)
- Superseding factors that bring about harm different from what would have normally resulted from the negligent act
- Considered Foreseeable
- Act of Nature is usually foreseeable and not superseding
- Not Considered Foreseeable
- Criminal conduct of a third party
Intervening Causes with known outcomes: (D will always be liable for)
- Subsequent Medical Malpractice
- Negligent Rescue
- Reaction Forces
- Subsequent Diseases and Accidents
Joint & Severally Liability
Causation
- Elements:
- Any defendant can be held liable for the entirety of the damage amount
- Jointly liable
- Liability is shared by two or more parties who may or may not be joined in a single suit.
- Severally liable
- A defendant’s liability is separate and distinct from the other’s liability (a separate action against one defendant without joining the other)
- Substantial Factor Test
- Multiple Defendants
- Co-mingled Cause
- Shift Burden of Proof (From P to D)
- Multiple Defendant
- Unknown Cause
- If no defendant can exonerate themselves, both with be held joint & severally liable
Defamation
Defamation
- Elements (Dumb Old Police Department)
- Defamatory statement that is false
- On or Concerning
- Publication to Third Party
- Damages
- Public Officials + Celebrities:
- Must prove malice + false
- Gertz Standard
- Limited & All Purpose
- Private Figures:
- Negligence standard
- Public Officials + Celebrities:
Defamation Per Quod
Defamation
- Elements
- Libel per quod or Slander Per Quod is d
- Defamation
- Statement not defamatory on its face
- Requires knowledge of extrinsic facts to understand its defamatory nature.
- Libel per quod or Slander Per Quod is d