Torts Flashcards
Intent required for intentional torts
The defendant has the purpose or desire to cause the consequences of act or knows with substantial certainty that the result would occur from the act
What are the intentional torts
Battery Assault False Imprisonment Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress Trespass to Land Trespass to Chattels Conversion
Intentional torts
When a defendant commits a voluntary act with the intent to cause harm to the plaintiff and injury occurs and no privilege or defense exists
Elements
- Voluntary Act
- Intent
- Causation
- Harm
- Lack of privilege or defense
Intent for intentional torts: children and the mentally impaired
A majority of courts have held that both children and those who are mentally incompetent can be held liable for intentional torts if they either act with a purpose or know the consequences of their acts with a substantial certainty
Torts: transferred intent
Transferred intent exists when a person intends to commit an intentional tort against one person but instead commits either a different intentional tort against that person, the intended tort against a different person, or a different intentional tort against a different person
The intent to commit one intentional tort suffices to satisfy the intent requirement for another intentional tort
Transferred intent applies for what types of intentional torts
Transferred intent applies only when the intended tort and the resulting tort are among the following: battery, assault, false imprisonment, and trespass to chattels
Battery
A defendant is liable for battery when he act with the intent to and does cause harmful or offensive contact to a victim’s person or property
Elements
- Volitional Act
- Intent to cause contact that is harmful or offensive
- Causation of harmful or offensive contact
The plaintiff does not need to be aware of the contact when it occurs to recover
Property refers to something that is closely connected to the plaintiff, such as clothing, a pet on a leash, or a bicycle plaintiff is riding
Battery: when is contact harmful
Contact is harmful if it causes injury, physical impairment, pain, or illness
Battery: when is contact offensive
Contact is offensive when a person of ordinary sensibilities wold find the contact offensive
Hypersensitivity is not a factor unless the defendant was aware that the victim is hypersensitive but proceeds to act nonetheless in which the defendant may be liable
Battery: damages
There is not actual proof of harm requirement for battery and the plaintiff may receive nominal damages even though no actual damage occurred
Many states allow for recovery of punitive damages if the defendant acted outrageously or with malice
Battery: eggshell rule doctrine
The defendant is not required to foresee the extent of damages in order to be held liable for damages
Assault
An act that is intended to and does cause reasonable apprehension of an immediate battery
Elements
- Volitional Act
- Intent to cause apprehension of immediate battery
- Causation of immediate battery
Apprehension = awareness not fear
The ability to batter is irrelevant
Words alone are not enough (need words plus conduct)
Assault: damages
No proof of damages is required for assault. The victim can recover nominal damages and, in appropriate cases, punitive damages
If the plaintiff suffers damages from physical harm, such as a heart attack, then he may recover these as well
Intentional infliction of emotional distress
An intentional or reckless act by the defendant that is extreme and outrageous that causes the plaintiff sever mental distress
Elements
- Intentional or reckless act
- Extreme and outrageous conduct
- Plaintiff suffers severe mental distress
Intentional infliction of emotional distress: what is extreme or outrageous conduct
Conduct is extreme or outrageous if it exceeds the possible limits of human decency, so as to be entirely intolerable in a civilized society
Based on a reasonable person standard
Intentional Infliction of emotional distress: When is a court more likely to find a defendant’s abusive language and conduct extreme and outrageous
If the defendant is in a position of authority or influence over the plaintiff, such as a police officer, employer, or school official, or traditionally an innkeeper or an employee of a common carrier; or the plaintiff is a member of a group with a known heightened sensitivity, such as young children, pregnant women, or elderly person)
Defendant in a position of authority
Plaintiff a member of a group with a known heightened sensitivity
Defendant’s liability for IIED when the plaintiff witnesses extreme and outragous conduct towards a third party
The defendant is liable if he intentionally or recklessly causes severe emotional distress to a member of the victim’s immediate family who is present at the time of the defendant’s conduct whether or not such distress results in bodily injury if the defendant knew the person was present or any other bystander who is present at the time of the conduct if the distress results in bodily injury and the defendant knew the bystander was present
Two types of people could be liable to
Immediate family members
-Present at time of event in which immediate family member is victim
Defendant knew the person was present
_Does not have to suffer a bodily injury from distress
Bystander
0must be present
-Defendant knew bystander was present
-Suffered a bodily injury from the distress
IIED: damages
The plaintiff must prove severe emotional distress beyond what a reasonable person could endure and in many cases, the very extreme and outrageous character of the defendant’s conduct itself provides evidence that the plaintiff experienced sever mental distress
If the plaintiff is hypersensitive, then there is no liability unless the defendant knew of the plaintiff’s heightened sensitivity
No need to prove physical injury except in the case of a bystander recovery when the victim who experienced the extreme and outrageous conduct is not an immediate family member
False Imprisonment
An act that is intended to and does confine or restrain to a bounded area, a plaintiff against his/her will and the plaintiff knows of or is injured by the confinement
Elements
- Volitional Act
- Plaintiff confinement or restraint in a bounded area
- Against Plaintiff’s will
- Plaintiff was aware of confinement or was injured by it
Infants or incompetents who are incapable of being aware may still recover for false imprisonment
Plaintiff has no duty to resist if defendant uses/makes credible threat of physical force
What is confinement for false imprisonmnet
- physical barriers
- physical force
- direct or indirect threats to to the plaintiff, a third party, or the plaintiff’s property
- by the invalid assertion of legal authority, duress, or the failure to provide a reasonable means of safe escape
- failing to release the plaintiff where the defendant had a legl duty to do so
Plaintiff is not confined if there is a reasonable means of escape of which the plaintiff is actually aware
How long does a plaintff have to be confined for a false imprisonment claim
There is no duration element for false imprisonment but a longer duration may affect the amount of damages
Shopkeeper’s privilege
A shopkeeper’s reasonable detention of a suspected shoplifter is not an invalid use of authority and hence is not a false imprisonment
Has to be reasonable in both duration and manner
Requisite intent for false imprisonment
The requisite intent for false imprisonment is met if the defendant desires to confine or restrain the plaintiff in a bounded area or the defendant knows that such confinement substantially certain to occur
What are the defenses to intentional torts
- Privilege
- Consent
- Self Defense
- Defense of others
- Necessity
- Authority
Intentional tort defense: consetn
If a plaintiff consented to the defendant’s act that constituted an intentional tort, the the defendant is not liable
Consent must be effective and defendant must not exceed the scope of consent
Intentional tort defense: what are the types of consent
- Express consent is where the plaintiff affirmatively communicates permission to the defendant
- Implied consent is where a reasonable person would interpret plaintiff’s conduct as evidencing permission
- Consent by matter of law is when the plaintiff is unable to consent and emergency action is necessary to prevent death or serious injury, a reasonable person would consent in the circumstances, and there is no reason to believe the plaintiff would not consent
Intentional torts: what are the defenses to consent as a defese
- Mistake
- Fraud
- Duress
- Incapacity
- Criminal Statute
Intentonal torts: defense to consent: mistake
Consent by mistake is valid unless the defendant caused the mistake or knew of it and took advantage of it
Intentional torts: defense to consent: fraud
Consent induced by raud is invalid if it goes to an essential matter but it is valid if the fraud that induced the consent goes only to a collateral matter
Intentional torts: defense to cosnet: duress
Consent given while under duress (physical force or threats) is valid but the treat must be a present action, not of future actions
Intentional torts: defense to consent: incapacity
Youth, intoxication, and incompetence each may undermine the validity of one’s consent
Intentional torts defense: self defense
A person may use reasonable force for protection against injury when the person reasonably believes he is in immediate danger
Reasonable mistakes allowed
Retreat is not necessary
Self Defense is not available to aggressor unless other party uses deadly force and the aggressor only used non-deadly force
Defendant cannot assert self defense when the plaintiff’s threat is not about to happen, has been averted, or has ended
Intentional tort defense: defense of others
If the plaintiff is attacking a third party, the defendant is entitled to defend the third party to the same extent that the third party would be entitled to defend himself agains the plaintiff
As long as the belief is reasonable, the defendant is not liable even if he was mistaken in needing to defend the third party
Intentional torts defense: defense of property
A defendant is allowed to use reasonable force to prevent a plaintiff from committing a tort against the defendant’s property but the force used must be no greater than necessary to prevent threatened harm
Defendant must first demand that the plaintiff stop the conduct unless doing so would be futile or dangerous
Cannot use deadly force
A defendant may use reasonable force to recover personal property tortiously dispossessed by the plaintiff
Mistake is not allowed
Use of force is not allowed to recover wrongfully dispossessed land
Intentional torts defense: necessity
A defendant is permitted to injure a plaintiff’s property if it is reasonably necessary to avoid a substantially greater harm to the pubic, the defendant, or the defendant’s property
Objective standard: would a reasonable person use force in defendant’s place
Mistake is okay as long as the defendant reasonably believes action is necessary
If protecting the public interest, defendant’s actions are only justified if the threatened harm is severe
In most jurisdictions, defendant is still liable for damages to plaintiff’s property if defendant acts out of private necessity
If acting for public necessity, no liability for damages to the plaintiff’s property
Intentional torts: privelge
Under certain circumstances, a defendant may not be liable for his conduct even though he ordinarily would be due to a privilege
May exist where the person affected by the defendant’s conduct gave consent, some important personal or public interest will be protected by the defendant’s ordinarily prohibited conduct and this interest justifies the harm caused or threatened by the defendant’s conduct, and the defendant must act freely in order to perform an essential function
Defendant has the burden of proving privilege and that the privilege was exercised reasonably
Intentional torts defense: authority: arrest
With Warrant: a PO is not liable even if reasonable mistake made about identity
Prevention of a felony in presence: Both PO and Private Citizens (PC) are not liable even if reasonable mistake on belief of felony in presence
Arrest of person who committed a felony: No liability for PO or PC but a PC is liable if there was a mistake
Arrest to stop a breach of peace: No liability for a PO or PC for a warrantless arrest even if there was a mistake
Arrest for misdemeanor: the majority view is that there is liability for a warrantless arrest but the minority view is that there is no liability for a misdemeanor committed in the presence of a PO
May enter onto an arrestee’s land to make arrest
Intentional torts defense: authoirty: discipline
A parent may use reasonable force or impose reasonable confinement as is necessary to discipline a child, taking into consideration the age of the child and the gravity of the behavior
An educator has the same privilege unless the parent places restrictions on that privilege
Trespass to chattel
An act where the defendant intends to and does interfere with the plaintiff’s chattel, causing harm
Elements
- Act
- Defendant intended to and does interfere with a plaintiff’s chattel
- Harm results (need actual damages)
Mistake is not a defense
Intent element is satisfied when the defendant performs the physical act
Chattel: tangible personal property and intangible property that has a physical representation
Plaintiff must have been in actual possession or have right to immediate possession
Need either dispossession or intermeddling for this tort action
-dispossession: direct interference with a possession
-intermeddling: does not directly affect plaintiff’s possession
Tresspass to chattels: damages
In a case of dispossession, a plaintiff may recover for the actual damages caused by the interference and the loss of use
In circumstances of use or intermeddling, the plaintiff may recover only when there are actual damages
Plaintiff may be entitled to the diminution in value or the cost of repair