Torts - Vocabulary and Concepts

Question 1

Battery

Answer 1

Battery =

• a harmful or offensive contact (direct or indirect)
• to P’s person, caused by D
• with required Intent (or apprehension of such a contact)
• P needs not to have been aware of the contact at the time.
• Harmful = bodily harm; offensive = offending personal dignity
• Defense: privileged contact

Question 2

CHATTEL - Define

Answer 2

Chattel means:

Movable (tangible) article of personal property (not annexed to a house).

Question 3

INTENTIONAL Torts - Damages

Answer 3

INTENTIONAL Torts - Damages:

• General
• Special
• Punitive

Question 4

INTENTIONAL Torts - Defenses

Answer 4

INTENTIONAL Torts - Defenses:

-Privilege of Discipline
-Land: Reentry of Land Wrongfully Withheld
-Abatement: Entry to Abate a Nuisance
-Necessity
Third Person: Defense of Third Person

• Self-Defense
• Consent
• Recapture of Chattel Wrongfully Withheld
• Arrest Privilege
• Property: Defense of Property
• Shopkeeper’s Privilege

Question 5

INTENTIONAL Torts - Intent

Answer 5

INTENTIONAL Torts - Intent:

• Substantial certainty
• Desired result
• Transferred intent

Question 6

INTENTIONAL Torts - Issues

Answer 6

INTENTIONAL Torts - Issues

• Assault
• Battery
• False Imprisonment
• Trespass to Chattel
• Trespass to Land
• Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress
• Conversion
• Interference with Contract
• Interference with Prospective Advantage

Question 7

P’s person - define

Answer 7

P’s person = P’s body, or things in contact with, or things closely associated with.

Question 8

TORTS
Main Issues

Answer 8

TORTS
Main Issues

1. Intentional Torts
2. Negligence
3. Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress
4. Vicarious Liability
5. Wrongful Death/Survival Statute
6. Land Liability
7. Products Liability
8. Defamation; Injurious Falsehood
9. Misrepresentation
10. Privacy
11. Improper Litigation
12. Remedies

Question 9

TORTS - Define

Answer 9

TORTS - Define:

• French for “wrong,” a civil wrong or wrongful act, whether intentional or accidental, from which injury occurs to another.
• Torts include all negligence cases as well as intentional wrongs which result in harm.
• A tort is a general classification for different civil causes providing a private remedy (usually money damages) for an injury to Plaintiff caused by the tortious conduct of the Defendant. There is no precise general definition of “tort” or “tortious conduct”. Rather each tort cause of action is separately named and defined, with rules of liability, defenses, and damages.

Question 10

Torts - Transferred Intent

Answer 10

Torts - Transferred Intent:

• D’s Intent - transferred automatically from one type of trespass to the other four types.
• D’s Intent - transferred from X (intented victim) to P (unintended victim)

(Types of trespass-based torts: Assault, Battery, False Imprisonment, Trespass to Land, Trespass to Chattel).

Question 11

Torts Law - features

Answer 11

Torts Law - features:

• Tort law is primarily JUDGE-MADE
• No jurisdiction has a tort “code”, but tort law is increasingly modified by statute.
• Juries decide questions of FACT. (1) What happened? (2) legal implication of fact (negligent, invitee, etc.) and (3) damages
• Judges decide issues of LAW. (1) D’s duty to P, nature and extent? (2) elements of the cause of action or of defense, and (3) what legal rules apply.

Question 12

Assault

Answer 12

Assault =

• D’s ACT (words alone not enough)
• D has INTENT
• P perceive / has an apprehension of / an IMMINENT battery.
• P needs not to be afraid. P’s apprehension needs not to be reasonable.
• If D’s act directs at a third party, but P perceives a threat to P, D commits an assault to P.
• IMMINENT: Immediate threat