INTENTIONAL TORTS
q Volitional act – not while sleeping or having a seizure.
q Apprehension – anticipation of adversity or misfortune.
o Expectation
o Imminent contact
o Fear not required
o Apparent ability required
q Intent
o Child might be capable of intent, depending upon age
o Insane person might be capable of intent, depending upon nature of illness
o Mistake does not negate intent
o Intent may be transferred
q Voluntary intoxication does not negate intent
q Can be committed in one of two ways:
o Where the defendant acts intending to cause the consequences of his or her act, or
o Under substantial certainty test
§ Ex. throws a rock into a crowd of people, and hit only one person. There is a substantial certainty that you would hit someone when you threw the rock.
§ Where the defendant intends tortious conduct on one party, but the resulting harm is caused against another party, transferred intent exists.
BATTERY
q Defined as any unwanted intentional touching
q Elements:
o Volitional act,
o Intending to cause,
o Offensive of harmful contact – or – apprehension,
o With the person of another, and
o An offensive of harmful contact results
q Intentional tort, therefore no liabilities for battery if the tort is due to negligence or reckless conduct.
q Can be conduct offensive to one’s sense of personal dignity, such as;
o Spitting on someone
o Blowing smoke in someone’s face
o Pulling a chair out from under them.
q Extends beyond the person, to include items that can be closely connected with that person, such as;
o Knocking a hat off someone’s head
o Pulling a chair out from under someone about to sit
o Kicking a cane out from under someone’s hand
q Defendant is responsible for all harm, even if unforeseeable.
ASSAULT
q Defined as where the defendant acts intending to place the plaintiff in imminent apprehension of an offensive or harmful contact, and the plaintiff is placed in imminent apprehension.
q Elements:
o Volitional act,
o Intending to cause,
o Offensive of harmful contact – or – apprehension, and
Which causes imminent apprehension of offensive or harmful contact
q While battery is a physical tort, assault is a mental tort.
q Unlike battery, the plaintiff must have awareness or knowledge of defendant’s contact.
q Future threats lack immanency, and are therefore insufficient for assault.
q Words alone are insufficient, unless accompanied by some overt act causing apprehension.
Fear and actual harm are not needed, only apprehension
Fear and apprehension are not the same
If you were not my friend, I would kill you while putting hand on sword is not assault
Unknown unloaded gun is assault
FALSE IMPRISONMENT
q Elements:
o Volitional act,
o Intending to cause,
o Confinement of another, and
o Directly or indirectly results in a confinement, and
o Plaintiff is conscious or aware of the confinement or is harmed by it.
q Exceptions to awareness requirement;
o Infant or young child
o Mentally incompetent person
q There is no liability for intentionally confining another unless the person restrained knew of the confinement or is harmed by it.
q Locking someone OUT of a room is not confinement
q Confinement may be by:
o Physical force
o Barriers that restrain the freedom of movement
o Present threats of force
o “If you leave this room, I’ll break your legs”
o Unlawful, warrantless arrest (false arrest)
o Asserted legal authority
q The bounded area (or area of confinement) need not be small. It may be large or need not be stationary.
q Defendant responsible for all harm causes as a result of false imprisonment, even if unforeseeable.
q If you escape and are harmed, defendant is not liable for injuries unless the escape was reasonable (other causes of action).
q No apparent escape or risk of harm in escape.
o If there is a reasonable escape, you have a duty to do it – must have knowledge that the escape exists
q Shopkeepers Privilege – a shopkeeper who detains a suspected shoplifter, will not be held liable for false imprisonment, if:
o There are reasonable grounds to believe that a theft has occurred
o The detention is conducted in a reasonable manner
o The detention is limited to a reasonable period of time
INTENTIONAL INFLICTION OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS
q Elements:
o
infliction of emotional distress:
o Where the mental disturbance and its consequences are not caused by any fear for plaintiff’s own safety, but by distress at witnessing some peril or harm to another person, recovery is generally denied.
o Exception – zone of danger – if the third party is physically in the zone of danger and is threatened with injury by the defendant’s negligence, then the plaintiff may recover for the bodily harm and the accompanying mental distress that results.
TRESPASS TO LAND
q Elements:
o Volitional act,
o Intending to cause,
o Intrusion onto real property,
o That interferes with the Right to Exclusive Possession, and
o Which causes interference with the Right to Exclusive Possession
q Liable for trespass to land if:
o Intentionally enters onto the land in the possession of another
o Remains on the land in possession of another
o Fails to remove a thing or object from the land, which he is under a duty to remove.
q Plaintiff must actual or right to possession of the land.
q Intent to enter the land, not intent to trespass is important
o Mistake is no defense.
q Only three ways to test this subject:
o Intentional trespass
o Negligent or reckless entry (no liability for trespass unless there is damage to the land).
o No liability for trespass where there is accidental entries, that is non-negligent and unintentional.
q May be committed on the land, beneath the land, or above the land.
Defenses to Trespass
q Privileged entries
o Public or private necessity
o If the entry is private necessity, and you are only trying to protect your own property, not liable for trespass but are liable for any damages caused.
o If the entry is public necessity, then no liability for damages at all.
