Torts
TORT= wrongdoing which by law are grounds for a lawsuit. Wrong which results in harm
· Defendant: committed the tort, caused harm or took risk of harm
· Plaintiff: tort was committed against, person harmed
Remedies:
· Compensation: pay for the harm done
· Injunction: order defendant to stop committing the tort
· Punitive: designed to punish
Procedure:
· Motion to dismiss
· Motion of summary judgment
· Objections to evidence
· Motion for directed verdict
· Objections to Proposed instructions
· The motion N.O.V. (a post trial motion for judgment as a matter of law)
· Motion for a new trial
Basis of Tort Liability
o Intentional conduct
o Negligent conduct which results in unreasonable risk
o Conduct that subjects the actor to strict liability
I. Intentional Torts (FiTTEd CAB)
-False Imprisonment, Trespass to land, Trespass to chattels, Emotional distress, Conversion, Assault, Battery
Definition :
– A person’s desire that certain consequences result from his actions or knowledge that those results are substantially certain to occur as a result of his actions.
– D knows with substantial certainty that a particular effect occurs as their action, they are deemed to have intended the result
Transferred Intent – intent is transferred
1. intend to commit a tort against one person and harm another
2. intend one tort and commit another
-only applies to (F.I, T.L, B, A, T.C)
Act:
– For an intentional tort an act must be a voluntary muscular movement
-ex: cannot be an intentional tort if you are sleeping or having a seizure
Minors:
– Being a minor does not exclude one from being liable for an intentional tort, as long as they desired the consequence
– For other torts minority rule is 7
A. Battery
Definition: an act intending to cause a harmful or offensive contact or apprehension and the act contact results
Elements (CAHIL)
1. Act – That D committed a voluntary act
2. Intent – D either:
(a) – Intended to cause a harmful or offensive contact
(b) – Intended to cause P to have apprehension of such harmful or offensive contact
3. Harmful or Offensive contact – that a harmful or offensive contact with P’s person actually resulted
(a) – Offensive – contact offends a reasonable sense of personal dignity
(b) – Harmful – causes pain or bodily damage
Person – includes those things intimately associated with him
-ex: hitting a horse you are on is considered ones person
4. Causation – That D’s act in some sense caused the harmful or offensive contact
5. Lack of Consent – that P did not consent to the contact
Intent: It is not necessary that D desire to physically harm P
1) D intended to cause a harmful or offensive contact
-Intends to hit (harmful)
-Intends to spit (offensive)
2) D intended to cause imminent apprehension on P’s part of harmful or offensive bodily contact
-Intended to miss but apprehend
3) Transferred Intent
-Tortfeasor intends a tort on one person but commits one on another
C9. Hall – Kid at home was being shot at so he shot back at the shooters. A bullet struck a nearby neighbor. Since he intended harm on the shooters the intent transfers to him causing harm to the neighbor and is liable for battery.
Harmful or offensive contact:
1) Harmful: causes pain or bodily damage of the person
-ex: – Hitting someone
2) Offensive: damaging to a reasonable sense of dignity
-ex: – Spitting on someone
Must be reasonable
-ex: spitting is reasonably offensive
-ex: touching someone who doesn’t like to be touched is not reasonable
C5. Snyder – nurse was messing up in surgery and Dr. forced her head into the cavity of the body this was not harmful but was offensive.
C7. Leichtman – anti smoke activist had cigar smoke purposely blown in his face this is offensive contact. Smoke particles
Awareness: It is not necessary that P have actual awareness of the contact at the time it occurs
-ex: Kissing someone while they are a
– A threat of forces can be restraint
– ex: if you leave this house I’ll kill you
False Arrest – wrongful confinement under color of legal authority
-requires P to prove:
1. That D asserted the legal authority to detain P
2. That P believed that D had the authority
3. That P submitted to D’s authority against his will
4. That D in fact lacked legal authority
Shopkeepers privilege
-allows a merchant who reasonably believes that a person is stealing to detain that person for a reasonable time to investigate whether the theft actually exists
-cannot bully or assault
-cannot threaten arrest rather than investigate
-can hold until police come
If one is lawful then restrained then false imprisonment exists
-ex: being brought in for something you didn’t do then being beligerant and being detained
Damages
-compensation for:
-loss of time
-physical discomfort
-physical illness
-mental suffering/humiliation
D. Trespass to Land
Defintion: can occur when the defendant enters the plaintiff’s land, or causes another person or an object to enter the plaintiff’s land
Elements (PiPIA)
1. Act – That D committed a voluntary act
2. physical Invasion – That D physically invaded P’s exclusive possessory interest in real property without P’s consent
3. Intent – That D intended invasion
-merely have intended to come into contact with the land
-intent to act not intent to trespass
4. Possession – That P had the immediate right to possession of the land
Does not require proof of damagesExtended liability
-liable for actual not just intended
Defenses
-Consent
