TORTS OUTLINE
FALL 2005
I. PRIMA FACIE CASE
a. To establish a prima facie case for intentional tort liability, it is generally necessary that plaintiff prove the following:
i. Act by defendant;
1. The act requirement for intentional tort liability refers to a volitional movement on defendant’s part.
ii. Intent; and
1. Specific Intent: An actor intends the consequences of his conduct if his goal in acting is to bring about these consequences.
2. General Intent: An actor intends the consequences of his conduct if he knows with substantial certainty that these consequences will result.
a. Example: Garratt v. Dailey (Chair Case)
3. Actor Need Not Intend the Injury: A person may be responsible even for unintended injury if he intended to bring about such basis of the tort consequences.
a. Example: A means to push B. B falls and breaks arm. A is responsible for the broken arm, even though she only intended the push.
4. Transferred Intent
a. The transferred intent doctrine applies where the defendant intends to commit a tort against one person but instead:
i. Commits a different tort against that person
ii. Commits the same tort as intended, but against a different person, or
iii. Commits a different tort against a different person.
b. The intent to commit a tort against one person is transferred to the other tort or to the injured person for the purposes of establishing the prima facie case.
c. Transferred Intent Only Applies to the Following Torts:
i. Assault
ii. Battery
iii. False Imprisonment
iv. Trespass to Land
v. Trespass to Chattel
iii. Causation
1. The result giving rise to liability must have been legally caused by the defendant’s act or something set in motion thereby. The causation requirement will be satisfied where the conduct of the defendant is a substantial factor in bringing about the injury.
II. The Substantive Law Governing Liability for BATTERY
a. The Prima Facie Case: Evidence that is sufficient to raise a presumption of fact or to establish the fact in question unless rebutted.
i. A prima facie case is a lawsuit that alleges facts adequate to prove the underlying conduct supporting the cause of action thereby prevail.
ii. The elements of intent and harmful or offensive contact constitute what is known as the plaintiff’s prima facie case.
iii. The plaintiff must prove elements, together with the necessary causal connection between the harm incurred and the defendants conduct.
b. Battery: The intentional, unprivileged, and either harmful or offensive contact with the per
t appeared that the parties were in school, and defendant kicked plaintiff on the leg, during school hours, and caused the injury, though defendant may not have intended to injure plaintiff, the act being unlawful, defendant was liable.
ii. Rule: One who assaults another is liable for such injuries as result directly from his wrongful act, whether or not they could have been foreseen by him.
iii. Conclusion: Defendant could be held liable for a battery despite an express finding by the jury that he did not intend to harm the plaintiff.
3. What Mental States Constitute Intent?-Desire or Knowledge with substantial certainty.
a. Garratt v. Dailey (5 year old pulls a chair out from under an old lady)—GENERAL INTENT
i. Issue: Whether the defendant, a 5 year old child, had intent when he pulled the chair out from under the plaintiff?
Rule: Act which directly or indirectly is the legal cause of harmful contact with another’s person makes the actor liable if actor intended to bring about harmful or offensive contact or apprehension
