TORTS II
PROFESSOR PERCY
SPRING 2005
INTENTIONAL TORTS
– Intent:
o Conduct must be voluntary; with
§ Specific intent to cause the tortious act; OR
§ Substantial certainty that such conduct will occur
· Anything short of substantial certainty does not satisfy intent
o It is the intent to do the act, not the harm, that is critical in determining whether there has been an intentional tort
§ Hostile intent (malice), or a desire to do harm, is not necessary
· Malice may give rise to punitive damages
o Negligence vs. Intentional
§ Foreseeable risk vs. substantial certainty
– Children & People with Mental Illnesses
o A child can be held liable for an intentional tort
· May not be held liable if very young (ex. 2 years old)
§ However, there aren’t many suits against children
· Children have no money
· Would be a better claim to sue parents for negligent supervision
o Mental Illness
§ People with a diminished capacity can be held liable for intentional torts as long as prove the requisite intent
· It is usually irrelevant that the def. intent may have resulted from a mental condition
§ Policy reasons:
· Encourage people to take care of the mentally ill
· If a mentally ill can pay, they must
o Innocent victim should not bear burden simply because the def. is insane
· Exceptions:
o May be necessary to prove insane person had actual knowledge of falsity of statement
o An institutionalized patient can not be held liable for injury to employee taking care of patient
§ Assumption of risk
o Intoxication is not a defense
– Transferred Intent
o When a def. intended to cause one tort, but commits another, a plaintiff may be able to invoke doctrine
§ Intent transfers from intended victim to actual victim
o The doctrine can be applied to:
§ Same tort; different victim
§ Different tort; same victim
§ Different tort; d
on/privilege
· Includes extension of the person (i.e. hat, cane, item holding, etc…)
o Must be a harmful or offensive touching of extension
§ Extension may be a weak claim though
§ IIED may be better claim
o Elements:
§ Voluntary act, with the
§ Intent to cause contact with another; OR
· Intent to cause imminent apprehension of such contact, which results in
§ Harmful or offensive contact
o Sufficient contact:
§ Actual contact between def. & plaintiff
§ Contact between object & plaintiff caused by def.
· Ex. throwing a rock
· Ex. Def. shoots plaintiff (bullet)
· Ex. Def. puts drugs in drink
§ Contact between plaintiff & 3rd person caused by def.
· Ex. def. pushes bystander into plaintiff
Offensive:
