Battery

Question 1

Definition for battery

Answer 1

Defendant is liable for battery when the defendant voluntarily acts with the intent to cause harmful or offensive bodily contact with another, or apprehension of contact, directly or indirectly, to the plaintiff, and such contact results without justification or excuse.

Question 2

Definition of voluntary

Answer 2

without outside influence; of one’s own free will

Question 3

Definition of Acts

Answer 3

external manifestation of the actor’s will

Question 4

What is intent?

Answer 4

Specific intent, general intent, transferred intent

Question 5

What is specific intent?

Answer 5

purpose or desire to produce the consequences

Question 6

What is general intent

Answer 6

if the defendant sets in motion a chain of events knowing with substantial certainty the outcome is likely to occur

Question 7

Transferred intent

Answer 7

trying to commit a tort against one person, but accidentally committing it against another person

• Intent can transfer from object to person
  o Example: committing battery by grabbing someone’s purse or cane
• Intent can also transfer from tort to tort or person to person

Question 8

Elements of Battery:

Answer 8

Voluntary: without outside influence; of one’s own free will

Acts: external manifestation of the actor’s will

Intent:
o Specific: purpose or desire to produce the consequences
o General: if the defendant sets in motion a chain of events knowing with substantial certainty the outcome is likely to occur
o Transferred: trying to commit a tort against one person, but accidentally committing it against another person

Harmful contact: contact that causes injury to another

Offensive: contact that a reasonable person would find objectionable

Direct contact: touching something so intimately connected with the person as to be regarded as part of that person

Indirect contact:
o Agent: something or someone who acts on behalf of the defendant
o Agency theory: using an implement or a person to commit a tort

Apprehension: anticipation or awareness/seizing of the mind

Imminent: immediate or close at hand

Question 9

Agency theory

Answer 9

Agent: something or someone who acts on behalf of the defendant

Agency theory: using an implement or a person to commit a tort

Question 10

what is harmful contact

Answer 10

contact that causes injury to another

Question 11

what is offensive contact

Answer 11

contact that a reasonable person would find objectionable

Question 12

Crowded-world theory

Answer 12

everyday touches such as taps on the shoulder are a result of living in a crowded world and are to be expected, and thus not constituted as battery. (Wallace v. Rosen)

Question 13

Battery sub rules

Answer 13

• Touching element of a battery may be accomplished by touching something so intimately connected with someone that it is considered as apart of that person. Fisher v. Carrousel.

o Forceful dispossession is a harm to a person’s dignity, and it violates their bodily integrity
 If something you dispossess is connected to another, it is part of your body. This is direct touching.
- Agency theory: using an implement or a person to commit a tort. Garratt v. Dailey.

• Plaintiff does not have to be aware of the contact
• Sleeping beauty rule: if you’re sleeping or unconscious, you are unable to consent to touching and this constitutes a battery. Mohr v. Williams

Question 14

When battery does not apply

Answer 14

o Mere words do not constitute battery
o Conditional threats
o Future threats

Question 15

What is the rule from Mohr v. Williams?

Answer 15

• Sleeping beauty rule: if you’re sleeping or unconscious, you are unable to consent to touching and this constitutes a battery.

Question 16

Public policy for battery?

Answer 16

Public Policy: this tort protects people’s right to dignity and their bodily integrity

Question 17

Tort Forms

Answer 17

Writ of trespass

writ of trespass on the case, or case

Question 18

What is case?

Answer 18

indirect injury

Question 19

what is significant about case?

Answer 19

basis for modern tort and contract law

Question 20

What is a writ of trespass?

Answer 20

this is a direct, forcible injury

Question 21

what is the term trespass “generaly”

Answer 21

used in a general sense in relation to doing something that huts or offends someone

Question 22

types of liability

Answer 22

strict liability

absolute liability

Question 23

definition strict liability

Answer 23

must be a causal relationship between defendant’s conduct an the plaintiff’s injury for defendant to be liable

Question 24

definition of absolute liability

Answer 24

defendant automatically liable for any injuries caused by their products, regardless of negligence or lack thereof

Question 25

What is intent

Answer 25

“Person acts with intent to produce a consequence if they: have purpose of producing that consequence, or act knowing that consequence is substantially certain to result.”

Intent is the voluntary desire to bring about a result in the belief that the result is substantially certain to occur

Question 26

Takeaway from Garratt v Dailey

Answer 26

children 5 years and older—age does not negate intent, child is held liable for their tort like anyone else

Question 27

single intent

Answer 27

the intent is to make contact you do not have the right to make

Question 28

dual intent

Answer 28

defendant intended to touch

plaintiff proves that the touching intended to be harmful or offensive

Question 29

Intent and mistakes

Answer 29

• Mistake does not negate intent
• Accident negates the act, but does not negate intent

-Mistakes do not negate the act, there still exists intent and liability

• Good faith mistakes do not negate the act.

Question 30

Mental illness and intent

Answer 30

mental illness does not negate intent

o Mentally ill persons may be held responsible for their intentional torts, so long as plaintiff can prove that they formed the requisite intent
o Mentally ill people can have general intent
o Courts will not make exceptions for defendants on level of insanity

Question 31

Public policy behind holding insane people liable for torts

Answer 31

An insane person, if financially able, must pay both for his support and pay for the damage which he does, and that an insane person with wealth should not have unimpaired enjoyment of his own comfort while his victim bears the burden. Courts are also reluctant to introduce the difficulties in determining mental capacity, such as is the case in criminal law.

Question 32

voluntary intoxication and intent

Answer 32

Voluntary intoxication does not negate intent

Question 33

Rule of innocent parties

Answer 33

where one of 2 innocent persons must suffer a loss, it should be borne by the one who occasioned it.