Harms to Personal Property and Land

Question 1

Trespass to Chattels

Answer 1

A defendant commits a trespass to chattels (tangible personal property) when the defendant intentionally interferes with a plaintiff’s right of possession by:

Dispossessing the plaintiff of the chattel; or
Using or intermeddling with the plaintiff’s chattel.

Question 2

Dispossession of Chattel

Answer 2

Dispossession requires the defendant to act regarding the chattel as an owner would.

Question 3

Use of Chattel

Answer 3

Use of chattel occurs when the defendant does not assume ownership of the plaintiff’s chattel but instead only uses the chattel.

Question 4

Intermeddling with Chattel

Answer 4

Intermeddling with a plaintiff’s chattel requires the defendant to make physical contact, whether direct or indirect, with the chattel.

Question 5

Conversion

Answer 5

A defendant is liable for conversion if the defendant intentionally commits an act depriving a plaintiff of possession of chattel or interfering with the plaintiff’s chattel in a manner so serious as to deprive the plaintiff of the use of the chattel.

Question 6

Trespass to Land

Answer 6

Trespass to land occurs when the defendant’s intentional act causes a physical invasion of another’s land.

Question 7

Private Necessity

Answer 7

Under the doctrine of private necessity, a defendant has a qualified privilege to protect an interest of the defendant or a limited number of other persons from serious harm when the interference is reasonably necessary to prevent such harm.

Question 8

Public Necessity

Answer 8

Under the doctrine of public necessity, private property may be intruded upon or destroyed when necessary to protect a large number of people from public calamities (e.g., the spreading of a fire or disease, the advance of a hostile military force)

Question 9

Private Nuisance

Answer 9

A private nuisance is a thing or activity that substantially and unreasonably interferes with another individual’s use and enjoyment of land.

Question 10

Failure to Abate Natural Condition on Land

Answer 10

A defendant is subject to nuisance liability for the natural condition of land owned or possessed by the defendant only when:

i) The natural condition creates a risk of imminent physical harm to the plaintiff or the plaintiff’s property;

ii) The risk of harm is obvious or known to the defendant;

iii) The defendant fails to take reasonable steps to eliminate or ameliorate the risk; and

iv) The natural condition causes a substantial and unreasonable interference with the plaintiff’s use and enjoyment of land in the plaintiff’s possession.

Question 11

Public Nuisance

Answer 11

A public nuisance is an unreasonable interference with a right common to the general public.

Question 12

Plaintiff’s Harm

Answer 12

To prevail on a claim for public nuisance, the plaintiff’s harm (e.g., physical injury) must be different in kind from that suffered by members of the general public.