Intentional Torts Flashcards
(10 cards)
No Incapacity Defense for Intentional Torts
- Everyone is “capable” of intent, meaning that everyone can act with the desire to bring about tortious consequences.
- Incapacity will not be a defense.
- Thus, young children and persons who are mentally incompetent will be liable for their intentional torts.
Transferred Intent*
The transferred intent doctrine applies when the defendant intends to commit a tort against one person but instead:
* Commits a different tort against that person
* Commits the same tort as intended but against a different person OR
* Commits a different tort against a different person
In such cases, the intent to commit a certain tort against one person is transferred to the tort actually committed or to the person actually injured for purposes of establishing a prima facie case.
Battery (Elements)
The key testable elements for battery are:
* Harmful or offensive contact (Contact is harmful if it causes actual injury, pain, or disfigurement. Contact is offensive if it would be considered offensive to a reasonable person) (offensive if unpermitted)
* Contact must be with the plaintiff’s person. (inlcudes anything connected to the plaintiff. i.e. clothing, purse, etc.)
In addition to these key testable elements, all intentional torts also require proof of intent and causation.
The plaintiff can recover nominal damages even if actual damages aren’t proved. The plaintiff may recover punitive damages for malicious conduct.
Assault Elements
Act by the defendant creating a reasonable apprehension (knowledge and awareness) in the plaintiff
* Actual fear is irrelivant
Of an immediate battery (harmful or offensive contact to the plaintiff’s person)
- Actual fear is irrelivant
- Apparent ability creates a reasonable apprehension.
- Threats to commit future battery do not meet the immediacy requirement and are not actionable as assault.
- Words alone are not enough
- Words can negate reasonable apprehension
- Plaintiff can recover nominal damages even if actual damages are not proved. Malicious conduct may permit recovery of punitive damages.
False Imprisonment
An act or omission on the part of the defendant that confines or restrains the plaintiff
* Physical barriers
* Physical force directed against the plaintiff, immediate family, or personal property (for example, confiscating the plaintiff’s purse)
* Direct threats of force
* Indirect or implied threats of force
* Failure to release the plaintiff when under a legal duty to do so (for example, a taxi driver refusing to let a customer out)
* Invalid use of legal authority (for example, false arrest)
* Not moral pressure or future threats
The plaintiff must be confined to a bounded area
* Length of confinement is irrelivant
* P must be aware of the confinement
* For an area to be “bounded,” freedom of movement must be limited in all directions.
* There must be no reasonable means of escape known to the plaintiff.
The plaintiff can recover nominal damages even if actual damages are not proved. Punitive damages may be recovered if the defendant acted maliciously.
Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress (Key Elements)
An act by the defendant amounting to extreme and outrageous conduct
* Conduct is outrageous if it exceeds all bounds of decency tolerated in a civilized society
* Mere insults are not considered outrageous
The plaintiff must suffer severe emotional distress
- Unlike for other intentional torts, recklessness as to the effect of the defendant’s conduct will satisfy the intent requirement.
- Intentional infliction of emotional distress (“IIED”) is the only intentional tort to the person that requires actual damages, not nominal damages.
- To recover, the plaintiff must show that they suffered severe emotional distress, but proof of physical injury generally isn’t required. The more outrageous the conduct, the less proof of damages is required.
Extreme and Outrageous Conduct* (Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress)
This is conduct that transcends all bounds of decency. Conduct that is not normally outrageous may become so if:
* It is continuous in nature
* It is committed by a certain type of defendant (common carriers or innkeepers may be liable even for mere “gross insults”) OR
* It is directed toward a certain type of plaintiff (children, elderly persons, pregnant),
* sensitivities are known to defendant
Causation in Bystander Cases (Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress)
Plaintiff may recover by showing either the prima facie case elements of emotional distress or that:
1. They were present when the injury occurred;
2. The distress resulted in bodily harm or the plaintiff is a close relative of the third person; and
3. The defendant knew these facts.
Tresspass to Land
Physical invasion
* By person
* By object
* Invasion must be tangible (not sound or light)
* Awareness of boundry is not needed
* Need to intentionally enter the property
Of the plaintiff’s real property
* Land includes air above/soil beneath, to a reasonable distance
Tresspass to Chattels & Conversion
Act by the defendant that interferes with the plaintiff’s right of possession in a chattel
* Trespass to Chattels: Intentional interference with P’s personal property that warrants D pay damages
* Conversion: Intentional interference with P’s personal property so serious that warrants D pay property’s full value
* Mistake is no defense
* Actual Damages Required (Could be possessory right)
* Plaintiff may recover damages (fair market value at the time of conversion) or possession (replevin).
* Acts of conversion include wrongful acquisition (theft), wrongful transfer, wrongful detention, and substantially changing, severely damaging, or misusing a chattel.
* The longer the withholding period and the more extensive the use, the more likely it is to be conversion. A less serious interference is trespass to chattels.
