Intentional Torts

Assault and battery

1. _______ is the intentional, harmful or offensive contact of another without his consent.

2. _______ is an attempt to cause a harmful or offensive contact with another if it causes a reasonable apprehension of immediate battery.

3. _______ is the threat of violence, whereas _______ is the actual violence.

(battery/assault/ assault /battery)

T or F Statements1. If Mike throws a rock at Stevens and

Stevens is hit by the rock, Mike has not committed a battery because of no direct contact between their bodies.

(Direct contact between a wrongdoer’s body and the body of another is not necessary for a battery to result.---F)

2. If Mike throws a rock at Stevens, but Peter is hit by the rock, Mike is not liable to Peter for battery.

(A wrongdoer who intends to injure one person, but injures another is also liable to the person injured in spite of the absence of any specific intent to injure him.---F)

3. Threats of future battery do not create liability of assault.

(Because assault is limited to threats of immediate battery---T.)

4. If A throws a stone at B from a great distance and misses him, and B learns of the attempt on his life only at a later date, then A is liable to B for the tort of assault.

(Because the elements of assault require that the victim actually experiences an apprehension of immediate battery before liability results.---F)

5. Being annoyed, A knocked the purse out of B’s hand. A did not commit battery as there was no physical injury to B’s body.

(In battery physical injury does not have to occur. A battery does not always require the touching of the actual person of the victim, if the tortfeasor touches something closely associated with that victim.---F)

False Imprisonment False imprisonment is the

intentional confinement of another for a period of time without his consent.

Confinement may result from _______to the plaintiff’s freedom of movement, or ________ or ________against the plaintiff.

(physical barrier ; the use of physical force ; the threat to use physical force )

T or F Statements1. In order to prevent A from

moving, B does not threat to harm A but harm A’s spouse or child instead. So this is not false imprisonment.

(Confinement also results from the detention of the plaintiff’s property or a threat to harm another, such as the plaintiff’s spouse or child.---F)

2. A confines B in a room by locking one door, but this room has other unlocked doors. This does not amount to false imprisonment.

(The confinement required for false imprisonment must be complete. Partial confinement does not amount to false imprisonment.---T)

3. A confines B in a room in the third story of a building with all doors locked, only one third-story window open. Such confinement does not amount to false imprisonment.

(The fact a means of escape exists does not render a confinement partial if the plaintiff cannot reasonably be expected to know of its existence. The same is true if it involves some unreasonable risk of harm to the plaintiff.---F)

False imprisonment cases concerning shoplifting:

(1) The common law is more in favor of the interest of customers.

The common law held store owners liable for any torts committed while detaining a suspected shoplifter if the subsequent investigation revealed that the detainee was innocent of any wrongdoing.

(2) Statutes tend to protect the legitimate interests of store owners.

Most states have passed statutes giving store owner a conditional privilege to stop persons who they reasonably believe are shoplifting.

However, the owner must act in a reasonable manner and only detain the suspect for a reasonable length of time.

(Johnson v. K-mart Enterprises, Inc)

Defamation

Defamation refers to unprivileged publication of false and defamatory statements concerning another. The statements must harm the particular plaintiff’s reputation.

1. Two statements “ Alfred is a lousy governor.” “ I think Tony must be a homosexual.” Which statement is a subject of

defamation? ( statement of opinions statement of facts)

2. The elements of the tort of defamation require publication of a defamatory statement. (T or F)

(1) Communication of the defamatory statement to one person other than the person defamed is ordinarily sufficient for publication.

(2) One who repeats or republishes a defamatory statement is not liable for defamation as he identifies the source of the statement.

3. Libel and Slander

(1) Which category should some new media, such as radio, television, be classified into?

Today the great majority of courts treat broadcast defamation as libel.

(2) Is there any significance to distinguish libel and slander?

Libel is actionable without any proof of special damage to the plaintiff.

Slander is generally not actionable without proof of special damage.

4. Defamation and the constitution In recent years the Supreme Court has

balanced the conflicting social interests in a series of important cases.

(1) Under the common law, defendants were strictly liable for defamatory statements.

(2) In New York Times v. Sullivan, the court held that public officials seeking to recover for defamatory statements relating to performance of their official duties must prove actual malice on the part of a media defendant to recover any damages.

The plaintiff was awarded punitive damages without need to show defendant had actual malice.

(3) In Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc, the court refused to extend the actual malice test to media defamation of private citizens who involuntarily became involved in matters of public concern. Instead, the court held that :

A. to recover compensatory damages such person must prove some degree of fault at least amounting to negligence on the part of the defendant.

B. to recover punitive damages they must prove actual malice.

(4) Dun Bradstreet Inc v. Greenmoss Builders, Inc is a case involving a private figure plaintiff (a construction contractor) and defamatory speech about a matter of purely private concern (a false credit report). The court refused to apply the Gertz standard and upheld a recovery based on the common law strict liability standard.

5. Defenses to defamation(1) ______ is an absolute defense to

defamation. The tort of defamation requires that a statement as the basis of a defamation suit be _____ and ______.

( Truth; false and defamatory)(2) Even where defamatory statements

are false, a defense of _____ may serve to prevent liability._____ can be absolute or conditional.

(privilege; privilege)

a. statements made by participants in judicial proceedings, legislators in the course of legislative proceedings, certain executive officials in the course of their official duties…

----absolute privilege

b. Statements made by the author for acting to protect his own legitimate interests or those of third person.

----conditional privilege

Invasion of Privacy

Four distinct behaviors qualify as an invasion of privacy.

1. Intrusion

2. False light

3. Appropriation

4. The public disclosure of private matters

A. Truth is not a defense to this type of invasion of privacy.

B. This tort also conflicts with the constitutionally protected freedom of the press and of speech. The courts have attempted to balance these conflicting social interests in several ways.

First, no liability ordinarily attaches to publicity concerning matters of public record or of legitimate public interest.

Second, public figures and public officials have no right of privacy concerning information that is reasonably related to their public life.

Intentional tort against property

1. Trespass to land

2. Nuisance

3. Trespass to personal property

4. conversion

1. Nuisance must involve some physical invasion of a person’s property.

2. Noise, vibration, unpleasant odors are examples that could be trespass.

3. A person cannot be liable for trespass if the trespass results from his mistaken belief that his entry is legally justified.

4. The difference between conversion and trespass to personal property is based on the degree of interference with another’s property right.

e.g., Sharp goes to Friendly Motors and asks to test-drive a new Ford Car. If Sharp either wrecks the car, causing major damage, or drives it across the United States, he is probably liable for ______.

If Sharp is only involved in the fender bender, or keeps the car for 8 hours, he is probably only reliable for _______.