Intentional Torts

Intentional Torts Purpose was to cause harm to person, property, and/or economic rights Negligence and strictliability do not require intent Chapter 5

WHAT ARE THE MOST COMMON INTENTIONAL TORTS? • Assault • Battery • False imprisonment • Defamation • Invasion of privacy • Trespass to land • Conversion • Interference with contractual relations • Fraud Chapter 5

Assault Put another in reasonable fear of an offensive or harmful bodily contact NOT ACTUALLY TOUCHING. • Words • Gestures Must include a display of force indicating a present ability to carry it out. The threat must be believable. From the point of view of the VICTIM Chapter 5

Assault or Not Assault? Dr. Bruce Banner, known for his temper is walking toward your car. Seeing how close you parked to his car, he mouths the words, “I’m going to rip you apart”. While paintballing, your best friend raises and aims her gun at you…… Leaning in to tell you a secret, your locker mate can’t resist giving you a kiss – you feel very uncomfortable While working at your part-time job, a regular customer comes in with an AirSoft gun and tells you to empty the register. Jostling to get on the train to Chicago, another commuter touches you in an uncomfortable manner Chapter 5

Battery Harmful or offensive touching of another. An assault frequently precedes a battery. When the victim is hit without warning from behind, there is a battery without an assault. Chapter 5

Battery or Not Battery? While enjoying the recent CLS Theater production, the person seated behind you sneezes into your hair. As a World-Class Frolf champion, your rival throws a disc at your face when you are not looking. As a World-Class Frolf champion, your greatest fan is disappointed in your recent performance and spits in your face. As a MMA competitor, you enter the ring and lose…..while receiving a broken nose and split lip You play hockey. Your rival high-sticks you and breaks your arm. You catch a person breaking into your garage and taking your golf clubs. You chase them down, tackle them, and break their ankle. Chapter 5

False Imprisonment Intentional confinement against a persons' will/without lawful privilege Denied Liberty by threat by consent Chapter 5

False Imprisonment Police – Probable Cause? Not False Imprisonment Agree to be detained Shopkeeper’s Privilege Chapter 5

False Imprisonment or Not? A burglar suspect sits voluntarily in a police car to describe his actions over the last hour. Elizabeth Smart, kidnap victim, believes if she tries to escape while at a restaurant, harm will come to her family. Merchants in many states have a privilege to detain a person if they have a reasonable basis for believing the person was shoplifting. Rod Blagojevich, sits in a Colorado prison for his conviction in Illinois. Chapter 5

Defamation Statements about people can injure them. If a false statement injures a person’s reputation or good name, it may constitute the tort of defamation. • Slander spoken. • Libel printed. Chapter 5

To be legally defamed: • The statement must be false. • The statement must be communicated to a third person • The statement must bring the victim into dispute, contempt, or ridicule by others. Chapter 5

Legal Defamatory In slander suits, you must show that you have suffered an actual physical loss, or damages, as a result of the slanderous remark. In libel suits you are presumed to have suffered a loss, and so these damages do not have to be shown to the court. Chapter 5

Exceptions to the law of defamation • Legislators statements, even those made with malice, are immune from liability if made during legislative meetings. • Judges, lawyers, jurors, witnesses, and other parties in judicial proceedings are also immune from liability for statements made during the actual trial or hearing. • Statements about public officials or prominent personalities does not exist unless the statements were made with malice. (The statement was known to be false or was made with a reckless disregard for its probable falsehood.) Chapter 5

Invasion of Privacy A tort defined as the uninvited intrusion into an individual’s personal relationships and activities in a way likely to cause shame or mental suffering in an ordinary person. • Unnecessary publicity regarding personal matters (true or false). • Two-way mirrors in the women’s restroom of a gas station. • Commercial exploitation of one’s name, picture, or endorsement without permission. • Eavesdropping • Unauthorizedopening of letters and telegrams. Chapter 5

Not an Invasion of Privacy Police can tap telephone lines secretly if they have a warrant. Public figures, such as politicians, actors, and people in the news give up much of their right to privacy when they step into the public domain. Chapter 5

Trespass to Land • Entry onto the property of another without the owner’s consent. • Dumping garbage on the land of another. • Breaking the windows of a neighbors house. Intent is required to commit the tort of trespass. Chapter 5

Trespass to Land If a person thought they were walking on their own property but they were mistaken, there would be a trespass because they intended to be there. Chapter 5

Conversion Intentional interference with another’s property A thief is always a converter. The innocent buyer of stolen goods is a converter. (http://bit.ly/VN1b6D) Chapter 5

Interference with Contractual Relations Competition is good, but you have to play fair! If a third party encourages the breaching party in any way, that third partymay be liable in tort to the non-breaching party. • Celebrity appearance contracts • Sale of property • False advertising Not a breach of contract – but meddling in a contract Chapter 5

What are the Elements required to Prove Contractual Interference? • A valid contract or contractual relationships exists between the two parties. • The third party tortfeasor had knowledge of the contract or contractual relationship. • The third party intended to convince or induce one of the parties to the contract to commit a breach. • The third party was not privileged or authorized in any way to induce the breach • The contract was in fact breached. • The non-breaching party suffered some sort of measurable damages Chapter 5

Fraud Intentional or recklessly made misrepresentation of an existing important fact. Purchasing a car with “low miles”, when the odometer was changed. Purchasing a home after being told that the finished basement has never flooded. Chapter 5

5 Elements of Fraud (1) a false statement of a material fact (2) knowledge on the part of the defendant that the statement is untrue (3) intent on the part of the defendant to deceive the alleged victim (4) justifiable reliance by the alleged victim on the statement (5) injury to the alleged victim as a result. Chapter 5

Elements of a Tort

Violation of Duty (Breach)Question of FACT for the jury/judge • Must be proven to collect damages • Intentional Tort – Actual intent to cause harm • Negligence – Carelessness, no intent • Strict Liability – no intent or carelessness needed • More later…….

Elements of a NEGLIGENCE

Defenses to Negligence Contributory Comparative Old Common Law If Plaintiff contributed in any amount – NO Recovery Awarded damages in proportion to their fault Assumption of Risk • Plaintiff, aware of risk, takes on risk voluntarily

STRICT LIABILITY A party is liable far all damages as a result of their dangerous actions or products Foreseeable harm Products that come with warning stickers about obvious hazards are labeled like that for a good reason; it protects the manufacturer from lawsuits.

STRICT LIABILITY • The differences are as follows: In regards to negligence, the defendant has a duty to conform to a specific standard of conduct, thereby protecting the plaintiff against an unreasonable risk of injury. This is sometimes referred to as the “reasonable person” standard. • In regards to strict liability, however, the duty is not that one is required to act as a reasonable person would have acted under similar circumstances, but instead, Defendant has an absolute duty to make safe that which is the subject of the lawsuit.

Intentional Torts