Intentional
Torts
Torts
Intent, to cause harmful or offensive contact, and that harmful or offensive contact actually occurs
What is battery elements?
⋆Action or inaction
⋆Circumstances (football case – outside the bounds?)
⋆Conduct (vaccine case)
⋆Silence
⋆Custom and usage, prior dealings, relationship between the parties
⋆Influence of the culture and social mores in determined when consent may be inferred from conduct
⋆Implied by law
What is implied consent?
A cause of action for negligence requires a P to prove four elements:
(1) that the D owed P a duty of care, (2) that the D breached that duty, (3) that the D’s breach was the direct cause and the proximate cause of P’s injuries, and (4) that the P did suffer injuries or damages from the D’s breach.
True or False: only proximate cause is needed to prove causation within a negligence claim?
FALSE! You need cause in fact (but-for) AND proximate cause (foreseeability)
Party A is held liable for Party B’s negligence because of a special relationship between A and B
What is vicarious liability?
For a prima facie cause of action for the intentional tort of assault, a P must prove that D intentionally caused the P to have imminent apprehension of harmful or offensive contact with their person by the D and that the P actually had imminent apprehension or that the D was substantially certain that the apprehension would result. The P must also prove that they were aware of the apprehension while D was acting, not afterwards.
what is assault?
·person is privileged to use reasonable force to defend themselves if they have a reasonable belief of a threatened battery
What is self-defense?
Learned Hand Formula
B<PxL = duty
If the P can establish the causal link between the D’s negligence and the lost opportunity, the P may recover the portion of the damages actually attributable to the D’s negligence.
What is Lost Chance?
Frolic vs. Detour
Frolic: major departure from the scope undertake for the employee's own benefit
Detour: minor departure from an employee's duties, still within the scope
List the elements for false imprisonment
1. intent to confine
2. resulting in confinement, AND
3. Harm to the Plaintiff or awareness of confinement
⋆No duty to retreat before using deadly force in your home if reasonable belief that someone is going to cause you death or serious bodily injury
what is castle doctrine?
a situation in which a statute or law provides the standard of care that the D is and should be held to, rather than the reasonable person standard.
what is Negligence per se?
Intervening vs. Superseding
Intervening: Does NOT stop the defendant's liability. Some other force that comes into play regarding causation
Superseding: STOPS the defendant's liability. Causes that break the causal chain for the defendant
D does all that is reasonable to take precautions but because of the nature of the activity there is harm
What is strict liability?
For IIED, what is considered extreme and outrageous?
⋆Conduct so outrageous in character, so extreme in degree
⋆Conduct that goes beyond all possible bounds of decency
⋆Conduct regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable
⋆Usually, not one incident but a pattern of conduct
⋆Conduct that is abuse of power or abuse of person known to be vulnerable
what are the elements of private necessity?
1. Conduct MUST be reasonable at the time of the taking.
2. Generally, the reason for trespass must be life-threatening
3. Harm prevented must outweigh the harm caused
⋆May be liable for partial damages
An accident occurred that would not have ordinarily occurred without the presence of negligence and the instrumentality or agent that caused the accident was under the exclusive control of the D
What is Res Ipsa Loquitor?
3 guideposts for punitive damages
1. Degree of reprehensibility of D’s conduct
2. Ratio of punitive damages to compensatory damages, and
3. Sanctions for comparable misconduct
Tort liability for personal injuries caused by a defective product
What is products liability?
Difference between Trespass to Chattels and Conversion
Trespass to Chattels: minor interference; liable for actual damages
Conversion: major interference; liable for the full value of chattel(1) Needs of many outweigh the needs of few
(2) Trespass or conversion reasonably necessary to avert a public disaster
(3) Only needs to be reasonable at the time of the taking
What is public necessity?
Failure to act
individuals are not required to aid persons in peril even if they could do so with little risk or effort to themselves
Statutory recovery for beneficiaries (typically immediate family) to compensate for losses associated with the death of a loved one
What is wrongful death?
What are the causes of action for product liability?
1. Negligence
2. Breach of Warranty
3. Strict Liability