Episode 2.1: An Overview of Intentional Torts

episode three overview of intentional torts the prima facie cases for the five traditional intentional torts as described in Episode two tort causes of action can be categorized into three main types of liability intentional torts are civil wrongs caused more or less deliberately by the tort feasor negligence an unintentional tort is a civil wrong caused by the defendants carelessness or failure to take reasonable precautions and finally under certain circumstances courts impose strict liability even though the plaintiff cannot establish that the harm was caused deliberately or even that it could have been avoided by the exercise of reasonable care in this episode we're going to give you an overview of intentional torts focusing on the five traditional intentional tort causes of action battery assault false imprisonment trespass and conversion we'll cover each of these in more detail in future episodes we'll also introduce a few additional intentional torts in later episodes including intentional infliction of emotional distress also known as outrage and defamation also known as slander and libel each of the five intentional torts covered in this episode is described in a section of the second Restatement of torts for example battery is defined in the second Restatement section 18 an actor is subject to liability to another for battery if he acts intending to cause a harmful or offensive contact with the person of the other or third person or an imminent apprehension of such a contact and an offensive contact with the person of the other directly or indirectly results this rule is a reasonably accurate description of the circumstances in which courts have imposed liability for battery it introduces several distinct concepts courts typically described these concepts as the elements of the prima facie case different courts or even the same Court in different opinions might refer to these elements using slightly different terms the key is to master the basic concepts so that you can recognize them even when a court uses slightly different labels let's take the language from the second Restatement and break it down into the basic concepts second Restatement section 18 battery an actor is subject to liability to another for battery if he acts intending to cause a harmful or offensive contact with the person of the other or third person or an imminent apprehension of such a contact and an offensive contact with the person of the other directly or indirectly results we can restate this in a way that's a little more straightforward to hold the defendant will use the shorthand D here liable for battery the plaintiff will use the shorthand P must establish one that D acted volitionally to that D intended to cause a harmful or offensive contact 3 that a harmful or offensive contact actually occurred and four that the contact that occurred was caused by DS volitional act we can simplify it even further using a kind of shorthand that judges and attorneys typically use the prima facie case of battery is one act to intent three harmful or offensive tact for causation note that there's some extra language we haven't dealt with under element to intending to cause a harmful or offensive contact with the person of the other or a third person or an imminent apprehension of such a contact that language is describing the doctrines of person to person transferred intent and tort to tort transferred intent will deal with those later in the next episode we can use the same kind of shorthand to describe the prima facie cases for the other intentional torts second Restatement section 21 assault an actor is subject to liability to another for assault if he acts intending to cause a harmful or offensive contact with the person of the other or third person or an imminent apprehension of such a contact notice that we have some of the same extra language about transferred intent that we'll deal with later but setting that aside and the other is thereby put notice that we're using the blue color there in such imminent apprehension to hold D liable for assault P must establish one that D acted volitionally to that D intended to cause imminent apprehension of a harmful or offensive contact three that imminent apprehension of a harmful or offensive contact actually occurred and for that the apprehension that occurred was caused by DS volitional act or in our shorthand the elements of the prima facie case of assault are one act two intent three imminent apprehension by P of harmful or offensive contact with P's person for causation let's take a moment to clarify the relationship between assault and battery in torts an assault is where D causes the imminent apprehension of a harmful or offensive contact and a battery is where that harmful or offensive contact actually occurs so an assault can be like an attempted battery that's incomplete but that caused P to be aware at some point that contact was imminent for example I point a gun at your forehead and pull the trigger fully intending to shoot you but unbeknownst to me the gun is not loaded and so no contact occurs assuming that you were aware that I was pointing the gun to your head I did cause you to apprehend an imminent contact so an assault has occurred but a battery has not or an assault can be like a fake-out where I point a gun at you that's not loaded and pulled the trigger I know it's not loaded but you don't so you think contact is imminent keep in mind though that attempts are not torts in their own right in the way that attempted murder is a crime in itself unless the attempt amounts to a different tort like assault now we'll cover the other intentional torts more briefly false imprisonment is confinement of a person to a limited area for example if I'm robbing a bank and I point a gun at bystanders telling them to lie down on the ground and not move that's false imprisonment because I am preventing them from moving or leaving the bank if they see me point a gun at them then there's also an assault to hold de liable for false imprisonment P must establish one that D acted volitionally to that D intended to cause confinement of P to a limited area the confinement of p2 a limited area without peas knowledge of a reasonable means of escape actually occurred and for that the confinement that occurred was caused by DS volitional act so the elements of the prima facie case of false imprisonment are one act two intent three confinement of p2 a limited area without peas knowledge of a reasonable means of escape for causation trespass is an invasion of someone else's property interest trespass to land is an invasion into someone else's land for example if I go hunting on private property without the owner's permission that is trespass to land trespass to chattels is an invasion upon another kind of property like a car or a photo album or an animal owned by the plaintiff for example if I throw a rock at someone's cow hitting it but not killing it that's trespass to chattels to hold D liable for trespass P must establish one that D acted volitionally to that D intended to go to a specific location or to cause contact with a specific piece of property three that an invasion upon land or chattels of which P is in possession or is entitled to possession actually occurred and for causation so the elements of the prima facie case of trespass are one act two intent three an invasion upon peas interest in land or chattel for causation conversion is a more serious invasion of someone else's property interest in chattel for example if I throw a rock at someone else's ow hitting it but not killing it then that's trespass to chattels but if I shoot the cow and kill it or seriously injure it then that's conversion to hold D liable for conversion P must establish one that D acted volitionally to that D intended to cause a serious invasion of P's possessory interest in chattel three that a serious invasion of Pease possessory interest in chattel actually occurred for causation so the elements of the prima facie case of conversion are one act two intent three a serious invasion of Pease possessory interest in chattel for causation you may have noticed that in our shorthand version of each of these causes of action the act intent and causation elements are the same it's really just that third element the particular consequence that's different

Channel: Center for Innovation in Legal Education

Views: 106,936

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Keywords: torts, intentional torts, battery, assault, false imprisonment, trespass, chattels, conversion, jd, law school, utah, education, Intentional Infliction Of Emotional Distress, Intentional Tort, Tort (Field Of Study)

Id: A1c2GFFm8Ic

Length: 12min 23sec (743 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 29 2014