INTENTIONAL TORTS

Intentional Tort

(1) Voluntary act, (2) intent, (3) causation, (4) injury

Act

A volitional movement on the defendant’s part

Intent

The defendant must intend to bring about the consequences that are the basis of the tort. This can be through specific intent, which is the desire or purpose to bring about the basis of the injury, or through general intent, which is acting with knowledge to a substantial certainty that the injury will result.

Does the defendant need to intend the specific injury?

NO

Transferred Intent

The transferred intent doctrine applies where the defendant’s intent to commit Tort X transfers to the actually committed Tort Y, or where the defendant’s intent to commit a tort against Person A transfers to actually being committed against Person B. This doctrine only applies to assault, battery, false imprisonment, trespass to land, and trespass to chattels.

Mistake

Mistake does not negate intent

Motive

A defendant’s motive is irrelevant

Causation for Intentional Torts

Causation is satisfied if the injury was legally caused by the defendant’s act or something set in motion thereby.

Battery

Intentionally causing harmful or offensive contact to the person of another

Harmful Contact

Contact that causes actual injury, pain, or disfigurement

Offensive Contact

Contact that offends a reasonable sense of personal dignity

Meaning of a Plaintiff’s “Person”

The contact required by the defendant can extend to something so connected to one’s body as to be customarily regarded as a part of one’s person

Does a person need to be conscious or apprehended for a battery to occur?

NO

Assault

Intentionally causing a reasonable apprehension of immediate harmful or offensive contact

Apprehension

A consciously reasonable and immediate anticipation

Assault – Fear or Intimidation

A plaintiff is not protected against exaggerated fears or intimidations unless the defendant knows of the unreasonable fear and uses it to put the plaintiff in apprehension

Does a person need to be afraid for there to be an assault?

NO

Does a person need to be conscious for there to be an assault?

YES

Assault – Defendant’s Apparent Ability to Act

A defendant does not need to be actually capable of causing injury to the plaintiff, but for the plaintiff’s apprehension to be reasonable, the defendant must have the apparent ability to bring about the contact

Assault – Effect of Words

Words alone are not sufficient to constitute assault. However, words in combination with some overt act may constitute assault unless the defendant says something that negates the reasonableness of the apprehension. If the words and act combine to form a conditional threat, then an assault may result.

Assault – Immediacy

Threats of future contact are insufficient to constitute an assault.

False Imprisonment

An intentional act or omission causing the confinement or restraint of the plaintiff to a bounded area

Sufficient Methods of Confinement or Restraint

Physical barriers, the use physical force directed at the plaintiff or a member of their immediate family or property, direct threats of force, indirect threats of force that reasonably imply the use of force, where the defendant has an affirmative duty to release the plaintiff and breaches that duty, unlawful arrests

Insufficient Methods of Confinement or Restraint

Moral pressure and future threats

False Imprisonment – Shopkeeper’s Privilege

If a shopkeepers detains someone for a theft investigation, (1) there must be a reasonable belief as to the fact of theft, (2) the detention must be conducted in a reasonable manner with nondeadly force, and (3) the detention must be only for a reasonable period of time and only for the purpose of the investigation

False Imprisonment – Timing of Confinement

It is immaterial how short the time period of the confinement is except as to extent of damages

False Imprisonment – Resisting

The plaintiff does not have an obligation to resist physical force or test a threat of force where the defendant has the apparent ability to carry it out

False Imprisonment – Awareness

Generally, awareness of confinement is a necessary element, however, awareness is not required if the person confined is actually injured by the confinement

False Imprisonment – “Bounded Area”

For an area to be “bounded,” the plaintiff’s freedom of movement in all directions must be limited and there must be no reasonable means of escape

IIED

Intentional or reckless extreme and outrageous conduct causing severe emotional distress to another

IIED – Recklessness

A defendant may also be liable for acting in reckless disregard of a high probability that emotional distress will result

IIED – Outrageous Conduct

Outrageous conduct is conduct that exceeds all bounds tolerated by a civilized society

IIED – Offensive or Insulting Langauge

Generally, offensive or insulting words alone cannot be characterized as outrageous conduct unless there is a special relationship between the parties or a sensitivity on the plaintiff’s part of which the defendant is aware.

IIED – Bystanders

When the defendant’s conduct is directed at a third person and the plaintiff suffers severe emotional distress, the plaintiff must prove that (1) they were present at the time, (2) the distress resulted in bodily harm, or the plaintiff was a close relative of the third party, and (3) the defendant knew those facts

Trespass to Land

Intentionally causing entry into the real property of another

TTL – Physical Invasion

It is not necessary for the defendant to personally enter the land. It may also be a physical invasion if the defendant causes damage to the land, an object to enter the land, chases a third person onto the land, or where the defendant’s lawful right to be on the land has lapsed

TTL – Types

Trespass to land may be traditional through physical or tangible trespass, environmental through intangible microscopic particulate matter, or a nuisance through the substantial interference with the use or enjoyment of the land

TTL – Land

A plaintiff’s “land” includes the surface of the land and all space upwards and downwards

TTL & TTC & Conversion – Standing to Sue

Anyone in actual or constructive possession of the land or chattel may maintain a trespass action, even if they are not the true owner.

Trespass to Chattels

Intentionally interfering with the possession of another’s chattel by causing either (1) dispossession, (2) actual impairment of condition, value, or quality, (3) deprivation of the use for a substantial period of time, OR (4) harm to something in which the possessor has a legally protected interest

Conversion

The intentional exercise of dominion or control over the chattel of another that so seriously interferes with possession that the defendant is justly forced to pay the full market value price

Conversion – Common Examples

Wrongful acquisition, wrongful transfer, wrongful detention, substantially changing, severely damaging or destroying, misuse

Conversion – Bona Fide Purchaser

Even a bona fide purchaser of chattel may be liable for conversion if the chattel had been stolen from the true owner

Conversion – Accidental Conduct

Accidentally causing damage to or loss of another’s chattel does not amount to conversion unless the actor was using the chattel without permission when the accident occurred

Conversion – Seriousness of Interference or Consequence

The act must so seriously interfere with another’s chattel rights that it amounts to a claim of dominion and control. The longer the withholding period and the more extensive the use of the chattel, the more likely a conversion has resulted

Conversion – Subject Matter

Property subject to conversion is limited to tangible personal property and intangibles that have been reduced to physical form, such as a promissory note. Real property cannot be converted.