Torts Midterm Sep 4

Elements of assault

D acts, intending to cause in P the apprehension of imminent harmful or offensive contact, and D's act causes P to actually and reasonably apprehend that imminent harmful or offensive contact.

What is intent, what is offensive

Intent can be inferred from the act itself and the surrounding circumstances. Offensive is something that violates prevailing social standards.

Apprehend

To perceive or become aware of. Not fear, and not "arrested."

4 elements of battery

An act. Intent to cause contact. The contact intended is of a harmful or offensive type. The act causes the plaintiff to suffer a contact that is harmful or offensive.

Fisher rule (indirect contact)

Battery can be established by contact with anything so connected with the body as to be customarily regarded as part of the other's person.

3 types of torts

Intentional torts, where you set out to do it, such as battery, assault, and false imprisonment. Negligence, meaning accidental harm. Strict liability, a narrow set of activities so dangerous you pay even if careful, plus products liability for defective products.

4 elements of negligence

Duty, breach, causation, damages.

Duty (ordinary people)

Everyone owes everyone a duty of ordinary care to avoid creating foreseeable risks of physical harm.

Causation

A reasonable connection between the defendant's act or omission and the damage the plaintiff suffered.

Comparative negligence

Damages may be reduced when the plaintiff's harm is partly the result of the plaintiff's own fault.

Vicarious liability

An employer is vicariously liable for the negligent acts committed by an employee within the scope of the employment.

Eggshell skull rule

You take your plaintiff as you find them. A wrongdoer is liable for disproportionate damages. Applies differently to negligence and intentional torts.

Implied license

Permission nobody spoke out loud, but the circumstances give it. A form of implied consent.

Liability

Being legally at fault and owing damages.

Transferred intent

A person is responsible if they intend to harm someone but accidentally hurt someone else instead.

When a contact may be deemed offensive even though it normally isn't

If the defendant knows that the plaintiff is unusually averse to being touched in a particular way, and acts with the primary purpose of causing offense to that particular plaintiff.

Punitive damages

Extra money a court orders a defendant to pay a plaintiff to punish them for bad behavior and deter others from doing the same. Unlike regular damages that pay back a victim for losses, punitive damages act as a penalty. Available for intentional torts, not negligence.

Mitigation of damages

Plaintiff has a duty to minimize harm. Failure to mitigate can reduce damages.