Intentional Torts and Business Torts - Exam 2

Tort

means “wrong”

• a tort may be a crime, and a crime may be a tort

• a tort is a violation of a duty imposed by civil law

  • tort is the first legal theory we learn about - gotta have a legal theory when you file your complaint

types of torts

• Defamation

• Negligence

• Interference with contract

• Fraud

• Assault and battery

defamation

making a false statement about someone — written or verbal

negligence

performing wrong surgery

interference with contract

stealing a client away from a competitor

fraud

offering to sell something that doesn’t exist

assault and battery

the unlawful touching of another

Torts are classified - either intentional or unintentional

• Only one unintentional tort

  • it’s called negligence

• How many intentional torts are there

  • many

three types of law

Tort vs. Criminal or Contract Law

• Criminal law

• Contract law

• Tort Law

criminal law

behavior classified as dangerous to society; prosecuted by the government, whether victim wants to prosecute or not; money award goes to the government

contract law

based on breach of an agreement between the two parties; victim prosecutes and receives compensation or restitution

Tort Law

based on an obligation imposed by the law with no agreement needed between parties; plaintiff/victim prosecutes/sues and receives compensation or restitution

• that is, files a lawsuit

categories of tort law

intentional torts

• Does not necessarily require an intention to harm the victim, only an intention to perform the act which caused the injury. (intentionally throwing an object, but not meaning to hit anyone is a tort if it causes injury to someone.)

• Includes business torts, a category of torts perpetuated almost exclusively by business entities.

Negligence and strict liability

• the “nonintentional” tort (negligence is an accident)

Elements

an element is something that a plaintiff must prove to win a lawsuit

plaintiff and defendant

the plaintiff is the party (person or corporation) who brings the lawsuit because he was injured and sues the defendant, person or corporation being sued

Battery and Assault

• Battery is a touching of another person in a way that is unwanted or offensive

• Assault is an action that causes the victim to fear an imminent battery

• You can have a battery only, an assault only, or an assault and battery

Battery

a touching of another person in a way that is unwanted or offensive

• The touch does not have to hurt the victim - sexual touching that is offensive, but not painful, is battery

• An intentional action that does hurt someone may be battery even if the injury is unintentional

Assault

an action that causes the victim to fear an imminent battery

• Assault can occur without the battery ever happening

• Pulling a gun on someone - even if its unloaded is usually considered assault

  • Class ex: He threw a ball at ashley. Didn’t touch her but he controlled the ball. With the ball he controlled, he touched her

battery only/assault only/assault and battery

ex. getting hit without seeing it coming, that’s isn’t assault bc there wasn’t fear

Intentional tort - false imprisonment

False imprisonment is the restraint of someone against their will and without reasonable cause

• An employer who doesn’t let a sick employee go home might be guilty of false imprisonment

• If the police detain a person with no reason to suspect him of any crime, it could be false imprisonment

• In general, a store may detain a person suspected of shoplifting if there is a reasonable basis for the charge and the detention is done reasonable (in private…

Names of intentional torts

• trespass

• conversion

• fraud

• nuisance

trespass

 intentionally entering land that belongs to someone else or remaining after being asked to leave

• Keeping an object, such as a vehicle, on someone else’s land and refusing to move it is also trespassing

• You may be trespassing if you enter someone’s property mistakenly believing it is public property

conversion

is taking or using someone’s property without consent (civil law version of theft).

• He is allowed to borrow a car until midnight, he returns it two weeks later

fraud

injuring another person by deliberate deception.

nuisance

an activity of one’s property that endangers the life or health of another or interferes with the reasonable and comfortable use of the property of another

temporary injunction

prevented sriracha plant from making hot sauce

• fumes from plant bothering neighbors

defamation

irresponsible speech to harm another’s reputation

• written defamation is libel

• verbal defamation is slander

ways to win a defamation suit

there are four facts/elements to prove

• the statement was actually made

• the statement is false

• the statement was communicated to someone other than the plaintiff

• in slander cases, the plaintiff must show some injury that resulted from the defamation

slander per se

type of defamation: some statements are so harsh and potentially damaging that the plaintiff is assumed to be damaged and does not have to prove injury

slander per se examples

• accusations of committing a serious crime

• claims of having a sexually transmitted disease or of being an unchaste woman (gender bias in the law)

• alleged professional incompetence

• opinion — to be defamation, the statement must be provable not simply someone’s opionion

  • vague terms in the statement usually indicate it is an opinion, not a provable fact

  • extreme exaggerations are usually not taken as fact

Yeagle v. collegiate times

• “Sharon Yeagle Director of Butt Licking” - libel

  • Summary judgement - when all facts are agreed upon (from exam 1 materials)

  • Everyone agreed on the facts initially. Court threw out the case. Yeagle sued for 5 million dollars. She appealed it and it went to the supreme court, not the VA court of appeals bc they don’t have subject matter jurisdiction.