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Torts (Intentional Torts: torts coming from intentional actions require -,…

- - - - False Imprisonment
      - Trespass to land
      - Battery
      - Trespass to chattels
      - Assault
  - - - trespass to chattels: Intentional act that interferes with the plaintiff's chattel, causing harm.
        
        Mistake is not a defense
        
        interference includes dispossession or intermeddling
        
        chattel means tangible personal property or intangible property that has a physical representation
        
        More serious interference may amount to conversion
      - conversion: intentional act that causes the destruction or serious interference with plaintiff's chattel.
        
        Mistake is not a defense
        
        Plaintiff entitled to fair market value at the time of conversion plus consequential damages, or replevin
        
        Interference is more serious that trespass to chattel and includes
        
        a greater use of the chattel AND
        
        a longer period of interference
        
        Defendant's offer to return the chattel does not alleviate the conversion
      - trespass to land: tortfeasors intentional act is a physical invasion of property
        
        Satisfied if plaintiff causes a third person to enter onto plaintiff's land or remains upon the plaintiff's land when under a legal duty to leave
        
        Plaintiff's land includes the area both above and below the surface
        
        Plaintiff must be in actual possession or have the right to immediate possession of that land. Note: NOT ownership
        
        Liable for nominal damages and actual harm
        
        Mistake is not a defense. Need not know they are trespassing
        
        Intentional entry is all that is required. No intent to cause harm required
    - - Battery: Harmful or offensive contact with the victim or something closely connected with the victim
        
        Direct touching not required for the tortfeasor or the victim
        
        Includes setting in motion a force that brings about the harmful or offensive contact (i.e. throwing a baseball)
        
        Includes anything connected to the victim's person
        
        Reasonable person standard
        
        apprehension is not required
        
        Lack of consent
      - Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress (IIED): an intentional or reckless act amounting to extreme and outrageous conduct that causes the plaintiff severe mental distress
        
        Extreme and outrageous conduct is beyond the bounds of decency. Conduct a civilized society would not tolerate
        
        Mental distress must be severe and substantial. More than a reasonable person could be expected to endure
        
        Reckless conduct is sufficient if defendant acts in deliberate disregard of a high degree of probability that emotional distress will follow
      - Assault: plaintiff experiences a reasonable apprehension of an immediate harmful or offensive contact
        
        Exaggerated fears are not actionable unless the defendant knew about that fear and used it to put plaintiff in apprehension
        
        Fear is not required, only an apprehension of a harmful or offensive contact
        
        apparent ability is all that is required. The fact that defendant could not commit the actual act does not defeat liability.
        
        words alone are insufficient. Some overt act is required
        
        harmful or offensive contact exists if a reasonable person would regard it as offensive
        
        actual damages not required; can recover nominal damages
      - False imprisonment: Intentional act that causes a plaintiff to be confined or restrained to a bounded area against plaintiff's will and the plaintiff knows of the confinement or is injured
        
        Not confined if there is a reasonable means of escape that plaintiff is actually aware exists
        
        Required knowledge of confinement OR actual harm
        
        No duty to resist if defendant makes a credible threat to use physical force
        
        Defense: Shopkeeper's privilege requires that detention is
        
        for a reasonable period of time
        
        based on a reasonable belief as to theft
        
        in a reasonable manner
        
        Very brief time is sufficient. No specific duration of time required
        
        Confinement includes
        
        failing to release the plaintiff where the defendant has a legal duty to do so, OR
        
        asserting invalid legal authority
        
        confining by physical barriers
  - - - reasonable mistakes as to danger are allowed
      - Look for when a duty to retreat may be imposed
      - Defendant cannot be initial aggressor
- - - - Design defect: Plaintiff must show a reasonable alternative design that is a less dangerous modification or alteration and was economically feasile
      - Warning defect: while adequate warnings insulate a defendant, inadequate warnings result in liability
      - Manufacturing defect: product was dangerous beyond the expectation of the ordinary consumer because of a departure from its intended design. Food products treated same way - consumer expectations standard
- - - - Knowing it was false
      - OR with reckless disregard as to its truth or falsity
      - Can drop to negligence in a commercial setting
    - - active concealment
      - omissions of fact/failure to disclose
      - false, affirmative statement
  - - - Can be physical or non-physical intrusion
      - Must be highly objectionable to a reasonable person
      - Refers to the plaintiff's physical solitude and the privacy of personal affairs or concerns. The plaintiff must have a reasonable expectation of privacy
    - - Reasonable person would find offensive
      - Must be communicated to a substantial number of people
      - Attributing to the plaintiff views he does not hold or actions he did not take
      - Truth only applies as a defense to this particular trot
    - - Must be publication to the public
      - does not apply if publication is newsworthy
      - Needs to be highly offensive to a reasonable person and not of legitimate public concern
  - - - Of or concerning the plaintiff
      - Publication: a third person received the defamatory message and understood it to be about the plaintiff
      - Defamatory message: a message that lowers a plaintiff's community esteem or discourages a third party from associating with him
      - Harm to reputation
    - - Libel: the written form of defamation
      - Slander: defamation not preserved in permanent form, including the spoken word. Slander per se is:
        
        Imputes improper conduct of business or profession
        
        Serious sexual misconduct
        
        Allegations of a loathsome disease
        
        Commission of a crime
    - - Pecuniary or special damages; Quantifiable monetary losses
      - Punitive damages: Needs an additional showing of malice. Plaintiff must prove unless slander pro se.
      - General damages: No proof of actual damages rquired
    - - Historically it was "truth"
      - Now, plaintiff must prove falsity of claim in a prima facie case.
    - - Absolute
        
        Applies to legislator, participant in judicial proceeding, policy-making officials, and spouses
        
        Defendant has burden of proving privilege
        
        Defendant may not be held liable for an otherwise defamatory statement as a matter of law
      - Qualified
        
        Applies to communications of a matter of interest to the recipient
        
        Defendant has burden of proving privilege
        
        Defendant is not held liable for an otherwise defamatory message unless he loses the protection of the privilege
        
        Privilege does not apply/is lost when:
        
        Defendant acts out of malice (defendant's primary motive was something other than furthering the interest that justified the privilege
        
        Consent
        
        The matter is outside the scope of the privilege (includes matters not relevant to the interests protected by the privilege
    - - Nature of the plaintiff
        
        Public Official
        
        Public figure: a person who has achieved pervasive fame or notoriety or as to specific limited issues
      - Subject matter of the controversy
        
        Matter of public concern
        
        required for presumed or punitive damages
      - Malice is required; knowing falsity or recklessness as to truth or falsity
  - - - Will Consider:
        
        whether the conduct is proscribed by a statute, ordinance, or regulations; AND
        
        whether the conduct is of a continuing nature or has produced a permanent or long-lasting effect
        
        whether the conduct involves a significant interference with the public health, safety, peace, comfort, or convenience;
      - An individual cannot recover personally for public nuisance unless the individual suffers a harm of a kind different from that suffered by other members of the public
- - - - negligence per se
      - res ipsa loquitur
    - - Cause in fact (actual cause)
      - Proximate cause (legal cause): foreseeable injury
        
        Exception is the eggshell plaintiff doctrine.
      - If there is an uninterrupted chain of events between act and injury, then it is a direct cause case. An indirect cause case is one where a force came into motion after the defendant's act and combined with the negligent act to cause the P's injury.
        
        Foreseeable intervening acts: do not cut off liability
        
        unforeseeable intervening acts: cut off liability
    - - when action is taken, a duty of care is owed to all foreseeable plaintiffs
      - No affirmative duty to act exists
      - Defendant must meet a certain standard of conduct for the protection of others against unreasonable risk
      - Exceptions resulting in affirmative duty
        
        Innkeepers
        
        Common carriers
        
        special relationships - like parents and professionals