Torts

How Torts Differ from Crimes

• A tort, in contrast, is a private or civil wrong—an offense against an individual

• If tort occurs, the person injured can sue and obtain a judgment for money damages from the person who committed the tort.– The money is intended to compensate for the

injury

• One act can be a tort and a crime

Classification of Torts

• Intentional Torts• Negligence• Strict Liability

Elements of a Tort

• Broad legal category• In trial, to prove liability (legal responsibility)

for any tort– A duty owed by one person to another to do or

not to do a certain thing– Violation or breach of duty– Injury recognized by the law– Proximate causation of the injury by the breach

Tort Duty

• The principal duties created by tort are:– The duty not to injure the person of another: this

includes bodily injury, injury to someone’s reputation, or invasion of someone’s privacy

– The duty not to interfere with the property rights of others, such as by trespassing on their land

– The duty not to interfere with the economic rights of others, such as the right to contract.

Violation of Duty

• A breach, or violation of the duty, must be proved before the injured party can collect damages for a tort.

• In some torts, the breach has to be proved to be intentional and in others intent does not need to be proved.

• Liability is imposed simply because a duty was violated and this caused injury.

Injury

• Generally injury resulting from the breach of duty is required before the courts will hold a person liable in tort.

• If you act recklessly, but no one is injured, there is usually no tort.

Proximate Causation

• Causation is simply the idea that the breach of the duty caused the injury

• When the amount of causation is great enough for it to be recognized by the law, it is called proximate cause.– Generally proximate cause exists when it is

reasonably foreseeable that a particular breach of duty will result in a particular injury

Common Intentional Torts

• Assault• Battery• Defamation• Invasion of Privacy• Trespass• Conversion• Wrongful Interference with Business Relations• Fraud

Assault

• The placing of another person in fear of an immediate harmful or offensive touching. (note that there need be no actual physical contact.)

• There must be a threat of injury, coupled with an apparent ability to carry it into effect.

Battery

• Shooting, pushing in anger, spitting at, or throwing a pie in the face of another are all batteries.

• Frequently the follow-through of an assault, and so one frequently reads about “an assault and battery”.

• When hit from behind, there is battery without assault

• If the contact is not intentional there is no battery, the contact may also be justified

Defamation• A person has the right to be free from false

reports about his or her character or conduct which lead to ridicule, contempt, or hatred by others (you have the freedom to be free from ridicule, contempt or hatred by others)

• If the defamation is spoken, it is slander.• If the defamation is written or printed, it is libel• To be legally defamatory, the material must

• Be false (truth is a complete defense)• Be communicated to a third person (one’s reputation with

others is not harmed if no other person hears or reads the lie)

• Bring the victim into disrepute, contempt, or ridicule by others

Defamation Cont.

• An exception to the requirements for defamation is made for defamatory comments about public officers or other prominent public personalities– There is no liability in such cases unless the defamer

acted with actual malice; that is he or she know the words were false when they were said

• Judges, lawyers, jurors, witnesses and other parties in judicial proceedings are also immune from liability for statements made during the actual trial or hearing.

Invasion of Privacy

• (The unwelcome and unlawful intrusion into one’s private life) so as to cause outrage, mental suffering, humiliation and mental or emotional injury.

• The privacy to be left alone if one so wishes• Includes freedom from commercial exploitation of

one’s name, picture, or endorsement without permission

• Bans illegal eavesdropping by listening and electronic devices, interference with telephone calls and unauthorized opening of letters and telegrams

Invasion of Privacy cont.

• FBI is permitted to tap telephone lines secretly, under limited circumstances, when such action is necessary for the national defense.

• Public figures, such as politicians, actors and actresses, and people in the news, have limited rights of privacy

Trespass

• A person has the right to the possession of land and buildings (real property) without unlawful interference by others– Failure to observe this property right is trespass

• Usually thought of as wrongful entry onto the property of another.

• Dumping rubbish on the land of another• Breaking the windows of a neighbor’s house• Intent is required to commit the tort of trespass

Conversion

• When the right to possession of personal property, such as a diamond ring, is violated by another who steals, uses, or destroys the property in a manner inconsistent with the owner’s rights

• A thief is always a converter• The buyer of stolen goods is also a converter• Even an innocent converter is liable for

damages

Fraud

• Interference with the economic rights of others, occurs when someone makes an intentional misrepresentation of fact and thereby causes financial injury to a person who relies on the misrepresentation

What is Negligence

• Is a specific tort, in fact it is the most common tort.

• Intent is not required for this tort, only carelessness

• Like other torts involves:– Elements of duty– Breach of the duty– Causation– Injury

Duty of Negligence

• The duty imposed by negligence law is called the reasonable man standard:– The duty to act with the care, prudence, and good

judgment of a reasonable person

Breach of Duty

• The reasonable man standard defines the duty.

• The defendant’s conduct is compared with the reasonable man standard to determine whether a violation of the duty has occurred

Causation and Injury

• The violation of the duty must be the proximate cause of an injury, such as personal injury and property damage, recognized by negligence law.

• Every person was supposed to use proper care to avoid injury.– Contributory negligence: system in which recovery is

barred if the injury is partly the result of carelessness by the plaintiff

– Comparative negligence: system in which damages are awarded in proportion to the plaintiff’s negligence

Strict Liability• Liability that exists even though the defendant

meant or intended no harm and was not negligent. –You are responsible for injury regardless of negligence or intent

• Engaging in abnormally dangerous activities, such as blasting, or crop burning, or storing flammable liquids in large quantities, gives rise to strict liability.– If you engage in such activities and someone is

injured as a result, you will be liable

When are you responsible for the Torts of another?

• You are responsible for your own torts…duh• In some cases, parents are not liable for the

torts of their children, but maybe for the dangerous habits, such as throwing rocks at trains and vehicles

• Vicarious liability: responsibility of one person for the torts of another– Most common example of this is the liability of an

employer for the acts of employees committed within the scope of the employment

What can a Victim collect?

• Damages: awarded to the injured party to compensate for loss caused by tort

• Punitive or exemplary damages: added damages intended to punish and make an example of the defendant

• Punitive damages are never awarded for ordinary negligence