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Tort
~A wrongful act leading to civil liability
~A violation of a duty imposed by civil law (e.g. fraud, negligence, assault, etc.)
~Filed by the wronged (treated unfairly) party
~Usually no prior agreement between parties
The Basis of Tort Law
~Classification of Torts:
- Intentional - Stabbing a colleague b/c you’re in a bad mood
- Unintentional (negligence-no fault) - You throw a baseball bat in a crowded area, not
intending to hurt anyone but you hit a bystander who gets injured. The plaintiff must
prove that the defendant did not exercise the proper degree of care
- Strict Liability (absolute liability) - If you own a wild animal and it caused injury,
liability is assumed
Intentional Torts: Defamation
~Defamation - Involves false statements that harm someone’s reputation
- Libel: Written defamation
- Slander: Oral defamation
~Elements in a defamation case
- Defamatory statement
- Falseness - the statement has to be false
- Communicated to someone other than the plaintiff
- Injury - the plaintiff must show injury (but if defamation by radio or TV, the courts chose
to consider it libel w/o needing proof)
~Slander Per Se
- False statements about sexual behavior, crimes, contagious diseases, and professional
abilities
- Don’t need to prove injury in these cases since it’s difficult to measure
- The plaintiff must show slanderous statement which caused them to suffer
economic/monetary loss
~Opinion - Generally cannot be proven true or false
- Doesn’t usually amount to defamation
~Related Defense - Cases where a supposed statement of fact clearly shouldn’t be taken literally
~Online defamation (make sure everything’s true before posting statements online)
~Privilege
- Defendants receive additional protection from defamation cases when it’s important for
them to speak freely
- E.G.: How to hold another accountable for true but embarrassing/private comments
~Absolute Privilege: A witness testifying in a court or legislature may never be sued for
defamation
Intentional Torts: False Imprisonment
~Intentional restraint of another person w/o reasonable cause and without consent
- Most commonly arise in retail stores, which sometimes detain employees/customers for
suspected theft
Intentional Torts: Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress
~This is an intentional tort in which the harm results from extreme & outrageous conduct causes
serious emotional harm (e.g. a plaintiff can use anxiety from a Halloween prank gone wrong to
show they’ve suffered extreme emotional distress)
Additional Intentional Torts
~Battery - An intentional touching of another person that’s harmful/offensive
(touching/hitting/throwing something @ someone)
~Assault - An act that makes a person fear potential battery (pulling a gun that’s unloaded)
~Fraud - Injuring another person by deliberate deception (typically during contract negotiation)
Compensatory Damages
