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A civil wrong that is not a breach of a con- tract. Tort cases and treatises identify different types of wrongfulness, culpability, or fault and define them in varying ways
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Term
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We define intent as the desire to cause certain consequences or the substantial certainty that those con- sequences will result from one’s behavior. For example, if D pulls the trigger of a loaded handgun while aiming it at P for the purpose of killing him or with a substantial certainty that P would be killed, D intended to kill P
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The form of intent involving substan- tial certainty blends by degrees into a different kind of fault: recklessness (sometimes called “willful and wan- ton conduct”). We define recklessness as a conscious indifference to a known and substantial risk of harm created by one’s behavior.
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We define negligence as a failure to use reasonable care, with harm to another party occurring as a result. Negligent conduct falls below the level necessary to protect others against unreasonable risks of harm
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Strict liability is liability without fault or more precisely, liability irrespective of fault. In a strict liability case, the plaintiff need not prove intent, recklessness, negligence, or any other kind of wrongful- ness on the defendant’s part. However, strict liability is not automatic liability. A plaintiff must prove certain things in any strict liability case, but fault is not one of them.
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A plaintiff who wins a tort case usually recovers compensatory damages for the harm she suffered as a result of the defendant’s wrongful act. Depending on the facts of the case, these damages may be for direct and immediate harms such as physical injuries, medical ex- penses, and lost wages and benefits, or for seemingly less tangible harms such as loss of privacy, injury to rep- utation, and emotional distress.
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not intended to compensate tort victims for their losses.
Instead, they are designed to punish flagrant wrongdoers and to deter them, as well as others, from engaging in similar conduct in the future.
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Term
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Definition
the intentional and harmful or offensive touching of another without his consent. Contact is harmful if it produces bodily injury. However, battery also includes nonharmful contact that is offensive calculated to offend a reasonable sense of personal dignity.
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Intent required for battery
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either (1) the intent to cause harmful or offensive contact or
(2) the intent to cause apprehension that such contact is imminent.
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Term
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Definition
occurs when there is an intentional attempt or offer to cause a harmful or offensive contact with another person, if that attempt or offer causes a reasonable apprehension of imminent battery in the other person’s mind
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Term
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Definition
necessary intent is the same as the intent required for battery. In an assault case, however, it is irrelevant whether the threatened contact actually occurs. Instead, the key thing is the plaintiff’s apprehension of a
harmful or offensive contact. Apprehension need not involve fear; it might be described as a mental state consistent with this thought: “I’m just about to be hit.”
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Definition
Statutes are laws created by elected representatives in Congress or a state legislature. They are stated in an authoritative form in statute books or codes
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made and applied by judges as they decide cases not governed by statutes or other types of law. Although common law exists only at the state level, both state courts and federal courts become involved in applying it.
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Term
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| based on the residence, location, or activities of the defendant. A state court has in personam jurisdiction over defendants who are citizens or residents of the state (even if situated out- of-state), who are within the state’s borders when process is served on them (even if nonresidents),1 or who consent to the court’s authority (for instance, by entering the state to defend against the plaintiff’s claim). |
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| Under these statutes, nonresident individuals and businesses become subject to the jurisdiction of the state’s courts by, for example, doing business within the state, contracting to supply goods or services within the state, or committing a tort (a civil wrong) within the state. |
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| The body of law called equity historically concerned itself with accomplishing “rough justice” when common law rules would produce unfair results. |
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| a court order forbidding a party to do some act or commanding him to perform some act |
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| made and applied by judges as they decide cases not governed by statutes or other types of law. |
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| aw under which the government prosecutes someone for committing a crime |
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Definition
| mainly concerns obligations that private parties owe to each other. It is the law applied when one private party sues another. The government, however, may also be a party to a civil case. For example, a city may sue, or be sued by, a construction contractor |
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| sets the rights and duties of people as they act in society. |
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Term
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Definition
| ontrols the behavior of govern- ment bodies (mainly courts) as they establish and enforce rules of substantive law. A statute making murder a crime, for example, is a rule of substantive law. The rules describ- ing the proper conduct of a trial, however, are procedural |
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| based on the presence of property within the state. It empowers state courts to determine rights in that property even if the persons whose rights are affected are outside the state’s in personam jurisdiction |
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Term
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Definition
-Intentional
-Attempt or offer
-Cause
-Harmful or offensive contact
-Must Cause
-Reasonable
-Apprehension
-Imminent battery |
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Term
| IED= Intentional infliction of emotional distress on another person |
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Definition
Intentional (Can be reckless)
infliction
Emotional Distress
-Conduct has to be outrageous in character and extreme in degree as to go beyond bounds of decency
-Reasonable reaction is distress
-Some courts still require harm |
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Term
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Definition
Rule= intentional confinement of another person for an appreciable time without consent
Elements
-Intentional
-Confinement
Actual
Implied through threats or fraud
Pope v. Rostraver
secondary to holding other property like keys
victims must be aware of confinement
-Appreciable time
-longer than a couple of minutes
-without consent |
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Term
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Definition
Rule- defamation is an unprivileged publication that is false and defamatory concerning another
Elements-
-unprivileged
-publication
-false
-defamatory
-of or concerning another
Question: Dealing with average Joe or public figure?
Average->common law public figure has burden to prove all above have been violated plus “actual malice” with clear and convincing evidence “beyond reasonable doubt”
preponderance of evidence (more likely true than not true) |
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Term
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Definition
| ritten or printed defamation or to other defamation having a more or less permanent physical form, such as a defam- atory picture, sign, or statue. Slander refers to all other defamatory statements—mainly oral defamation. Today, however, the great majority of courts treat defamatory statements in radio and television broadcasts as libel. The same is true of defamatory statements made on the Internet |
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Term
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Definition
| generally not actionable without proof of special damages, unless the nature of the slanderous statement is so serious that it can be classified as slander per se. |
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Term
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Definition
| presumed damages are allowed by the common law. Slander per se ordinarily includes false statements that the plaintiff (1) has committed a crime involving moral turpitude or potential imprisonment, (2) has a loathsome disease, (3) is professionally incompetent or guilty of professional mis- conduct, or (4) is guilty of serious sexual misconduct. |
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| actual malice (in regards to defamation) |
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Definition
| The Court gave actual malice a special meaning: knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for the truth. |
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| Elements of Negligence (must prove to win) |
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Definition
| (1) that the defendant owed a duty of care to the plaintiff; (2) that the defendant committed a breach of this duty; and (3) that this breach was the actual and proximate cause of injury experienced by the plaintiff. |
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Term
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Definition
| Negligence law rests on the premise that members of society normally should behave in ways that avoid the creation of unreasonable risks of harm to others. As a general rule, therefore, negligence law contemplates that each person must act as a reason- able person of ordinary prudence would have acted under the same or similar circumstances |
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| Was Duty Owed? (negligence) |
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Definition
Courts typically hold that the defendant owed the plaintiff a duty of reasonable care if the plaintiff was among those who would foreseeably be at risk of harm
stemming from the defendant’s activities or conduct, or if a special relationship logically calling for such a duty existed between the parties. |
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| “a manifestation of assent to the terms [of the offer] made by the offeree in the manner invited or required by the offer.” |
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Definition
| In determining if an offeree accepted an offer and created a contract, a court will look for evidence of three factors: (1) the offeree intended to enter the contract, (2) the offeree accepted on the terms proposed by the offeror, and (3) the offeree communi- cated his acceptance to the offero |
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