Intent

Intent requires that an actor does not have privilege or consent, and desires - or has substantial certainty - that their volitional act CAUSES in the tort under consideration.

Intent still met even if there is no intent to cause damage

Mistake is not a defense

Battery

Battery requires that the actor has intent (as above) AND CAUSES offensive or harmful contact -directly or indirectly - with the victim’s body, or an item intimately connected with the victim.

Offensive to a reasonable person

Offensive if there is no implied or explicit consent

Assault

Assault requires that the actor has intent (as above) and causes apprehension of an imminent battery with the present ability to cause said battery. 

Overt act more than words required - threats also meet assault requirements

Reasonable apprehension

Does not need to cause fear in victim, just expectation of the batery

IIESD

IIESD requires that the actor’s extreme, outrageous, and intentional (as above) or reckless conduct causes severe emotional distress to the victim.

offensive language not enough unless special sensitivities

Avg person with normal sensibilities

False Imprisonment

FI requires that the victim is aware of – or was harmed by – the actor’s intentional (as above) and actual confinement of the victim to a limited space without reasonable means of escape.

Duration of imprisonment not relevent

Cannot be moral/social pressure or future threats

Trespass to Land

TL requires that the actor, without privilege or permission, intended (as above) a direct or indirect tangible invasion - on the surface, above, or below - of someone else’s land.

Can be for the actual or constructive possessor - tenant or someone else with more rights to the land

Trespass to Chattel

TC requires that the actor’s intentional (as above) intermeddling with another’s chattel either damages the chattel, dispossesses the chattel, or causes harm to the victim.

Can be for anyone with superior claim of ownership - first thief has more rights than second thief

Destruction or long term interference with chattel

Conversion requires that the actor pays full value of the chattel which was trespassed upon.

Consent Types

Consent can be explicit or implied - where a reasonable person would infer consent and can be from local customs

Consent by mistake still consent unless fraud

Capacity for consent is required - not young or drunk

Emergency consent if reasonable to save life and limb when time is of the essence and person cannot give consent

Self Defense

Retaliation not allowed

Retreat not necessary but is a growing and recommended trend

Self defense not available to agressor unless the victim uses unreasonable force

Reasonable Accidents/mistakes are OK in self-defense 

Defense of Property

Request to desist normally required

Can be in hot pursuit, but not long after the trespass to the chattel

Defense of property superseded by other privileges - such as recapture of chattel, necessity, self-defense, etc. 

Shopkeepers Privileged

Can reasonably detain people

Reasonable belief of theft

Reasonable time

Reasonable search

Within close proximity of the shop itself

Necessity privilege

Public Necessity is absolute privileged - shoot a rabid dog for wider good

Private Necessity - where for the benefit of limited people the damage may be liable to the victim

Elements of Extreme and Outrageous for IISED

Consider the following:

Persistence and intensity

Authority

Special sensitivities (def must know about these)

Vulnerabilities

pregancy

Beyond the pale of what society will accept

Elements to Severe Emotional Distress actually occurring

Consider:

Signs and symptoms (stuttering got worse)

Physical reactions (vomiting, heart attack, stroke, mania)

Increased doctor care

Change in behavior

Be sure to include professional testimonies

Testimonies of others in the situation or in family

want as much corroborating info to prove severe emotional distress

Elements to consider for Participant Witness IISED

Initial intent - did the offender have reasonable certainty that bystander was there

Extreme and outrageous elements

Did severe emotional distress occurr in the partcipant

Was the participant present and aware

MUST MANIFEST IN PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS IF YOU ARE NOT A CLOSE FAMILY MEMBER

Tactics for essay exams

Cite facts in the case

Mention that different juridictions may have different rules - dual intent,

Use BECAUSE lots

State both sides

How privileged can expire

Time (allowed today, not tomorrow)

Purpose (here only to read meter, not hunt)

Revocation of invite

Space - OK on doorstep, not inside

Factors in Negligence

• Hand Formula is Burden compared to prob * severity
• Risk does not need to be zero - just reasonable risk
• Cost to avoid negligence (bury pipes below frost zone or make guardrails stronger on bridge)
• What makes good sense (golfclub lying around OK)
• Reasonably see danger (kid pulling steering wheel 2X)
• Did the company have a rule to prevent (train lock)
• Not "best that I could" defense (haystacks cottages)
• Reasonable prudent person test in the situation

• Ignorance is not a defense to negligence - when you see that you are ignorant, your job to learn (purple light driving in France)
• ORPP Ordinary Reasonable Prudent Person UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES
• Not necessarily customs (jaywalking normal, not ORP) - it is a reasonable custom and applies to this case
• customs are probative - potential evidence
• Emergency - not valid if def creates the emergency - or when you fail to anticipate emergency (tornado)