Battery

Front 1

Rule for Battery

Back 1

Battery is the intentional, unconsented/unprivileged, harmful or offensive bodily contact with another person…by a greater weight of the evidence.

Contact
1. The physical touching of the P’s body with D’s body or an object under D’s control.
2. The contact can also include the D’s touching of an object under P’s control.

A tortfeasor acts intentionally when:
1. His (Purpose) is to inflict a harmful or offensive touching of the plaintiff.
Or
2. He acts with (Knowledge) Substantial Certainty that a harmful or offensive touching of the plaintiff will occur.
Or
3. Transferred intent is the intent with purpose or knowledge to make contact that is harmful or offensive against one person but results in contact with a different person other than the intended target or in a different tort. (ex. you intend to make an assault, but it ends in a battery)

Additional Facts on Intent
-Motive is Irrelevant. Intent to cause contact not harm with the person - or with a third person.

-Intent/Mistake: mistake as to the identity of a person or thing is irrelevant to the question of whether the D had legal intent to make contact with the person or thing.

-Intent/Mental Deficiency: mental deficiency not a defense to an intentional tort.

-Intoxication: not a defense to intentional wrongdoing.

-Parent/Child Liability: children liable for their torts

Harmful or Offensive
1. Harmful or offensive contact means an unconsented alteration of a structure or function of the body, even if the change does not affect the plaintiff ’s health.
2. The tortfeasor’s contact is considered harmful or offensive if a reasonable person of ordinary sensibilities would consider the contact harmful or offensive.

Without Privilege or Consent
1. The plaintiff did not consent to the contact, and, therefore, the tortfeasor did not have consent to touch.
2. A tortfeasor could be privileged to commit the contact if there is Self Defense

***Damages***