Chapter 7 - Torts

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Tort

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A private wrong (other than a breach of contract) in which a person or property is harmed because of another's failure to carry out a legal duty.

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Restatement of the Law of Torts, Second

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An authoritative secondary source, written by a group of legal scholars, summarizing the existing common law, as well as suggesting what the law should be.

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Intentional tort

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When people intentionally seek to violate a duty towards others.

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Tortfeasor

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The person who commits the tort.

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Negligent tort

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When harm occurs as a result of a careless act done with no conscious intent to injure anyone.

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Strict liability tort

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When the defendant is held responsible even though the defendant did not act negligently nor intentionally to harm the plaintiff.

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Assault

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An intentional act that creates a reasonable apprehension of an immediate harmful or offensive physical contact.

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Battery

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An intentional act that creates a harmful or offensive physical contact.

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False imprisonment

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Occurs whenever one person, through force or the threat of force, unlawfully detains another person against his or her will.

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Defamation

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The publication of false statements that harm a person's reputation.

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Invasion of privacy

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An intentional tort that covers a variety of situations, including disclosure, intrusion, appropriation, and false light.

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Disclosure

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The publicizing of embarrassing private affairs.

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Intrusion

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The unjustified invasion into another's private activities.

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Appropriation

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The unauthorized exploitative use of one's personality, name, or poictrue for the defendant's benefit.

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False light

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The use of a picture or some other means to infer a connection between the person and an idea or a statement for which the individual is not responsible.

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Intentional infliction of emotional distress

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An intentional act that causes the emotional distress be extreme and outrageous and the emotional distress suffered be severe.

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Trespass to land

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Whenever someone enters or causes something to enter or remain on the land of another without permission.

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Trespass to personal property

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When someone harms or interferes with the owner's exclusive possession of the property but has no intention of keeping the property.

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Negligence

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The failure to act reasonably under the cirumstances. (It is the most common type of tort action)

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Negligence per se

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Violation of a statute as proof of negligence.

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Res ispa loquitur

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"The thing speaks for itself"; the doctrine that suggests negligence can be presumed if an event happens that would not ordinarily happen unless someone was negligent.

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Actual cause

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Also known as cause in fact, this is measured by the"but for" standard; But for the defendant's actions, the plaintiff would not have been injured.

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Proximate cause

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Once actual cause is found, as a policy matter, the court must also find the act and the resulting harm were so foreseeably realted as to justify a finding of liability.

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Contributory negligence

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Negligence by the plaintiff that contributed to his or her injury. Normally, it is a complete bar to the plaintiff's recovery.

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Assumption of risk

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Voluntarily and knowingly subjecting oneself to danger.

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Exculpatory clause

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A provision that purports to waive liability.

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Comparative negligence

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A method for measuring the relative negligence of the plaintiff and the defendant, with a commensurate sharing of the compensation for the injuries.

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Recklessness

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Disregarding a substantial and unjustifiable risk that harm will result.

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Strict liability

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Liability without having to prove fault.

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Products liability

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The theory holding manufacturers and sellers liable for defective products when the defects make the products unreasonably dangerous.

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Product misuse

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When the product was not being used for its intended purpose or was being used in a dangerous manner; it is a defense to a products liability claim so long as the misuse was not foreseeable.

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Respondeat superior

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The tort theory that an employer can be sued for the negligent acts of its employees.

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Compensatory damages

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Sometimes referred to as acutal damages, these are awarded to compensate the plaintiff for hte harm done to him or her.

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Punitive damages

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Also called exemplary damages, these are designed to punish the defendant.

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Nominal damages

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Awarded when a right has been vilolated by the plaintiff cannot prove any monetary harm.