Tort Law Three basic categories o Intentional o Negligence o Strict Big picture of tort law o Tort is defined as a civil wrong other than a breach of contract in which a court will enforce Not a crime This is a civil wrong Plaintiff will sue defendant private parties Litigation by one private party brought against another private party Civil wrong other than breach of contract o Not a crime not a contract it s a tort o Garbage can of the law Made by judges in common law New torts are being made constantly o About injuries and when someone gets harmed Not the law of accidents They happen and somebody is at fault o Big question Who pays when someone is harmed Harm can be injury or property damage Statefarm case Debbie Agis Case o Limit punitive damages By Supreme Court o Excessive punitive damage reward results in denial o Debbie brings case suing in tort on emotional distress First kicked out in court Supreme court of Mass Says if she can show facts she can have a day in court o Debbie fired from work She is an employee at will but able to sue for tort of intentional emotional distress If she wins Howard Johnson pays If she loses Debbie pays Howard Johnson goes down list of employees and fires from alphabetical order because someone is stealing Debbie is fired first and cries and leaves o If Debbie wins Howard Johnson would pay for the following Psychiatry bills Emotional losses Psychiatry bills o If Debbie loses Debbie would pay for the following Emotional losses Blacki vs Krogers case Negligence Tort o Slip Fall case Falls under negligence o Employer goes to kroger to buy breakfast for employees o Isles closed off was told walking along perimeters of store would have no problems o Picked up all necessary items for breakfast without problems o Last item was blocked off employee was waxing floor Client slipped and hurt vertebrae o Client had cleaned dress and thereby destroyed evidence o Judge ruled assumption of risk Client had seen substance that was slipped on Another problem in the case was that person that waved her on was not If hadn t seem it still assumed risk by walking down isle Kroger claimed outsourced to wax and employee was not their s identified o Under these circumstances She assumed risk and contributed to own injuries She now pays Medical expenses Paid for lost earnings from work o She was fired o Evicted from house that was mortgaged o Mother ended in nursing home Tort in latin means twisted o Twisted or wrongful conduct When courts try to determine answer o Weigh plaintiff and defendant o Weigh public opinion Tort of False imprisonment Intentional Tort o Plaintiff has to establish Plaintiff s movement was restrained Can be as much as a locked door in classroom o If there is means of escape there is no false imprisonment o Can also be if property is being held Purse Wallet taken can t leave because there is belongings there that prevent you from moving Boots put on car or wrongful towing restrains movement o Protects the interest and freedom of movement o Ultimately has cash value Restriction of movement is a restriction of value in culture Bring tort action and obtain cash value for restriction of movement There are defenses that protect against Torts o Consent o Privilege Someone can do something law public policy promotes For tort of false imprisonment Common law privilege Where a merchant has reasonable belief that a customer is stealing merchants property merchant can detain customer for a reasonable amount of time in a reasonable area Blacki vs Kroger again tort of false imprisonment o Client enters kroger 1am and doesn t get cart or basket o Leans over counter of drugs o Fits profile for shoplifter and begins being watched by security o Two security employees came down and invited him to office o Client agreed The defense of consent is now okay to use o Takes client upstairs and half way upstairs client decides he doesn t want to go anymore Revokes consent o Security grabs client and takes him up anyway o Client was thrown face down on desk o Broke wrist broke arm and hurt muscles in shoulder o Searched client and found nothing o Called ambulance and there proved broken wrist arm and hurt muscles o Does this mean false imprisonment Client used tort of false imprisonment Reflects protecting the interest of free movement Merchant used defense of privilege that they believed client was stealing property Reflects protecting the interest of property There is now clash of interests Court will have to decide who s interests matter Handled in technical way o Need to make sure evidence helps supports o One interest that is often ignored is the public interest o Public policy is the engine that drives the law o Will consider the interests and weigh the interests o Public has interest of deferring shop lifting No one wants to live in a culture where we steal Economic point of view causes inflationary impact from each other on computers Shrinkage raises price Tort of Defamation o Harming of reputation Lecture 11 2 2012 Intentional Torts Ctd Office Fisher Hall 236 Shouldn t surprise after going through contract law that intent is different than usual definition o In contract law someone can intend to be in a contract without intending as long as a reasonable person thought the intent was there and there was an agreement there is intent o In tort Malicious or Substantial certainty of causing harm Intent As long as conduct of defendant causes substantial certainty of harm the intent is there Example shooting gun into crowd Meant to shoot enemy shot best friend Created substantial intent of harm Which means intent of battery Courts are focusing on probability of harm to establish liability of All that is necessary is intent to complete action despite what actually Running to get somewhere faster Knock someone down and break defendant to victim happens their arm o They can sue because your intent to get somewhere faster created consequences of hurting someone Goal is to prohibit certain types of behavior Creates a substantial certainty of harm Conduct and Consequences Law focuses on if the conduct ought to be prohibited Intended to cause harm is different than usual thought of meaning of intent It is rather the conduct than the cognitive process Why talk in terms of intent o The use of words that are fairly common in everyday life are different in law Words are borrowed from past and different fields Example Precedent document of starry dicisis Words that are used in