Kacy Stein Blaw Notes Chapter 6 Torts a civil wrong that is not a breach of contract Most civil cases are either breach of contract or torts Tort law says that someone who commits a tort can be liable for the tort meaning they have to pay damages If you want to sue someone for committing a tort you have to prove your case through a preponderance of evidence If you win generally you can get compensatory damages damages designed to compensate you for harm that you suffer This could include damages for physical injury emotional distress unreimbursed medical expenses etc If what the defendant did is especially bad you could get punitive damages designed to punish the defendant and to deter future misconduct by that defendant and other potential defendants 4 Kinds of Wrongful Conduct 1 Intentional conduct the intent to case certain consequences or there s a substantial certainty 2 Recklessness often defined as a conscious indifference to a known and substantial risk of harm that those consequences will result created by somebody s conduct a Drunk driving is usually recklessness because it is considered a conscious indifference but it can also sometimes be considered negligence 3 Negligence failure to use reasonable care with harm resulting to somebody else as a consequence 4 Strict liability liability regardless of fault Case Mathias About Damages People stayed at a Motel 6 and were attacked by bed bugs They sued in Federal Court and a jury gave them 5 000 in compensatory damages and 186 000 in punitive damages The corporate owner of Motel 6 appeals on 2 theories 1 There should not have been any punitive damages 2 Even if there were going to be this was greatly excessive Response to 1 The appeals court says yes punitive damages were justified because there was at least recklessness by Motel 6 and in a situation where there is at least recklessness punitive damages can be justified o They were reckless because Motel 6 had been aware that they had a bed bug problem and they did not do anything about it o If it is simply negligence you cant get punitive damages as a general rule Midterm Response to 2 If you do a ratio of punitive damages to compensatory damages it is a ratio of about 37 1 and Motel 6 said that was excessive and since it is excessive it is a denial of due process The appeals court denies this and says this is not excessive saying there is no formula which says what the upper limit of the allowable ratio is o How did the jury come up with 186 000 There were 191 rooms in this Motel 6 so they decided to award in total damages 1 000 per room and then subtract out the compensatory damages of 5 000 What guidance does a jury have in coming up with a number like this At least with regard to punitive damages juries have a lot of discretion to come up with a particular number There are very few restrictions on the kind of logic that a jury can use in coming up with a particular punitive damages number More of an arbitrary number For compensatory damages it is different because it is supposed to reflect the plaintiff s actual damages so it should be based off of evidence Bottom Line The plaintiff won because the defendant s actions were reckless The amounts of punitive damages were not improper The SC has agreed that once there s a high enough ratio between punitive and compensatory there could be a problem but they never said at what point that would be Interference with Personal Rights 7 Torts that apply to this most of these will be on exam 1 Battery can be both a crime and a tort but we will only talk about the tort Civil definition of battery the 1 intentional and 2a harmful or 2b offensive touching of somebody else without his consent i So it has to be intentional and it has to be harmful or offensive ii iii It is harmful if it produces bodily injury It can still be battery if it doesn t product bodily injury but it is offensive Offense is culturally specific and regarded differently depending on the place In this country we don t generally look at these cultural differences and look at it as if there is a societal consensus of what is or isn t offensive touching iv Transferred Intent if A swings at B intending to strike but A misses B and strikes C instead Can C sue A for battery Yes on this theory of transferred intent Case Stoshak transferred intent consciousness A teacher tried to break up a fight when one of the students hit him in the head and he lost The school board put him on leave without reduction of pay for a year after the incident in accordance with the physical conduct pay statute When it became clear that they weren t going to give him more money after that he decided to sue under the statute that it was assault battery He claimed this because he would get more disability pay under assault battery But the school district was resisting that because they didn t want to pay additional benefits so they went to court Both parties filed for summary of judgment Initially the school board won However on appeal the teacher ends up winning on the theory of transfer of intent 2 Assault the intentional attempt or offer to cause harmful or offensive contact with someone else if that attempt offer causes a reasonable apprehension of immediate battery in the other person s mind For assault there doesn t have to be any contact at all Instead apprehension is the key the belief that contact is going to occur There doesn t have to be fear just belief The apprehension must be immediate or imminent Apprehension of harmful contact has to be reasonable So if you re a fearful person who thinks everyone is out to get you that would not constitute assault because it is not reasonable Consent could be a defense to both battery and assault This can be expressed inferred It can be inferred from voluntary precipitation in the activity but only as to contacts that are the normal consequence of the activity Example an S M relationship sporting activities like boxing Mike Tyson bit off Evander s ear during a fight 3 Intentional inflection of emotional distress conduct that s so outrageous it goes beyond all bounds of decency and is intolerable You have to show 3 things to prove this 1 To show that the conduct of the defendant is outrageous 2 That your emotional distress is severe 3 The defendant intentionally inflicted this emotional distress Juries have a lot of leeway in deciding these cases Example 50 cent posted a sex video and the woman sued him for invasion of privacy and intentional
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