MGMT 211 Lecture 9 Outline of Current LectureI. Chapter 5Current Lecturea. Tortsi. Civil wrongs; not talking criminal1. The same incident can give rise to a tort case and you can be arrested under criminal lawii. Civil law provides you with a remedyiii. Common law; reasonable persons standardiv. 3 basic types of torts1. Intentional torts2. Negligence3. Strict Liabilityv. Intentional torts: intentional act that results in the harm; doesn’t mean that you meant to hurt someone, but it happens1. Pulling a chair out from underneath someone; the intentional act was pulling the chair out, not hurting them; you’re responsible2. Negligence: careless, reckless conduct; a. Car wreck; most people do not plan on getting in a wreck; carelessness or reckless3. Strict Liability: abnormally dangerous activities; if you do the activity, and someone gets hurt, you paya. You keep a wild animal as a pet and someone gets hurtb. Tearing down a building; if someone gets hurt, they would have been responsiblei. Even with all safety precautions, still responsiblec. Private citizen v. private citizend. Common law and state lawi. Will vary from state to statee. States have come in and added statutory rules/lawsvi. Purpose of tort law: compensationvii. Normal damages are compensatory damages, as well as punitive damages (also called exemplary damages)1. Punishment; make them serve as an example of what not to do for other people2. 8th amendment doesn’t applya. Insurance companies and lobbyists have done a great job in limiting the amount of punitive damages you can receivei. Percentage of the actual compensatory damages you receiveii. Texas: only 3 times the amount of compensatory damagesviii. Ways a business is involved in torts1. Agency law: actions by employees; employers are responsible for the actions of their employeesa. If an employee commits a tort on another business, the company of that employee has more moneyi. If you get beaten up by a 16-year-old worker at McDonald’s, McDonald’s will pay2. Business can commit a tort against another businessa. Business intentional torts3. Products liability: product created can hurt someone and they have to pay4. Reasonable person testix. Intentional torts1. Personal intentional: directed at a persona. Assault: scaring someone; the bad guy does something to cause intense fear or apprehension of an immediate bodilyharm or offensive touchingi. Involves a person (can’t assault a dog, but you can use a dog to scare a person)ii. Intentional iii. You put a reasonable person in fear that this is going to happen; you really threaten themiv. It doesn’t have to happen; it’s the threat of itv. Criminal assault is different from civil assault1. A security guard catches someone shoplifting; threatens her with a gun or tells her he’d rape her2. It doesn’t matter if they carry the act out; but a reasonable person in a like situation would have been afraidb. Battery: intentional carrying out the assault with bodily harm or offensive touchingc. Assault and battery: you scare them first and then you carry it outd. Defensesi. Consent: in a rugby game, you will probably be touched where you don’t want to be, and be clobbered; but you gave permission to play the game 1. You can still go beyond what is allowed; can bring on criminal charges2. Privileged: If an officer does a thorough search, you’ll be touched where you don’t want to be touched; it’s allowed to prevent from drugs coming into the jail3. Self-defense: you can even use deadly force to prevent your death or someone else’sa. You can only use deadly force if deadly force is used against you or someone elseb. You can’t use deadly force to protectyour propertyi. If a thief is running out with your t.v., you can’t shoot themii. You have a duty to flee, even from your own home; you don’t confront the intruder if you can’t leavec. States have come in and make statutory laws to protect youe. False imprisonment: intentional holding or detaining of a person within boundaries if the person is harmed by such detentioni. How will a business be in trouble1. Shoplifting: major problem for retailers; they have shopkeeper’s privilege; you detain someone until the police comes in to take them awaya. A lot of stores won’t stop you because the liability is so badb. State statutes: as long as a state follows certain guidelines, they will be safe from being suedf. Emotional distressi. Do juries buy the fact that you were emotionally upset? It’s difficult to convince; they can’t see pictures of your distraught mind1. It has to be beyond the bounds of decency by a long shot2. Some states require physical manifestation of emotional distress3. If you get there, the payoff is hugea. Tough to win and keep in Texas4. Collection agencies: these people know what the law is and will push as far as they cang. Invasion of privacy: someone invades your right to privacy in an unwarranted manner; does not mean unwantedi. People do stupid things in public all the time; it’s not private anymore (you are naked on a beach andsomeone takes a picture – not private)ii. Public figures lose a lot of their right to privacy1. Brad Pitt: with girlfriend Gwenyth Paltrow and were naked on a beach; pictures were taken and sold to Playgirliii. What you do in public is not privateiv. Applies to public figures, as well as normal peoplev. Businesses: illegal wiretapping, eavesdropping on your emails, public disclosure about private facts; placing you in false lighth. Defamation: not protected speech; you intentionally make a statement about another person that’s false that injures their reputation or good namei. You have to make the statementii. It has to be falseiii. It has to injure their reputation or good name1. Publication: a third party has to hear ita. Has to happen for defamation to occur2. If something is true, it is not defamationa. Depending on the case, it could be invasion of privacyiv. Public figures: (4th element) you have to prove it was maliciously made1. You have to prove they made an intentionally false statement2. National Enquirer: an old woman got pregnant by the postman, and she was the oldest woman to get pregnanta. Lady wasn’t dead; writer had to get on the stand and admit that they made up the storyb. She wasn’t a public figure, so the National Enquirer was in the wrongv. Written: libel1. Anything oral can be written (if recorded)2. Easier to provei. Per se: the harm is understoodi. If Swim