B_LAW 210 – 1st Edition Lecture 5 Outline of Last Lecture 1. Business Ethics Terms2. Ethical Decision Examples Outline of Current Lecture I. Basis of Tort Law:a. Damages Available in Tort ActionsII. Intentional Torts Against Personsa. Types of Intentional TortsIII. Business TortsIV. Intentional Torts Against PropertyCurrent Lecture- Basis of Tort Law: Doing business today involves risks both legal and financial. DEFINITION.o Damages Available in Tort Actions: Compensatory: Reimburse plaintiff for actual losses.- Actual out of pocket expenses – car repairs. Special: Quantifiable losses, such as medical expenses, lost wages, and benefits.- Not necessarily in a receipt. General: Non-monetary, such as pain and suffering, reputation.- Jury comes up with amount of general amount given to plaintiff. Punitive: Punish the wrongdoer.- Not meant to compensate the plaintiff, but to punish the defendant.- Intentional Torts Against Persons: Tortfeasor (person committing the tort) must intend to commit an act, theconsequences of which interfere with the personal or business interests of another in a way not permitted by law.o Assault and Battery: Battery: An unexcused and harmful or offensive physical contact intentionally performed.These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.- EX: Getting punched at a bar. Assault: Any intentional and unexcused threat of immediate harmful or offensive contact, including words or acts that create in another person a reasonable apprehension of harmful contact.- EX: Unwanted grabbing/groping. Defenses to Assault and Battery:- Consent, Self-Defense (Reasonable force), Defense of Others (reasonable force), Defense of Property.o False Imprisonment: False Imprisonment: Intentional confinement or restraint of another person’s activities without justification.o Infliction of Emotional Distress: An intentional act that is:- Extreme and outrageous, that results in severe emotional distress in another.o “Westboro Baptist Church”- Most courts require some physical symptom or illness.o Defamation: Defamation: Wrongfully hurting a person’s good reputation. Law imposes duty to refrain from making false statements of fact about others.- Orally breaching this duty is slander; breaching it in print or media(or internet) is libel. Damages for Libel:- Damages are presumed. Damages for Slander:- Plaintiff must prove special damages to establish the defendant’s liability. Defenses to Defamation:- Truth is generally an absolute defense.o IF it’s true, it doesn’t count.- Privileged (or Immune) Speech.o Absolute: Judicial & Legislative proceedings.o Qualified: Employee Evaluations. Defamation – Public Figures:- Public figures exercise substantial governmental power or are otherwise in the public limelight.- To prevail, they must show “actual malice”; statement was made with either knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for the truth.o Invasion of Privacy:- Every person has a fundamental right to solitude freedom from public scrutiny. Use of Person’s name or likeness.- Constitutes the tort of appropriation.- Use of another’s name, likeness or other identifying characteristic for commercial purposes without the owner’s consent. Intrusion on Individual’s Affairs or Seclusion.- Invading someone’s home or searching someone’s personal computer without authorization is an invasion of privacy. Publication of Information that Places a Person in False Light.- Publication of information that places a person in a false light is another category of invasion of privacy. Public Disclosure of Private Facts.- This type of invasion of privacy occurs when a person publicly discloses private facts about an individual that an ordinary person would find objectionable or embarrassing.o Fraudulent Misrepresentation: Elements:- Misrepresentation of material facts/conditions, knowing falsity.- Intent to induce another to rely on the misrepresented.- Justifiable Reliance by the deceived party.- Damages suffered as a result of reliance.- Causal Connection between the misrepresentation and the injury.o Abusive or Frivolous Litigation: Generally, each of us has the right to sue when we have been legally injured. Torts related to abusive or frivolous litigation include:- Malicious prosecution.- Abuse of process.- Business Torts:o Wrongful Interference With a Contractual Relationship occurs when: Defendant knows about contract between A and B; Defendant intentionally induces a party to the contract to breach the other contract.- Intentional Torts Against Property:o Trespass to Land: Occurs when a person without permission: Physically enters onto, above or below the surface of another’s land. Causes anything to enter onto the land. Remains on land after being asked to leave: unwanted.o Trespass to Personal Property: Intentional interference with another’s use or enjoyment of personal property without consent or privilege.o Conversion: Wrongful possession or use of property without permission. EX: Stealing a neighbor’s lawnmower – they can’t use it. EX: Borrowing a neighbor’s lawnmower – don’t return it. EX: Borrowing a neighbor’s lawnmower – it breaks.- Cyber Torts:o Identifying the Author of Online Defamation: usually a threshold barrier to filing