BLaw chp 6

a civil wrong not arising from a breach of contract. A breach of a legal duty that prosimately cuases harm or injury to another

• Wrongs
• Compensation

• Compensate those who have suffered a loss or injury due to another person's wrongful act
• Provide remedies for the invasion of various protected interests

• Compensatory Damages
• Punitive Damages

• intended to compensate or reminburse a plaintiff for actual losses
• broken down into special and general damages
• special: compensate for quantifiable monetary losses, such as medical expenses
• general: compensate for nonmonetary aspects, such as pain and suffering

• these punish the wrondoer and deter others from similar wrongdoing
• available mainly in intentional tort actions and only rarely in negligence lawsuits
• gross negligence: intentional failure to perform a manifest duty in reckless disregard of the consequences

• encourages trivial and unfounded lawsuits, which clog the courts and is unnecessarily costly
• damages awards are often excessive (violates due process clause)

• requires intent
• includes: assault & battery, false imprisonment, infliction of emotional distress, defamation, etc.

the one committing the tort

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

• unexcused and harmful or offensive physical contact intentionally performed;
• physically injury need not occur, can be something attached to the person (hat, held item, etc)
• *reasonable person standard*

• intentional confinement or restraint of another person's activities without justification;
• essential that the person being restrained not agree to the restraint

intentional act that amounts to extreme and outrageous conduct resulting in sever emotional distress to another

capable of serving as the ground for a lawsuit

• involves wronfully hurting a person's good reputation
• also arises when false statment of fact is made about a person's product, business or legal ownership rights to property

defamation in writing or other form (such as in videotape) having the quality of permanence 

defamation in oral form

• basis of the tort of defamation;
• publication of a statement(s) that hold an individual up to contempt, ridicule or hatred

plaintiff must prove special damages to establish the defendant's liability, in other words, must show that the slanderous statement caused him/her to suffer actual economic or monetary losses

• a person will not be liable for defamatory statements because she/he enjoys a privilege, or immunity.
• two types: absolute & qualified

a statement must be made with either knowledge of its falsity or a reckless disregard of the truth

• appropriation of identity
• intrusion into an individuals affairs or seclusion
• false light
• public disclosure of private facts

• using a person's name, picture or other likeness for commercial purposes without permission
• aka right of publicity

• invading someone's home or searching someone's personal computer without authorization
• extends to eavesdropping by wiretap, unauthorized scanning of a bank account, compulsory blood testing, etc

• aka fraud
• involves intentional deceit for personal gain

apply to any person using a legal process against another in an improper manner or to accomplish a purpose for which the process was not designed

apply only to wrongful interferences with the business rights of others

• valid, enforceable contract must exist between two parties
• third party must konw that this contract exists
• third party must intentionally induce a party to the contract to breach the contract

must prove that the defendant used predatory methods to intentionally harm an established business relationship or prospective economic advantage

show that the interference was justified, or permissible; bona finde competitive behavior is a permissible interference even if it results in the breaking of a contract

land and things permanently attached to the land

consists of all other items, which are basically movable

occurs any time a person, without permission, enters onto, above or below the surface of land that is owned by another; causes anything to enter onto the land, or remains on the land or permits anything to remain on it

• whenever any individual wrongfully takes or harms the personal property of another or otherwise interferes with the lawful owner's possession and enjoyment of personal property
• aka trespass to chattels or trespass to personalty

whenever a person wrongfully possesses or uses the personal property of another without permission 

• occurs when economically injurious falsehoods are made about another's product or property rather than about another's reputation
• general term for slander of quality or slander of title

publication of false information about another's product, alleging that it is not what its seller claims

when a publication falsely denies or casts doubt on another's legal ownership of property, resulting in financial loss to the property's owner

torts committed via the internet