23 Intentional Torts
OpenStax
Intentional Torts
Intentional torts are committed by an offender who understands that he or she is committing a tort. Intent does not always equate to directly causing an end result. In some cases, the intent may be something else, such as the possession of knowledge that some harm may occur. The harm may result from intentional action, or due to some circumstance that the offender feels will be excusable (Kionka, 2013).
Some circumstances that could allow the defendant to argue that the action is excusable would include: permission by the injured party, or defense of property, self, or another person (Kionka, 2013). If the injured party agrees to allow the defendant to juggle knives and one slips and causes harm, the action might be excusable to some extent. If a defendant caused harm to the plaintiff’s car while trying to avoid being hit by the car, it would likely be excusable.
Different types of intentional torts are based on different circumstances and face different remedies, or means of recovering losses (Baime, 2018):
- Assault is an intentional tort that occurs when an individual has a reasonable apprehension of an intentional act that is designed to cause harm to himself or herself, or to another person.
- Malicious prosecution occurs when an individual files groundless complaints to initiate a criminal matter against another.
- Defamation occurs when an individual intentionally creates and promotes malicious falsehoods about another. Defamation can occur in two ways: slander and libel. Slander is, in effect, when falsehoods are spoken. Libel occurs when falsehoods are expressed in written or other recorded forums.
- Invasion of privacy involves unwanted production of negative public information. Different standards apply to invasion of privacy based on the status of the individual as a public figure.
Intentional Torts in Business
| Category | Type | Definition | Compensatory Damages Usually Awarded |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against persons | Assault | Threatening immediate harm or offensive contact | For medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering |
| Battery | Making unauthorized harmful or offensive contact with another person | ||
| Defamation | Communicating to a third party information that’s harmful to someone’s reputation | For measurable financial losses | |
| Invasion of privacy | Violating someone’s right to live his or her life without unwarranted or undesired publicity | For resulting economic loss or pain and suffering | |
| False imprisonment | Restraining or confining a person against his or her will and without justification | For treatment of physical injuries and lost time at work | |
| Intentional infliction of emotional distress | Engaging in outrageous conduct that’s likely to cause extreme emotional distress to the party toward whom the conduct is directed | For treatment of physical illness resulting from emotional stress | |
| Against property | Trespass to realty | Entering another person’s land or placing an object on another person’s land without the owner’s permission | For harm caused to property and losses suffered by rightful owner |
| Trespass to personalty | Interfering with another person’s use or enjoyment of personal property | For harm to property | |
| Conversion | Permanently removing property from the rightful owner’s possession | For full value of converted item | |
| Against economic interests | Disparagement | Making a false statement of material fact about a business product | For actual economic loss |
| Intentional interference with a contract | Enticing someone to breach a valid contract | For loss of expected benefits from contract | |
| Unfair competition | Going into business for the sole purpose of taking business from another concern | For lost profits | |
| Misappropriation | Using an unsolicited idea for a product or marketing method without compensating the originator of the idea | For economic losses |
Source: Adapted from Nancy A. Kubasek, Bartley A. Brennan, and M. Neil Browne, The Legal Environment of Business: A Critical Thinking Approach, 5th ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, 2009), 348.
An example of invasion of privacy is the following situation:
In 1986 model Russell Christoff posed for a photo shoot for Nestlé Canada for Taster’s Choice coffee. He was paid $250 and promised $2,000 if Nestlé used his photo on its product. In 2002 he discovered Nestlé had indeed used his photo on Taster’s Choice coffee without his permission (Figure 7.3 “Russell Christoff”), and he sued Nestlé for misappropriation. A California jury awarded him over $15 million in damages.[1] Misappropriation/invasion of privacy can be a very broad tort because it covers more than just a photograph or drawing being used without permission—it covers any likeness or identifying characteristic. For example, in 1988 Ford Motor Company approached Bette Midler to sing a song for a commercial, which she declined to do. The company then hired someone who sounded just like Midler to sing one of Midler’s songs, and asked her to sound as much like Midler as possible. The company had legally obtained the copyright permission to use the song, but Midler sued anyway, claiming that the company had committed misappropriation by using someone who sounded like her to perform the commercial. An appellate court held that while Ford did not commit copyright infringement, it had misappropriated Midler’s right to publicity by hiring the sound-alike,Midler v. Ford Motor Company, 849 F.3d 460 (9th Cir. 1988). and a jury awarded her over $400,000 in damages.
- Jaime Holguin, “$15.6M Award for Coffee ‘Mug,’” CBSnews.com, February 2, 2005, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/01/national/main670754.shtml (accessed September 27, 2010). ↵
