Brown v Smith In the club bar Smith, by way of a practical joke, pulled a chair away just as Brown (the referee) was about to sit down, resulting in Brown falling over and striking his head on the floor. Therefore S. may be liable under the rule in Wilkinson v Downton, in addition to battery. He will not be liable for assault since this requires reasonable apprehension by B and that does not seem to be the case. Battery has been defined earlier when discussing his liability for J’s injury, so although the elements from the criteria will not be repeated here it will still apply to this scenario. Both the act and immediate infliction can be dealt with together; in this case, the act of pulling the chair away was a positive act and was immediately inflicted since B. was about to sit down instantly, as a result of which he fell and injured his head. As for intention, its scope is argued to be wide enough to cover practical jokes (Williams v Humphrey); for example, pushing someone into the pool, or even an amicably intended kiss, can be argued to amount to battery. In this case, even if S. were to argue that, …show more content…
However, it is hard to establish the liability for this tort due to the low number of case-law, and even then, they are mostly conflicting. In Wainwright v Home Office, the courts have held that the defendant needs to at least have acted recklessly “without caring as to whether they caused harm”; simply emotional distress is not enough. This case approved the definition in Wong v Parkside NHS Trust, with the degree of harm being such that the defendant “cannot … say that he did not “mean” to do it” (the intention being a combination of likelihood of harm and deliberate engagement). More recently, in Rhodes v OPO it was held that the defendant must have intended to cause physical harm or severe mental or emotional
ASSAULT, BATTERY AND FALSE IMPRISONMENT ARE EXAMPLES OF ____ TORTS THAT INVOLVE INTERFERENCE WITH A PERSON'S BODY.
2. The outcome of this issue is governed by Restatement (Second) of Torts § 46 (1965) Outrageous Conduct Causing Severe Emotional Distress. The elements of this cause of action are (1) the wrongdoer's conduct was intentional or reckless, that is, he intended his behavior when he knew or should have known that emotional distress would likely result; (2) the conduct was outrageous, that is, as to go beyond all bounds of decency, and to be regarded as odious and utterly intolerable in a civilized community; (3) the conduct caused the emotional distress; and (4) the emotional distress was severe.
In order to state a claim for IIED, a plaintiff must allege “intentional or reckless” conduct. Lasater, 194 Md. App. at 448. “To meet the ‘intentional or reckless’ criterion of the first element, the plaintiff must allege and prove that the defendant either desired to inflict severe emotional distress, knew that such distress was certain or substantially certain to result from his conduct, or acted recklessly in deliberate disregard of a high degree of probability that the emotional distress will follow. Floor, 78 Md. App. at 175 (emphases in original); see also Restatement (Second) of Torts § 8A (““Intentional” when used in this context means “the actor desires to cause consequences of his act, or that he believes that the consequences are substantially certain to result from it.”); Restatement (Second) of Torts § 500 (“If he does an act or intentionally fails to do an act which it is his duty to the other to do, knowing or having reason to know of facts which would lead a reasonable man to realize, not only that his conduct creates an unreasonable risk of physical harm to another, but also that such risk is substantially greater than that which is necessary to make his conduct
In Pennsylvania, a plaintiff claiming negligent infliction of emotional distress must establish one of these four situations: “1) that the defendant had a contractual or fiduciary duty; 2) plaintiff suffered a physical impact; 3) plaintiff was in a “zone of danger” and at risk of an immediate physical injury; or 4) plaintiff had a contemporaneous perception of tortious injury to a close relative.” Doe v. Phila. Cmty. Health Alternatives AIDS Task Force, 754 A.2d 25, 27 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2000). The first element does not apply to our client because there was no fiduciary or contractual duty relationship. Secondly, it could be argued that Nordlund suffered a physical impact because after Sumner’s accident, Nordlund could not eat, could not
The tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress has four elements: 1. the defendant must act intentionally or recklessly; 2. the defendant's conduct must be extreme and outrageous; and 3. the conduct must be the cause 4. of severe emotional distress. This is exactly what happened din this case. Steve Steel not only knocked the phone out of Prudence’s hand but also broke down the door and threatened Prudence with force and made her scared for her life. I do believe that negligence is a part of this case. A person who engages in activities that pose an unreasonable risk toward others and their property that actually results in harm, breaches their duty of reasonable care. Steve Steel did not show a proper care of duty with Prudence. I think that Steve Steel should also be responsible for all of the physical and mental damages since he did not show reasonable care. I think the tort liability in this case would be assault and battery. An assault involves three things that we see in this case. An assault occurs when an intentional, unlawful threat or "offer" to cause bodily injury to another by force; under circumstances which create in the other person a well-founded fear of imminent peril; where there exists the apparent present ability to carry out the act if not prevented. A battery is the willful or intentional touching of a person against that person’s will by another person, or by an object or
Under the section 18 the mens rea required for the offence in section 18 is an intention, intention must be proved an intent to cause grievous bodily harm or
The Civil Liabilities Act 2002 defines negligence as a failure on the part of the defendant which results in the harm of the plaintiff which could have been prevented by taking reasonable care. The breach of duty must be foreseeable, Sullivan v Moody. The risk must be not insignificant, and a reasonable person under similar circumstances would have taken precaution against the harm. In this case
B. Battery. A battery is a volitional act by the defendant which intentionally causes the
The risk need only be of some harm – not of serious harm, LARKIN (1943). An act aimed at property can still be such that a sober and reasonable person would realise the risk of some harm, GOODFELLOW (1986). There must be a risk of physical harm; mere fear is not enough, DAWSON (1985). The unlawful act must cause the death. The normal rules of causation apply; the act must be the physical and legal cause of death.
Appellant contends that the district court erred in convicting her under the malicious-punishment statue as well as in ruling that the statute does not require proof of bodily harm. Accordingly, if proof of bodily harm is not required for conviction of malicious punishment, the statute is unconstitutionally vague.
) First and foremost, in order for us to claim for the psychiatric damage that Adam has suffered under tort law, we will have to prove that Adam is either a primary victim or a secondary victim and Adam is suffered from a recognised psychiatric illness, anxiety and stress will generally not sufficient. Primary victims are those who directly involved in the event and secondary victims are those who are suffered a psychiatric illness when someone they know is killed or injured in an accident. A recognised psychiatric condition is defined as a genuine illness or injury, needed medical evidence and has a long term effect. Adam might claim as a primary victim in this case, because a primary victim has to suffer physical injury or at a risk of physical injury and psychiatric injuries. The liability of causing psychiatric injury depends on foreseeability of physical injury, for example, in the case of Page v Smith where Mr Page suffered no physical injury but a recurrence of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and became unable to work, Smith is liable as he could reasonably foresee that Mr Page suffer physical injury. Adam could claim as a primary victim if Adam is in the zone of physical danger, I firmly believe that Adam was in the zone of danger at that time because he was seated in the row of the seat immediately behind their children and the risk of physical injury of Adam was also foreseeable, therefore, Adam owed a duty of care in relation to psychiatric damage. Besides, the
When a person violates another person’s legal rights deliberately it is considered an intentional tort (Mayer et al. n.d.). Intentional torts are when someone is assaulting someone, trespassing on a person private property, false imprisonment of an individual or individuals,
Actus Reus: There is not a crime unless a person has committed an act. There is a distinction between an act versus a status. A person with a drug addiction cannot be convicted for being an addict. The law only punishes actions. Was the act voluntary or involuntary in nature? If a sibling involuntarily struck their brother while sleeping in the middle of the night would not constitute as an assault, as it was an involuntary motion. Ca
However this did not replace the approach of unintentional damage. In R v Briggs 1977 the defendant damaged a car and his appeal was successful as the judge did not explain the term 'reckless ' and the fact that the defendant 's state of mind has to be taken into account. The definition of when a man is reckless was changed in the case of R v Parker 1977 and was changed again in R v Stephenson1979 . The defendant had tried to sleep in a hollow he had made in the side of a haystack and he lit a fire whish set fore to the stack and damaged property worth £3500. However he suffered from a long history of schizophrenia and expert evidence at trial suggested that he may not have had the same ability to foresee or
a) The issue that we are dealing with in this question is the proof for criminal liability. Given that the element of unlawfulness has already been proven, we must determine if there was also the presence of intentional conduct, specifically voluntariness.