3 Torts Free Online FlashCards

What is a tort?

A tort is a civil wrong for which the law may provide a remedy, commonly to compensate injured people and sometimes to deter or punish misconduct.

What elements characterize battery?

Battery is intentional harmful or offensive contact without consent. The contact can be indirect, such as causing an object to strike someone.

What makes conduct an assault?

Assault occurs when an intentional act causes another person reasonably to anticipate imminent harmful or offensive contact. The person must be aware of the threatened contact; physical injury is not required.

What is false imprisonment?

False imprisonment is intentional confinement within a bounded area without consent or lawful authority, when the person is aware of the confinement or is harmed by it.

What constitutes trespass to land?

Trespass to land is intentional physical entry onto another’s land, or causing a thing to enter it, without permission or legal privilege. The defendant need not know who owns the land.

What five elements typically make up negligence?

A typical negligence claim requires duty, breach, factual cause, proximate cause, and legally recognized damages.

How do factual cause and proximate cause differ?

Factual cause asks whether the injury would have occurred but for the conduct. Proximate cause asks whether the injury is sufficiently connected to the breach and within the scope of its risks.

When may negligence per se apply?

Negligence per se may apply when a statute supplies the standard of care, the statute protects the plaintiff’s class, and the harm is the type the statute addresses.

What does strict liability remove—and what does it not remove?

Strict liability can apply without proof of carelessness, but the plaintiff must still prove relevant elements such as causation and legally recognized harm. Liability is limited to risks that make the rule applicable.

What are the three common categories of product defects?

A manufacturing defect departs from the intended design; a design defect makes the design unreasonably unsafe under the applicable test; a warning defect inadequately addresses product risks.

What generally must be shown for fraudulent misrepresentation?

Fraudulent misrepresentation typically involves a knowingly or recklessly false material statement intended to induce reliance, reasonable reliance by the plaintiff, and resulting loss.

What is the core of a defamation claim?

Defamation involves a false factual statement communicated to someone else that harms reputation. Constitutional protections and state rules may require additional proof in some cases.