A tort is a wrongful act that causes harm or injury to another person Running a stop light and crashing into another driver is an example of a tort. An intentional tort is a tort that results from an intentional act. An intentional tort almost always justifies monetary damages. Punching someone in the nose, for example, is an intentional tort. Many, but not all, intentional torts are also crimes.
Common Intentional Torts
Following are some common examples of intentional torts.
- Assault: Assault occurs when you put someone in immediate apprehension of significant physical harm Pointing a gun at someone’s knee is an example. It doesn’t make any different if the gun isn’t loaded as long as the plaintiff doesn’t know that. On the other hand, pointing a loaded gun at the back of someone’s head isn’t assault if they don’t know about it.
- Battery: Point a gun at someone’s knee and it’s assault (if they know about it). Fire the gun and it is battery, as long as it doesn’t kill the plaintiff. Touching someone offensively (groping them sexually without their consent, for example) is sexual battery. Other forms of harmful or offensive touching can also be battery.
- False imprisonment: Unjustly incarcerating someone in a prison cell is false imprisonment. Locking an adult in their bedroom, or in their closet, is also false imprisonment. The defendant does not have to be an officer of the law.
- Trespass to land: Trespass to land occurs when you intentionally enter or remain on someone’s land without their permission. Refusing to leave when asked is also trespass to land. Throwing objects onto someone’s land, and so is sending someone onto private property without the owner’s consent. You don’t have to know that you are treading on private property.
- Trespass to chattels: Trespass to chattels involves using or damaging personal property. Damaging someone else’s car on a joy ride (and returning the car) is trespass to chattels.. Another example is deleting files from someone ‘s smartphone.
- Conversion: Conversion is serious interference with someone’s property rights. That might mean stealing someone’s car, destroying their computer, or refusing to return an intel you have borrowed.
- Intentional infliction of emotional distress: Intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED)occurs when you recklessly engage in extreme conduct that causes severe emotional distress. Imagine a cruel prankster telephoning someone, impersonating the county coroner, falsely telling them that their son died in a car accident, and asking them to come to the morgue to identify the body. Another example would be a vengeful doctor falsely telling a patient that they have a terminal disease when the doctor knows the patient is healthy.
- Wrongful death: If you commit battery against someone, and if the victim dies from their injuries, you have committed the intentional tort of wrongful death. Strictly speaking, this is not an independent tort. Instead, it is a cause of action that arises when someone dies due to the wrongful conduct of another (like battery).
In sum, intentional torts encompass deliberate actions by a person that result in harm or the violation of another’s rights.
Damages
“Damages” are funds that a court distributes to the victim of a tort, typically to compensate the plaintiff for their losses.
- Economic damages: Economic damages are damages that you can count. They typically result from some sort of personal injury. If they result from mere property damage, we call them property damage. Common economic damage include medical expenses, lost wages, and out-of-pocket expenses such as child care while you are recovering from your injuries.
- Non-economic damages: Non-economic damages are intangible damages. In the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress, for example, it is typical for all damages to be non-economic damages. Non-economic damages include emotional distress, pain and suffering disfigurement, loss of consortium, and many other forms of compensation for intangible losses.
- Property damages: Many types of intentional torts involve property damage. Imagine, for example, totaling someone’s car during a “joy ride.” The law expects the defendant (also known as the “tortfeasor”) to pay for all property damage they cause.
- Punitive damages: Punitive damages are an extra sum of damages that a court might award the plaintiff if the defendant’s behavior is outrageous enough. Think of the prankster posing as the county coroner for example. The purpose of punitive damages is not to compensate the defendant, but to punish the defendant, and to deter other people from following the defendant’s example.
Your lawyer will be able to discuss your particular case with you and help you evaluate what damages you might be entitled to.
Defenses
Following are some common defenses against intentional torts:
- Expiration of the statute of limitations deadline: In most cases, you have only two years from the date of the tort to file a lawsuit. If you exceed this deadline, your claim’s value typically drops to zero.
- Self-defense and defense of others: You can assault another person, or even kill them, if they are the aggressor and your actions were necessary to safeguard the life or health of yourself or another. There is such a thing however, as excessive force.
- Consent: If you engage in a boxing match for example, you have consented for your opponent to try to knock you out. There is no such thing, however, as a consent defense for homicide.
- Privilege: Police officers and certain other public officials have the right to perform certain acts that ordinary citizens lack the right to perform (law enforcement privilege, shopkeeper’s privilege, etc.).
In short, various defenses against intentional torts can limit or negate liability, depending on the circumstances and legal standards applied.
Contact a Ft. Worth Personal Injury Lawyer
If you believe that someone has committed an intentional tort against you, you should seek the assistance of a Texas personal injury lawyer. Under the contingency fee system used by most personal injury lawyers, you pay nothing in legal fees unless you win your case. Contact us at Anderson Injury Lawyers for a free, no-obligation case review, or call us today at (817) 294-1900.