BY:- KARAN CHENGAPP, IND

A funny word. In French (where it originated) a tort

means a "wrong".

But in the U.S. most people probably think it means a

chocolate cake with icing, when they think of it at all! A
torte! But, alas, no.
A TORT IS A CIVIL
WRONG.
Tort law is part of civil (noncriminal) law.

It concerns lawsuits (not prosecutions).

These suits arise from injuries (wrongs)

committed by one person, a group, or
organization(s) against another or others.

Torts can be intentional or not.

They can be purposeful or negligent.

TYPES OF TORTS
Torts are divided into basic types:

1. Negligence
2. Intentional harm to a person
3. Intentional harm to tangible property
4. Strict liability
5. Nuisance
6. Harm to economic interests
7. Harm to intangible property interests
 1. NEGLIGENCE
 Negligence includes car accidents, slip-and-
fall cases, malpractice, personal injury, and
some product liability cases.

 Every tort has three elements:

A. The D owes a legal duty to the plaintiff (P).

B. The D breaches that duty.
C. The breach causes injury either as a direct
result of the negligent act or somewhat more
indirectly, but foreseeable;

Legally, we say there is a proximate cause

between the breach and the injury.
Terms IMP in NEGLIGENCE tort
 Reasonable conduct:

An important concept in tort law but, as

you can imagine, hard for P and D to
agree upon. Lawyers use the "reasonable
person standard". What would a
reasonable person do? *(ex- strangers)
 Invitee:

You have invited some one to your

property. Its your duty to ensure his
safety against latent defects in your
property.#(ex-“For Employees only).
Contd
…
 Licensee:

A person who comes onto your property

with permission, but without invitation.
Such a person has a right to be there but
is there for his benefit, not yours: for
example, a door-to-door salesman.

Trespasser:

Someone on your property without

invitation or license; someone who commits
a trespass on your property. Generally, you
owe him less care than an invitee or
licensee
2. INTENTIONAL HARM TO A
PERSON
 Assault:

 The D intends to hurt or scare the P

and the P believes he is in danger of
being hurt at that moment.

 If I point a gun at you and it scares

you, that's an assault, even if it turns
out to be a toy gun.

 If I say, "Don't you ever do that again

or I'll kill you," that is not an assault:
words alone don't do it. Here there is
no immediate threat of harm.

 In an assault the D does not need to

touch the P.
Contd…
 False imprisonment:

The D intends to keep the P from

freely moving about in an area that
the P can't leave. If I'm driving my car
with you in it, and you want to get
out, and I don't stop, that may be
false imprisonment. An intentional
tort.
•Intentional mental distress:

The D intentionally or recklessly causes

P severe emotional distress.

If I know you are petrified of snakes and

I leave one in your desk, that may be
grounds for a suit based on intentional
infliction of emotional/mental distress.
3. INTENTIONAL HARM TO TANGIBLE
PROPERTY
 Trespass to land:

An intrusion by D onto P's land.

No harm or intent needs to be
proven. For example, if your
neighbor builds a fence but it
happens to sit on part of your
property that’s a trespass, even if
he did it unintentionally.
 Conversion:

An act that interferes with the

owner's use of his property.
Basically, it's the tort version of
the crime of theft or destruction
of property, which is serious
enough so that the D should pay
4. STRICT LIABILITY
 If injured, the P does not need to
prove any negligence on the D's
part.

 With products he must prove

that the product was not safe for
its intended use and that he was
injured by it.

 The duty to warn is often

applied to potentially dangerous
products.

 ex- cigarettes, Owning certain

types of animals, hazards and
side effects of medications
5. NUISANCE
 The D unreasonably interferes
with the P's enjoyment of his
property.

 This is where the neighbor's

noisy parties come in! Or
unsavory odors. Or flights
overhead.

 Courts balance the type of area

you are in, the nature of the
harm, and the social value/utility
of that activity.

 Airplanes must fly but parties

can be quieter.
6. HARM TO ECONOMIC INTERESTS

 Deceit:

Occurs if the D knowingly lies

about an important fact that he
intends to induce the P to rely on
and which, in fact, the P does rely
on.

For example, right before trying

to sell his house, the D patches
over evidence of major water
damage so that potential buyers
can't see the damage.
Contd
…
 Interference with contractual
relationships:

The D intentionally interferes with

an ongoing business relationship
between the P and someone else
(the third party).

 Intentional interference with

advantageous relations:

The D interferes through tortious

means (duress, fraud) where he had
no business being in the first place.
For example, the D fraudulently
induces a change in a testator's will
in which the P was to be a
beneficiary.
7.HARM TO INTANGIBLE PROPERTY
INTERESTS
 Defamation:

Occurs if D communicates
information about P to others
which is not truthful and hurts the
P’s reputation.

•Malicious prosecution:

If the P starts a criminal

prosecution against the D without
probable cause and with malice
and the D wins, he may turn
around and sue the P for malicious
prosecution
Contd…
 Invasion of privacy:

 A wrongful intrusion into a

person's private life, whether by
others or by the government.

 For example, such an invasion

may occur if unreasonable
publicity is given to someone's
private life.

 "It's not anyone else's business!"

If someone takes your name or
uses your picture without
permission, especially for
commercial use, that may be such
an invasion.