The Purposes of Torts:

o Whole: To make a person whole after an injury.

o Redress: To provide a means of redress for injuries, preventing people from seeking vigilante justice.
o Deterrence: To deter wrongful conduct and make people more careful & responsible.
INTENTIONAL TORTS Attack Plan
1. INTENTION: Did the defendant act with the Purpose to inflict/interfere or with the Knowledge that the tort was Substantially Certain to be produced?
a. BATTERY: The intentional infliction of a harmful or offensive bodily contact.
1) Intent?
a. Did the defendant act with the Purpose of inflicting a harmful or offensive bodily contact?
b. Did the defendant act with the Knowledge that a harmful or offensive bodily contact was substantially certain to be produced?
b. ASSAULT: The intentional infliction of a reasonable apprehension of an imminent harmful or offensive bodily contact.
1) Intent?
a. Did the defendant act with the Purpose of producing the reasonable apprehension of an imminent harmful or offensive bodily contact?
b. Did the defendant act with the Knowledge that the reasonable apprehension of an imminent harmful or offensive bodily contact was substantially certain to be produced?
c. TRESPASS TO LAND: The intentional, tangible interference with the exclusive possession of land.
1) Intent:
a. Did the defendant act with the Purpose of tangibly interfering with the party’s exclusive possession of their land?
b. Did the defendant act with the Knowledge that a tangible interference with the party’s exclusive possession of their land was substantially certain to be produced?
d. TRESPASS TO CHATTEL: Intentional interference with the exclusive possession of a chattel.
1) Intent:
a. Did the defendant act with the Purpose of interfering with the party’s exclusive possession of their chattel?
b. Did the defendant act with the Knowledge that an interference with the party’s exclusive possession of their chattel was substantially certain to be produced?
2. CAUSATION: Was there Causation? (The relationship between the Tort and the Harm)
a. Direct “But For” Cause?
b. Proximate Cause?
3. RESULT: Damage?
a. With [B, A, TTL] say: “What was the damage? The π’s damage was a broken leg” Period: Damage is proven.
b. With Trespass to Chattels you must have “actual harm” as defined by the Restatement:
1) What is the chattel?
2) What was the thing in which the possessor had a legally protected interest?
3) What was the damage to the chattel or the thing in which the possessor had a legally protected interest?
a. Impaired: The chattel was impaired in its condition, quality, or value. (Strongest & Easiest to conceptualize)
b. Dispossession: The ∆ dispossessed the possessor of the chattel, permanently.
c. Deprivation: Possessor was deprived of use of the chattel for a substantial time (“substantial time” is a question for jury).
d. Harm to Possessor: Bodily harm was thereby caused to the possessor by the trespass to chattel.
e. Harm to Legally Protected Person/Thing: Harm was caused to some person or thing in which the possessor had a legally protected interest.
I-DD-HH
4. MISTAKEN IDENTITY?
Mistake of Identity does not reduce liability for “Trespass to Land” or “Trespass to Chattels.”

5. TRANSFERRED INTENT? Was there Transferred Intent? (The jury determines “intent”)
“Since we probably can’t satisfy the Intent Prong of the Tort directly, we perhaps can fulfill it through Transferred Intent.”
a. With Transferred Intent, always explain why you can’t get Direct Tort before you explain Transferred Intent.
b. You can have intent transfer from one tort to another, such as transferring intent to commit battery, to an assault, which requires a tort to be completed.
c. You can have intent transfer from one target to another, such as in Talmage.
Notes:
- “Offensive Contact”: That which “offends a reasonable sense of personal dignity.” (Restatement 2nd §19).
- The imposition of a condition that the assailant has no right to impose through threat is an Assault.
- With trespass to Land invitation can be limited by Time and Scope/Purpose.
- The reasons for symbolic, nominal damages in Trespass to land Cases:
o Deterrence
o Righteous Indignation.
o Prescription
o Boundaries.
DRIP-B