Defenses

Office Hours

Tuesdays, 1:00pm to 2:00pm

Thursdays, 11:00am to 12:00pm

Today, 11:00am to 12:00pm, Casassa C302


Eggshell Plaintiff

If the defendant commits a tort, the defendant takes the victim as he finds him. The defendant must pay damages for the plaintiff’s actual injuries, even if those injuries were unforeseeable or uncommon.

WARNING:

The plaintiff CANNOT use the eggshell plaintiff rule to prove that the defendant committed a tort. It is a rule about how much harm the defendant is liable for, given that the defendant has committed a tort.


Abridged Definition from Restatement (Second) of Torts

An actor is subject to liability to another for battery if he acts intending to cause a harmful or offensive contact with the person of the other or a third person, or an imminent apprehension of such a contact, and a harmful or offensive contact with the person of the other directly or indirectly results.


Structure

Intentional Torts:

— Battery

— Assault

— False imprisonment

— Intentional infliction of emotional distress

Defenses:

— Consent

— Self-defense

— Defense of property

— Necessity


Hustler Magazine v. Falwell


Snyder v. Phelps


Defenses

Consent

Self Defense

Defense of Property

Necessity


Consent


Hart v. Geysel


Self Help Defenses

Self Defense

Defense of Property

Necessity


Courvoisier v. Raymond


Katko v. Briney


Necessity


Ploof v. Putnam


Vincent v. Lake Erie Transport Co.