Bakersfield College
BSAD B18
Business Law
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Torts
Purpose
of Tort Law is to
provide remedies for the
invasion of various
protected interests.
Personal Physical Safety
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Torts =
Remedies for
Damage or
Injury
•Compensatory Damages
•Punitive Damages
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Medical
Compensatory
Damages
Lost
Wages
•Reimburse actual loss
•To make Plaintiff whole
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Punish
Punitive
Damages
Deter
others
•Punish Wrongdoer when act
conduct was particularly egregious
or reprehensible.
•Deter others from similar
wrongdoing.
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Intentional Torts

Requires Intent.

Tortfeasor (Person who committed the
act) intended to commit the act, and
consequences

Which interfered with business or
personal interest. (i.e. suffered a loss.)
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Assault
An intentional act that creates in
another person, a reasonable
apprehension of immediate harmful or
offensive contact.
 (A threatened Battery)
 Apprehension is not fear!

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Battery
 Unexcused
harmful or offensive
contact.
 Completion of the act (contact) that
caused the apprehension.
 Contact can involve any part of the
body, or anything attached to it.
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False Imprisonment
Intentional confinement or restraint of
another person’s activities without
justification.
 Interference of movement.
 Can be accomplished through use of
physical barriers, physical restraint,
threats or physical force.
 “Moral pressure” does not constitute
restraint.

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Intentional Infliction of
Emotional Distress
An Intentional act that amounts to
extreme and outrages conduct that
results in severe emotional
distress to another.
The act exceeds the bounds of
decency accepted by society.
“Truly outrageous behavior.”
Indignity or annoyance not enough.
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Defamation
An attack on reputation.
 Wrongfully hurting a person’s good
reputation.
 The law imposes a general duty to
refrain from making false, defamatory
statements of fact about others.
 Can be by speech or writing

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Defamation
Only false statements that represent
something as a fact constitute
defamation.
 Expressions of a personal opinion are
protected by First Amendment.

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Defamation
Publication Requirement
 The basis of the tort is the publication of
a statement that holds a person in
contempt, ridicule or hatred.
 Communication to another (either
intentionally or accidentally).
 A person that repeats or republishes a
defamatory statement can be liable.

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Libel
Making a false defamatory statement in
writing or electronic recording.
 Law presumes general damages –
nonspecific harms such as disgrace or
dishonor in the eyes of the community,
humiliation, injured reputation,
emotional distress.

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Slander
Oral communication
 Plaintiff must prove special damages –
caused him/her to suffer actual
economic or monetary losses.
 Oral statements have a temporary
quality.
 Exception: Slander Per Se

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Invasion of Privacy
Persons have a right to solitude and
freedom from prying public eyes.
 Four acts qualify as Invasion of Privacy:

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Invasion of Privacy
Appropriation of Identity
 Using a person’s name, picture, or other
likeness for commercial purposes
without permission.

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Invasion of Privacy
Intrusion into an individual’s affairs or
seclusion
 Invading someone’s home, searching
their computer.
 Eavesdropping
 Scanning of bank records
 Searching Medical Records

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Invasion of Privacy
False Light
 Publication of information – ideas or
actions of someone that did not occur.
 “Taken out of context”

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Invasion of Privacy
Public Disclosure of Private Facts
 A person publicly discloses private facts
about someone that an ordinary person
would find objectionable or
embarrassing.
 When it is not a public concern.

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Appropriation
The use of another’s name, likeness, or
other identifying characteristic, without
permission and for the benefit of the
user.
 People have the right to exclusive use
of their identity.
 Does not require the use of the name or
actual likeness.

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Fraudulent Misrepresentation
A misrepresentation made to another to
believe in a condition that is different
from the condition that actually exists.
 False or incorrect statement.
 Intentional deceit for personal gain. (Not
accidentally made.)
 Reckless disregard for the truth.

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Abusive or Frivolous Litigation




Malicious prosecution
Law suit brought out of malice and without
probable cause (legitimate legal reason) and
looses the law suit (or is dismissed by the
court).
Abuse of Process
Using a legal process against another in an
improper manner or to accomplish a purpose
for which the process was not designed.
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Wrongful Interference with a
Contractual Relationship
1) Valid, Enforceable Contract must
exist between two parties
 2) A Third party knows of the contract
 3) Third party intentionally induces a
party to the contract to breach the
contract.

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Wrongful Interference with a
Business Relationship
Businessperson unreasonably
interfering with another’s business in
their attempt to gain a greater share of
the market.
 Attempting to attract customers is
legitimate.
 Whereas targeting specific customers of
a competitor can be predatory.

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Trespass to Land
Occurs anytime a person enters onto ,
above or below the surface of land of
another without permission.
 Actual harm to land is not required.

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Trespass to Personal Property

When someone without consent, takes
or harms personal property, or
otherwise interferes with the lawful
owner’s possession and enjoyment of
the personal property.
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Conversion
Theft of property.
 When a person possesses or uses the
personal property of another as if the
property belonged to him or her.
 Duration and extensiveness of use.
 “Failure to return” when required to do
so.

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Disparagement of Property
Economically injurious falsehoods are
made about another’s product or
property (rather than about a person’s
reputation).
 “Slander of quality or title.”

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