Intentional Torts
• Intentional Torts - When people
deliberately cause harm or loss to another
person
• Intent – the desire to commit an act for a
specific purpose
Intentional Torts …
•
Examples include:
assault
battery
sexual assault
medical battery
false imprisonment
malicious prosecution
mental suffering
invasion of privacy
defamation of character
PERSON
trespass to land
trespass to chattels
nuisance
PROPERTY
• Assault – when a victim feels they may be in
danger of bodily harm
• Battery – intentional, unauthorized physical
contact that the victim considers harmful or
offensive
• Sexual assault – victims of sexual assault,
spousal abuse, incest want compensation in
civil courts
• Medical Battery –performing the wrong
medical procedure or performing a procedure
without the patient’s informed consent
(exception being emergency situations)
• False Imprisonment – when a person is
confined or restrained without consent or legal
authority
• Mental Suffering – deliberately shocking
someone, causing the victim to suffer mental
or physical harm
• Invasion of privacy – some provinces have laws
recognizing invasion of privacy (health,
financial records, e-mail)
Malicious Prosecution
• Wrongful prosecution of a person without reasonable
and probable cause.
• 4 requirements:
1. lack of reasonable, probable grounds for charge
2. motivated by malice- the desire to harm another
(hardest to prove)
3. proceedings against defendant ended in the
defendant’s favour
4. defendant suffers damages a s a result of the
wrongful proceedings
Defamation of Character
• Injury to a person’s reputation or good
name by slander or libel. Cases
sometimes conflict with the Charter of
Rights and Freedoms.
• Slander (oral statement or gesture),
and libel (permanent written or
recorded statements)
• The best defense against defamation is truth -proving
the comments/accusations are true.
• Other defenses include:
• absolute privilege -protection from liability from
statements made in Parliament, legislatures, court
• qualified privilege – protection from liability for
statements made in certain situations as long as they
are made without malice eg. teachers and employers
• fair comment - a defence that the comments were
honest and made without malice eg. critics who
review sports, movies, etc.
• PROPERTY
• Trespass to Land – entering/crossing
another person’s land without consent
or legal authority (or overstaying one’s
welcome after one has been asked to
leave or putting an object on someone’s
property and not removing it - including
trees & branches).
Trespass to Chattels
• If people intentionally interfere with
your chattels - movable personal
property such as clothes, jewellery,
cars, furniture, art
• Conversion –unauthorized and
substantial interference with another’s
property which deprives the owner of
its use ( theft in criminal law)
Nuisance
• An unreasonable interference with the
right of others to enjoy their property
• Divided into two categories: private
(involving nuisance caused to specific
individuals) & public (involving nuisance
caused to the general public)
Defences to Nuisance
• Legal authority- eg. Laws re pollution,
emergency vehicle sirens
• Prescription- right of one person to use
another’s property after at least 20
years of continuous use in the same
manner
Defenses to Intentional Interference
• Consent – when the defendant feels they
were given permission
• Self-Defense – used commonly, but the force
used cannot excessive. The defendant must
convince the court that they genuinely feared
becoming injured (can even be used if
defendant threw the first blow)
• Defense of a Third Party – used when the
defendant claims to have been helping
another individual (I.e.: a child)
• Defense of Property – used when defendant
claims to have been protecting their property
(before reasonable force can be used, the
owner must first ask trespasser to leave)
• Legal Authority – used by police officers,
security guards, etc. Examples include cases
involving false imprisonment and trespassing
• Necessity – used when there is a reasonable
excuse explaining the situation (however,
defendant may still be liable damages caused
to property)