📚 INTRODUCTION
Tort Law: A body of law providing civil remedies, typically monetary damages,
to individuals harmed by wrongful conduct of others.
A. Functions of Tort Law
Corrective Justice – Compensates for harm and restores victim
Deterrence – Prevents future harms by punishing or discouraging
wrongful acts
Loss Distribution – Spreads cost of injuries (e.g., through insurance)
Compensation – Ensures injured parties are compensated
Redress of Social Grievances – Addresses misconduct by powerful
parties
B. Bases of Tort Liability
1. Intentional Torts
2. Negligence
3. Strict Liability
🟥 INTENTIONAL TORTS
✅ Intent
Defendant acts with the purpose of bringing about the consequence, or
knows with substantial certainty that it will occur.
Transferred Intent: Applies across the five classic intentional torts:
o Assault, Battery, False Imprisonment, Trespass to Land, Trespass to
Chattels
✅ Causation
Defendant's act must be a legal cause of the result.
🔹 Battery
Intentional harmful or offensive contact with plaintiff’s person.
Includes anything connected to the person.
Key Case: Fisher v. Carrousel Motor Hotel – snatching a plate = battery.
🔹 Assault
Act that creates in plaintiff a reasonable apprehension of imminent
harmful/offensive contact.
Must have apparent ability to carry out the threat.
Words alone insufficient.
Key Case: Parr v. U.S. – threatening gesture with ability = assault.
🔹 False Imprisonment
Intentional act or omission that confines P to a bounded area.
P must know of or be harmed by confinement.
Invalid legal authority, threats, or physical barriers suffice.
🔹 IIED (Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress)
Extreme and outrageous conduct, intentionally or recklessly causing
severe emotional distress.
“Mere insults” not enough unless plus factors apply (public, repeated,
fragile class, etc.).
🔹 Bystander IIED (California)
Present at the scene
Closely related to the victim
D knows both facts
Key Case: Dillon v. Legg – California permits NIED for bystanders under
flexible foreseeability test.
🔹 Trespass to Land
Physical invasion of land
Key Case: Herrin v. Sutherland – interference with airspace = trespass
🔹 Trespass to Chattels / Conversion
Minor vs. major interference with personal property
🔹 Defenses to Intentional Torts
Consent
Self-Defense & Defense of Others – reasonable force
Defense of Property – non-deadly force only
o Key Case: Katko v. Briney – spring gun in vacant home not allowed
🟨 NEGLIGENCE
✅ Elements:
1. Duty – Obligation to conform to a standard of care
2. Breach – Failure to conform to that duty
3. Causation
o Actual ("but-for" or substantial factor)
o Proximate (foreseeability)
4. Damages – Must be actual loss
🔹 Foreseeability of Plaintiff
Key Case: Palsgraf v. LIRR – Cardozo: duty owed only to those in the
foreseeable zone of danger
🔹 Special Relationships & Duties
Duty to rescue (if created peril or special relationship)
Key Case: Tarasoff v. Regents – duty to warn identifiable third parties
🔹 Breach: Standard of Care
Reasonable person standard
Learned Hand Formula: B < PL
Negligence Per Se – statutory violation
Res Ipsa Loquitur – speaks for itself
🔹 Causation
Actual Cause: But-for or substantial factor test
Proximate Cause: Foreseeable result
🔹 Damages
Compensatory (economic & non-economic)
Punitive (if malice/fraud/oppression)
Eggshell Plaintiff Rule: Take plaintiff as found
o Key Case: Vosburg v. Putney – minor contact, major harm = full
liability
🟦 STRICT LIABILITY
✅ Rule
Liability without fault for certain types of inherently hazardous conduct.
🔹 Abnormally Dangerous Activities
Serious risk even with due care
Not common usage
Key Case: Spano v. Perini Corp. – blasting = strict liability
🔹 Animals
Wild animals = strict liability
Domestic animals = liability if owner knows of dangerous propensities
🔹 Products Liability
Manufacturing Defect
Design Defect
Failure to Warn
Must prove product was defective when it left D’s control
Key Case: Greenman v. Yuba Power – strict liability for product defect
Key Case: Escola v. Coca-Cola (Traynor, concurring) – policy for strict
liability
🔹 Limit on Strict Liability
Key Case: Hammontree v. Jenner – D with epileptic seizure not strictly
liable; negligence applies to driving
🔹 Rylands v. Fletcher (UK origin)
Bringing non-natural substance onto land → liable if it escapes and
causes damage
🟧 VICARIOUS LIABILITY
Employers liable for torts committed by employees within scope of
employment
Independent contractors: not liable unless exception (nondelegable duty,
apparent agency, inherently dangerous)
🟩 DEFENSES (GENERAL)
Consent
Self-defense / Defense of Others
Defense of Property
Necessity
o Public vs. Private Necessity
Comparative Fault (California uses pure comparative fault)
Assumption of Risk (express or implied)
✅ STUDY TIPS
Always define the tort first in IRAC essays
Use facts to analyze each element
Use key case names sparingly but effectively
Use California distinctions where applicable
