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Negligence, assault and battery

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1. Identify the elements of the following causes of action in Tort.

Law: Negligence, assault and battery

2. Create a fact situation to illustrate the tort of negligence.

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Solution Summary

This solution identifies the causes of action in Tort Law: Negligence, assault and battery and, by exmaple, creates a fact situation to illustrate the tort of negligence. References are provided.

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1. IDENTIFY THE ELEMENTS OF THE FOLLOWING CAUSES OF ACTION IN TORT LAW: NEGLIGENCE, ASSAULT, AND BATTERY.
a. The Elements of a Negligence Action
A typical formula for evaluating negligence requires that a plaintiff prove the following four factors by a "preponderance of the evidence":
1. The defendant owed a duty to the plaintiff (or a duty to the general public, including the plaintiff);
2. The defendant violated that duty;
3. As a result of the defendant's violation of that duty, the plaintiff suffered injury; and
4. The injury was a reasonably foreseeable consequence of the defendant's action or inaction.
(Source: http://www.expertlaw.com/library/personal_injury/negligence.html#2)
See application example in the #2 below.

b. The Elements of an Assault Action
There are four elements to assault, each of which must be proved in order to win a judgment for assault:
· An act by the defendant
· Intent
· Apprehension
· Causation
The first element, an act by the defendant, refers to the willful physical movements by the defendant; in this case, the defendant was using his arms and hands to steer his car, and to sound his horn, and he was using his legs and feet to operate his pedals. Showing the defendant's willful physical movements of operating the vehicle would be required to prove the first element of assault.
To prove the second element, intent, you would need to show that the defendant's act was done with the intent to either (1) inflict a harmful or offensive touching of the plaintiff, or (2) put the plaintiff in apprehension of an imminent harmful or offensive touching. The defendant's intent is a subjective standard, rather than the objective "reasonable person" standard found in a lawsuit for negligence; you must show that the defendant acted with the desire to cause the harmful or offensive touching or believed that the harmful or offensive touching was certain to occur as a result of his act. It is this desire or belief of the defendant that makes intent a subjective standard.
The third element in a lawsuit for assault is apprehension; this means that the plaintiff was aware of the threat of imminent harmful or offensive touching at the time of the threat. However, note that the harm threatened must be to the person, rather than to property.
The final element in a lawsuit for assault is causation; you would need to show that the apprehension was caused by the defendant's act.
If the plaintiff can prove those four elements, the plaintiff ...

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