LAW241: TORTS TABLE OF CONTENTS INTENTIONAL TORTS ................................................................................................................................. 2 Overview ....................................................................................................................................... 2 The Very Basics ............................................................................................................................. 2 Principles of Liability: Volition and Intent ....................................................................................... 3 Motive, Mistake and Accident ........................................................................................................ 3 TRESPASS TO LAND ..................................................................................................................................... 4 BATTERY ......................................................................................................................................................... 5 ASSAULT .......................................................................................................................................................... 6 FALSE IMPRISONMENT .............................................................................................................................. 7 INTENTIONAL INFLICTION OF NERVOUS SHOCK (IINS) ................................................................ 8 HARASSMENT ................................................................................................................................................ 9 PRIVACY ........................................................................................................................................................ 10 Intrusion Upon Private Seclusion .................................................................................................. 10 BC Privacy Act ............................................................................................................................ 10 DEFAMATION .............................................................................................................................................. 12 Defence of Justification ................................................................................................................. 13 Defence of Absolute Privilege ........................................................................................................ 14 Defence of Qualified Privilege ....................................................................................................... 15 Defence of Responsible Communication ......................................................................................... 16 Defence of Fair Comment ............................................................................................................. 17 DEFENCES ..................................................................................................................................................... 20 Defence of Consent ....................................................................................................................... 20 FUNCTIONS OF TORT LAW ..................................................................................................................... 21 Damages ..................................................................................................................................... 22 Corrective and Collective Justice ................................................................................................... 22 STRATEGIC LITIGATION AGAINST PUBLIC PARTICIPATION (SLAPPS) ................................. 23 CASE BRIEFS ................................................................................................................................................ 25 2 Inggrid Wibowo INTENTIONAL TORTS OVERVIEW TRESPASS TO BATTERY ASSAULT FALSE DEFAMATION LAND IMPRISONMENT “The direct and “The intentional “A defamatory “A direct and intentional bringing creation, in the “The intentional statement made in intentional physical about of a mind of another, of total restraint of a reference to the intrusion onto the physically harmful a reasonable person.” plaintiff that was land in the or socially offensive apprehension of published.” possession of physical contact immediate physical another.” with the person of contact.” another.” INTENTIONAL HARASSMENT INTRUSION UPON BC PRIVACY ACT INFLICTION OF (POTENTIAL) PRIVATE SECLUSION “It is a tort, actionable without NERVOUS “Outrageous (POTENTIAL) proof of damage, for a person, SHOCK (IINS) conduct by the “One who intentionally wilfully and without a claim of “Flagrant or defendant done intrudes upon the seclusion of right, to violate the privacy of outrageous conduct with the intention another, or his private affairs or another.” calculated to of causing the concerns, is subject to liability produce harm and plaintiff (or reckless to the other for invasion of his resulting in a visible disregard of privacy if the invasion would be and provable causing) severe or highly offensive to the illness.” extreme emotional reasonable person.” distress.” THE VERY BASICS The EVIDENTIARY STANDARD for torts is a balance of probabilities. ACTIONABILITY: o Direct interference with the person (actionable per se/without proof of loss): Trespass to Land, Battery, Assault, False Imprisonment, Invasion of Privacy (Privacy Act) o Indirect interference (not actionable per se/requires proof of loss): Intentional Infliction of Nervous Shock, Defamation, Harassment (as a potential tort), Intrusion upon Private Seclusion (as a potential tort) Inggrid Wibowo 3 PRINCIPLES OF LIABILITY: VOLITION AND INTENT A defendant can only be held liable if their conduct is both VOLUNTARY and INTENTIONAL. • VOLITION: Was the act directed by their conscious mind? (Extremely low threshold – rarely a problem) – SMITH v STONE • INTENT: Did the individual desire to bring about the consequences of the act? o Imputed intent: ascribes the requisite intention to D if P’s loss was certain to follow from D’s act o Transferred intent: if D intended to commit one intentional tort and then unintentionally commits another, intent is transferred to the second tort MOTIVE, MISTAKE AND ACCIDENT These factors can help in assessing damages, but are not elements of establishing a tort. • MOTIVE: Why did the defendant act? o Duress: compulsion by 3rd party to commit tort; not defence but may negate consent of wronged party (e.g. GILBERT v STONE – trespass/theft under threat of 12 armed men – still considered voluntary and intentional act, contrast with SMITH v STONE) o Provocation: conduct “must have been such as to cause the defendant to lose his power of self-control and must have occurred at the time of or shortly before the assault”; “sudden and uncontrolled passion” (MISKA v SIVEC) – high standard. • MISTAKE: Defendant intends consequences of acts but they have a different factual OR legal significance than what was contemplated. Not per se considered defence. o Mistake of law: Defendant misunderstood or was ignorant of the law as it existed at the time, e.g. HODGKINSON v MARTIN – mistakenly but sincerely believed he had authority to remove plaintiff from the premises to protect interests of the Crown o Mistake of fact: Defendant misunderstood some fact that negates an element of the crime, e.g. RANSON v KITNER – thought plaintiff’s dog was a wolf and shot it dead • INEVITABLE ACCIDENT: Any situation in which defendant unintentionally and without negligence injured plaintiff. D cannot be held liable in intentional torts or negligence for injuries caused by accident. Absence of intent distinguishes an accident from a mistake. • CAPACITY ISSUES: Generally, assume all adults have capacity to form above intent o Liability of children and the mentally ill: Rather than tests of volition/intent, was the defendant capable of “appreciating the nature and quality” of the act? o Liability of supervisors: Parents, teachers, and other supervisors are not vicariously liable at common law for the torts committed by children under their care; similarly, those supervising patients with a mental illness are not liable for their patients’ conduct … unless they are a party to wrongful conduct or fail to control the person (negligence). 4 Inggrid Wibowo TRESPASS TO LAND “A direct and intentional physical intrusion onto the land in the possession of another.” — TURNER v THORNE (1959) ELEMENTS 1. DIRECT AND INTENTIONAL a. Directness: i. Requiring direct force to implement the trespass to land, e.g. throwing a ball onto the land of another – direct; rolling the same ball down a hill onto the land of another – sufficiently direct; movements of nature where wind blows snow onto land – not direct and thus not actionable in trespass. ii. Trespass can be committed by the continued presence of a thing tortuously placed on someone else's property (TURNER v THORNE) b. Intent: to bring about consequences of the conduct. Onus is on D to prove lack of intent once direct intrusion is proven. 2. PHYSICAL INTRUSION: Intrusion must generally be physical—thus sound or light rarely, if ever, suffice (such instances would more appropriately be covered by the law of nuisance). 3. ONTO THE LAND IN THE POSSESSION OF ANOTHER: action generally only available to people in legal possession of land, e.g. those with legal title/right to entire area OR squatters with possession of amount of land they actually occupy/cultivate