AZ Bar Torts 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: For a battery claim, which element distinguishes it from mere assault?
- The defendant must have intended to cause harmful contact with malice
- Harmful or offensive contact with the plaintiff must actually occur (Correct answer)
- The plaintiff must suffer a physical, quantifiable injury
- The defendant must have acted with knowledge that contact was certain
Correct answer: Harmful or offensive contact with the plaintiff must actually occur
Battery requires actual harmful or offensive contact with the plaintiff's person, whereas assault requires only an apprehension of imminent contact without contact occurring.
Question 2: A plaintiff can establish an assault claim if:
- The defendant intentionally causes harmful or offensive contact with the plaintiff
- The plaintiff suffers physical injury as a result of the defendant's threatening conduct
- The defendant intentionally causes the plaintiff to have a reasonable apprehension of imminent harmful or offensive contact (Correct answer)
- The defendant makes a credible threatening statement delivered over the telephone
Correct answer: The defendant intentionally causes the plaintiff to have a reasonable apprehension of imminent harmful or offensive contact
Assault requires that the defendant intentionally cause the plaintiff to have a reasonable apprehension of imminent harmful or offensive contact; no actual contact or physical injury is required.
Question 3: Which of the following is NOT a required element of false imprisonment?
- An act or omission that confines the plaintiff to a bounded area
- Intent by the defendant to confine or restrain the plaintiff
- The plaintiff must be aware of the confinement at the time it occurs (Correct answer)
- The plaintiff must have no reasonable means of escape from the bounded area
Correct answer: The plaintiff must be aware of the confinement at the time it occurs
Under the majority rule and the Restatement, the plaintiff need not be aware of the confinement at the time if actual harm results; awareness at the time of confinement is not an absolute requirement.
Question 4: Intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED) requires conduct that is best described as:
- Negligent and causes the plaintiff to suffer severe emotional distress
- Extreme and outrageous, intentionally or recklessly causing the plaintiff severe emotional distress (Correct answer)
- Threatening or menacing, causing the plaintiff to fear for their physical safety
- Fraudulent or deceptive, causing both economic harm and emotional distress
Correct answer: Extreme and outrageous, intentionally or recklessly causing the plaintiff severe emotional distress
IIED requires extreme and outrageous conduct that intentionally or recklessly causes the plaintiff severe emotional distress; mere insults, indignities, or ordinary rudeness do not suffice.
Question 5: Trespass to land is considered intentional in the sense that:
- The defendant must intend to cause harm or damage to the plaintiff's property
- The defendant need only intend the act causing the physical invasion, not necessarily know the land belongs to another (Correct answer)
- Any unauthorized physical entry onto another's land is automatically actionable without proving intent
- The defendant must intend to remain on the property after being told to leave
Correct answer: The defendant need only intend the act causing the physical invasion, not necessarily know the land belongs to another
Trespass to land requires only that the defendant intentionally commit the act that causes the physical invasion of land; the defendant need not intend to trespass or know the land belongs to someone else.
Question 6: The tort of conversion requires proof of:
- A temporary or minor interference with the plaintiff's personal property rights
- An intentional act that so seriously interferes with the plaintiff's right to possess personal property that the defendant must pay its full value (Correct answer)
- Willful destruction of another's property with malicious intent
- Deception or stealth used to obtain possession of another person's personal property
Correct answer: An intentional act that so seriously interferes with the plaintiff's right to possess personal property that the defendant must pay its full value
Conversion is an intentional act that so seriously interferes with the plaintiff's right to possess or control personal property that forcing the defendant to pay the full value is appropriate.
Question 7: Self-defense as a privilege in intentional tort law requires that:
- The defendant must have actually faced a threat involving deadly force to invoke self-defense
- The defendant must use reasonable force in response to an imminent threat of unlawful harmful or offensive contact (Correct answer)
- The defendant may use any level of force if they honestly and subjectively believed they were threatened
- The defendant must attempt to retreat before using any degree of defensive force
Correct answer: The defendant must use reasonable force in response to an imminent threat of unlawful harmful or offensive contact
Self-defense allows the use of reasonable force in response to an imminent threat of unlawful harmful or offensive contact, and the force used must be proportionate to the perceived threat.
AZ Bar Torts 2
For a battery claim, which element distinguishes it from mere assault?