Now let's talk about intentional torts. In this lesson, we're going to define what a tort is and then delve into a subset of torts called intentional torts. I'll give a few examples of intentional torts and then walk through some defenses that may exist for intentional torts. First, a tort is a wrongful act that results in some injury to another person and is subject to civil legal liability. The injury that we're talking about when we're thinking about torts is quite broad. It could be an injury to someone's body, to their property, to their reputation. You could interfere with contractual relations. All of these types of broadly defined injuries could result in tort liability. When we say civil legal liability, that implies that the result of torts and the consequences for committing a tort, are usually adjudicated in a civil court, meaning that the remedies are typically money damages or equitable remedies that a court may fashion to make the plane of whole in the case. Let's talk about intentional torts. Intentional torts, unlike negligence, which don't have the same element of intent. Intentional torts require an element that the actor, the tortfeasor, is the word you may hear, the actor intends to cause harm, intends to cause an injury, intends to interfere with contractual relations, intends to falsely imprison someone. This element of intent is central to what constitutes an intentional tort. While intense sounds like it's an easy word, it's a word that we use fairly often. In the legal sphere, it has a very specific definition. Intent has two flavors to it, one is a subjective desire for a particular outcome. You subjectively want this thing to happen, that's one definition of intent. The other is that you have knowledge that this thing will happen as a likely result of the conduct that you're engaging in. You can either subjectively desire this to happen or you can know that by engaging in the conduct that you're engaging in, it's unlikely that this thing will happen. Either of those would constitute intent, under the law and if a tort results from that intent, you have what we call intentional torts. Now, earlier, I distinguished intentional torts from negligence because negligence doesn't have this intent requirement. Negligence also has a requirement of duty. Someone in a negligence case has to have some duty to the person who was injured, and that duty would have had to been breached in order for there to be negligence. Under intentional torts, there's no duty requirement. You don't have to have a duty to the person that you injured. You're automatically liable if you intend for this harm to occur and it occurs. Here are some examples of intentional torts. False imprisonment. A good example of false imprisonment is in the retail space where an employee or a retailer suspects that a customer has shop lifted and they detain the customer to ascertain whether shoplifting did in fact occur. Now, in the process of detaining a customer to ascertain whether shoplifting occurred, in of itself isn't false imprisonment. But if you engage in certain acts during that time or you put the customer in apprehension that they're not able to leave or you physically restrain them from leaving. These additional acts, rise to that level of intent that may get you in a situation where you're committing the intentional tort of false imprisonment. Other examples include assault and battery, the intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation, where you intentionally say or write bad things or untrue things about someone with the idea of hurting their reputation. Invasion of privacy, conversion, taking something from someone, trespass, fraudulent misrepresentation, intentionally making a representation under the auspices of fraud, or interference with contractual relations. All of these are examples of torts that include this subjective desire to receive a certain outcome. If that outcome does occur, then you are in a situation where you've committed an intentional tort. In summary, torts can pose enormous legal exposure for your business, mainly because they are so broad. A tort is any wrongful act that results in an injury to someone, and it's subject to civil legal liability. Because that definition in that umbrella of the law is so large, it's a huge bit of exposure for your company. Unlike negligence, intentional torts do not have a duty requirement. If you commit the wrongful act, it leads to an injury, then you can be held liable. Remember employers can be held liable for the intentional torts committed by their employees and that's why it's doubly important for you as an employer to ensure that your employees are conducting themselves according to your company's code of ethics and they are avoiding instances where they maybe committing torts when they're acting within the scope of their employment. Also, this is important to keep in mind as well. Some intentional torts can also be crimes, and if they're crimes, they're no longer a subject only to civil legal liability, but may also be subject to criminal legal liability, which may even involve jail or prison time.
