An intentional tort occurs when someone wrongfully and purposefully acts and that causes harm to another. They do not necessarily need to intend to cause the eventual outcome for an intentional tort claim to be valid but they need to intend to commit the wrongful act according to most intentional tort cases and civil law doctrine.
The consequences of intentional torts and the intentional infliction of harm can be severe and include bodily harm, emotional distress, real property destruction, harmful contact, offensive contact, personal property loss, and other serious side effects.
Frequent examples of an intentional tort are intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment, harmful or offensive contact (i.e. battery), trespass onto someone else’s property, attempted battery or assault), offensive touching like abuse, and if fraud occurs.
The personal injury attorneys of our law firm can offer you legal advice if you were injured in an intentional tort incident. We may also necessarily secure an attorney client relationship to advocate on your behalf in court or settlement.
The following sections review the law on the most common intentional torts. You can also call us and leave your contact information or confidential information for a free consultation.
In personal injury and wrongful death cases, they are brought under an area of law referred to as ‘tort law’.
How Do I Know when an Intentional Tort Occurs?
While the individual components of different intent tort actions vary from case to case, there are a couple of things you can look for in order to identify a possible personal injury lawsuit or similar civil suit. This could be brought by yourself or closely related third parties.
- Did someone act with intent to make contact with at least one private citizen or other person?
- Did that contact injury occur to the other person?
- Did that contact cause harm, injury, damage, or severe emotional distress?
- Did the victim provide consent for the contact?
Remember these are for a civil case and not criminal charges for a criminal case (or criminal cases) and reasonable doubt issues. For a free consultation and free evaluation, call now to discuss sensitive or confidential information about your case and to set up a confidential relationship.
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Types of Intentional Torts
As you might expect, there are many different and common types of intentional torts. These range from physical abuse in person to extreme or outrageous conduct across the web and everything in between. They all cause injury and damage.
Check this list to see the most common ones in court for intent torts:
Battery: An intentional tort case for battery is when someone wrongfully and intentionally touches another person. The contact may be harmful and injurious but it need not be to establish a case under tort law principle. Also, the aggressor does not have to realize the battery is occurring for a plaintiff to bring such a case.
False imprisonment: Plaintiffs may bring tort cases for false imprisonment if a defendant unlawfully and intentionally confined them for an unreasonable amount of time. The plaintiff must be aware of the confinement contemporaneously. If they cannot prove this, then they must prove actual harm in order to establish the prima facie elements of this cause of action. Note, the actual confinement can come through physical means or even a false statement, i.e. saying they are the cops and you need to remain in place.
Assault: The intentional tort of assault occurs when somebody places another in reasonable apprehension of harm. The anxiety, mental distress, emotional trauma, and other negative effects that the defendant’s actions cause is the thrust of this case. For example, you may be assaulted if someone puts a gun to your head.
Trespass: Trespass, often referred to as trespass to land, happens when a person enters the land of another without permission or proper authority. This protection includes the area above and below the actual plot of land in question.
Conversion: You can bring a conversion action against anyone that dispossesses you of your personal property or possibly even if they merely devalued or damaged it. You may seek the full value of the goods from the person charged with the offense in civil law.
Intentional infliction of emotional distress: This tort case describes the situation where a defendant intends to cause distress in the mind and person of the plaintiff. The misconduct must be outrageous or extreme. The consequence must be substantial including mortification, distress, or grief.
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What Relief is Available in Tort Law for Intentional Torts?
Based on the best legal authority, the compensation you may seek for a civil wrong from the person committing the offense is based on your damages. There are generally two types of damages.
First, there are your economic damages. These are the expenses and direct costs of the incident like hospital bills, property damage, lost income, and similar things.
Second, the person commits the intentional tort must also compensate you for your non-economic damages. This is a category of relief for your intangible harm including pain, suffering, disability, disfigurement, lost life normalcy, and other losses.
Third, from a legal perspective, the most common intentional torts also may seek punitive damages and wrongful damages.
Punitive damages punish defendants for wanton acts of recklessness. Wrongful death damages compensate families for the devastating loss and expense of the intentional taking of a life. The law considers these forms of recovery for the harm of a tort upon one person when the perpetrator has a purposeful mental state.
How an Attorney Can Help with Your Claim
After you are injured, there are a number things you need to do in the immediate aftermath of the event as well as in the distant future to ensure you can collect all compensation and relief available to you in court and negotiation.
Of course, an attorney can assist in the completion of these tasks but also in the overall management of the case. Here is a short survey of the job ahead of you if you are the victim of intentional torts.
- Investigate the circumstances of the event including who was responsible, where it happened, how it happened, who witnessed it, and other formative issues underlying the occurrence of the act.
- Seek medical help and begin to build a medical history which includes your health before the event, the short-term consequences of the intentional act, and the long-term prognosis on your health due to the event..
- Consult a lawyer and legal precedent to identify your right to bring suit and under what theories of recovery.
- File suit and communicate defendant’s counsel as well as the judge while engaging in preliminary legal procedures (depositions; discovery; etc.) and presenting your case to a jury when it is timely.
As you can see, this work is complicated and not only requires extraordinary effort and resources but skill and dedication. With good counsel, you can surpass these hurdles and obtain the assistance and funds that are rightfully yours under the law.
What Will My Intentional Tort Case Look Like?
Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers LLC has represented countless victims of intentional torts in Illinois. They have suffered from all different kinds of injuries including disability, disfigurement, and even disease.
They have all been unique. The only thing we can say with 100% certainty is that yours will be too.
When you are injured from an intentional act, you need a law group and personal injury lawyer that is fully committed and fully capable to translate your injury into compensation through a valid legal claim.
We can do that because we care about personal injury victims. To hear about why we care so much and to hear about how we can help you, call the offices of the Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers LLC today.
