Torts, Crimes, and Contracts: A Legal Overview
Personal Property vs. Real Property
Personal property: Items that are movable, such as pets, cars, toys, and purses.
Real property: Anything fixed to the ground.
Intentional Torts
Trespass to Chattels and Conversion
Intent: Actual intent to take away.
Interference: Causes problems.
Trespass to chattels: Minor interference with personal property.
Conversion: Intentional and substantial interference with the personal property of another to the extent that it is fair and just to require the defendant to pay the full value of the property.
Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress (IIED)
Intentional or reckless, extreme and outrageous conduct that results in severe emotional distress, exceeding all bounds of decency.
Defamation
Libel: Written defamation.
Slander: Spoken defamation.
Elements:
- Intentional
- False or defamatory statement of fact about the plaintiff
- Publication to a third party
- Damages to the plaintiff’s reputation
Actual Malice (for public figures): Reckless disregard for the truth or falsity of a statement.
Misrepresentation
Can be negligent or intentional.
Intentional misrepresentation of material fact:
- Made with the intent to induce another to rely on it
- The other person justifiably relies on it
- Results in damages
The misrepresented fact must be essential to the transaction.
Negligence
Elements
- Duty
- Reasonable Person Standard (RPP)
- Special relationships
- Duty to rescuers
- Breach
- Lack of reasonable care
- Res Ipsa Loquitur
- Negligence per se
- Causation
- Actual cause
- Proximate cause
- Damages
- Compensatory
- Punitive
Defenses
- Contributory negligence
- Comparative negligence
- Assumption of the risk
Vicarious Liability (Respondeat Superior)
Employers are liable for the torts of their employees as long as the employee is acting within the scope of employment.
Frolic: Employer not liable (employee is outside the scope of employment).
Detour: Employer liable (employee is still within the scope of employment).
Strict Liability
Liability without fault.
Types
- Abnormally dangerous activities: Blasting, demolition, crop dusting, etc. High degree of risk of harm.
- Animals
- Domestic animals: Owners are liable for damages caused by their domestic animals if they knew or should have known of the animal’s dangerous propensities.
- Wild animals: Owners are strictly liable for damages caused by their wild animals, regardless of whether they knew of the animal’s dangerous propensities.
- Products liability
Product Liability Theories
- Warranty
- Express warranty: A promise that the product possesses certain qualities.
- Implied warranty
- Warranty of merchantability: The product is fit for its ordinary purpose.
- Warranty of fitness for a particular purpose: The seller knows the buyer’s particular purpose and the buyer relies on the seller’s skill or judgment in selecting a suitable product.
- Negligence: Failure to exercise reasonable care in the design, manufacture, or sale of a product.
- Misrepresentation: False statements about a product.
- Strict liability: A seller is liable for damages caused by a defective product that is unreasonably dangerous, even if the seller was not negligent.
- Manufacturing defect: The product departs from its intended design.
- Design defect: The product is defective even when manufactured according to its intended design.
- Failure to warn: The manufacturer fails to provide adequate warnings about the risks associated with the product.
Liability: The seller is liable for damages as long as the product reaches the consumer without substantial change.
Defense: Contributory negligence.
Crimes
Civil law: Deals with disputes between individuals.
Criminal law: Protects society as a whole.
Felony: More serious crime, punishable by more than a year in prison or death.
Misdemeanor: Less serious crime, punishable by less than a year in jail or fines.
Homicide
Death of a person caused by another person.
Murder
Unlawful killing of one person by another with malice aforethought.
Malice aforethought can be shown by:
- Intent to kill
- Intent to cause serious bodily injury
- Reckless indifference to human life
- Felony murder rule
Causation: The defendant’s act must be the actual and proximate cause of the victim’s death.
Manslaughter
- Voluntary manslaughter: Killing in the heat of passion caused by adequate provocation. No cooling-off period. Imperfect self-defense rule.
- Involuntary manslaughter: Unintentional killing caused by recklessness or negligence. Misdemeanor manslaughter rule.
Property Crimes
Arson
Intentional burning of the property of another.
Larceny
Taking and carrying away of another’s personal property with the intent to permanently deprive the owner of that property.
Robbery
Larceny plus force or fear.
Burglary
Breaking and entering into the dwelling of another during the nighttime with the intent to commit a felony inside.
False Pretenses
Fraudulently obtaining title to the property of another by means of knowingly false statements.
Forgery
Making or altering a writing that changes the legal rights or responsibilities of another.
Uttering
Passing a forged document with the knowledge that it is forged.
Receiving Stolen Goods
Receiving property that the defendant knew or should have known was stolen.
White Collar Crimes
Crimes that take place in a legitimate business context.
Embezzlement
Misappropriation of funds or property by someone to whom the property was entrusted.
Mail and Wire Fraud
Using the mail or wires to execute a scheme to defraud.
Bribery
Offering or accepting something of value to influence a public official’s actions.
Bankruptcy Fraud
Making false claims, hiding assets, or transferring property to manipulate the bankruptcy process.
Trade Secrets
It is a crime to knowingly buy or possess stolen trade secrets.
Insider Trading
Using non-public information to profit from the trading of securities.
Organized Crime
Money Laundering
Disguising the origins of illegally obtained money to make it appear legitimate.
RICO Act
Federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and civil remedies for racketeering activities.
Defenses
Self-Defense
A person who honestly and reasonably believes that they are being threatened with unlawful and imminent force may use the amount of force necessary to defend themselves.
Withdrawal: The right to self-defense ends if the aggressor withdraws.
Duty to retreat: In some jurisdictions, a person must retreat if they can safely do so before using deadly force, unless they are in their own home.
Defense of others: A person may use force to defend another person if they reasonably believe that the other person is in danger of unlawful and imminent harm.
Infancy
Children under a certain age are not considered capable of committing crimes.
Intoxication
Voluntary intoxication: Generally not a defense.
Involuntary intoxication: May be a valid defense.
Insanity
A defendant is not guilty by reason of insanity if, at the time of the act, they did not know the nature of the act or that it was wrong, and this was a result of a mental disease or defect.
Mistake
Mistake of law: Generally not a defense.
Mistake of fact: May be a defense.
Consent
Voluntary agreement to the act.
Duress
Committing a crime to avoid imminent death or serious bodily injury.
Entrapment
A public officer induces a person to commit a crime that they would not otherwise have committed.
Statute of Limitations
Limits the amount of time that someone can be charged with a crime.
Contracts
Mailbox Rule
Acceptance is effective upon proper dispatch.
Rejection is effective upon receipt.
Consideration
Bargained-for exchange that is the glue that holds a contract together. Courts generally do not inquire into the adequacy of consideration.