A tort is a civil wrong where an act or failure to act invades a legal right and causes loss. The three main groups are intentional torts, negligence, and strict liability.
Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute defines injury as invasion of a legal right and harm as the loss suffered. According to Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute, tort law repays injured people and deters harmful acts. It also shifts loss to the party at fault or best able to bear it.
Table of Contents
- What Makes a Tort Intentional?
- How Does Negligence Work?
- When Does Strict Liability Apply?
- What Controls Your Claim and Payment?
What Makes a Tort Intentional?
An intentional tort results only from a defendant's intentional act. The intent required may be general or specific, based on what is alleged. Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute includes battery, assault, false imprisonment, trespass, and intentional infliction of emotional distress in its intentional tort overview. According to Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute, battery is intentional harmful or offensive contact without consent.
It covers the body and closely connected items, such as a hat or bag. Assault needs no contact or injury; it requires intentionally creating reasonable fear of immediate contact. Focus on what the defendant meant to do, not only what happened. A punch aimed at you points toward battery. A raised fist that makes you expect an immediate hit points toward assault, even if no hit lands.
How Does Negligence Work?
Negligence is failure to use the care a reasonable person would use in the same situation. Courts weigh the foreseeable chance and severity of harm against the burden of precautions. Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute sets out that test in its negligence standard. Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute says a negligence claim generally needs four parts: duty, breach, harm, and proximate cause.
Duty is the legal duty to use care; breach is failure to meet it. Harm is the loss, and proximate cause is the direct legal link between breach and harm. A driver who texts through a crosswalk and hits a pedestrian illustrates the pattern. The duty is careful driving, the breach is texting, the harm is injury, and the link is direct. If any part is missing, the negligence claim usually fails.
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When Does Strict Liability Apply?
Strict liability holds a defendant liable regardless of intent or mental state when doing the act. Careful conduct or sincere mistake does not defeat liability. Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute states that rule in its strict liability rule. For defective products, responsibility can run along the whole chain: component maker, assembler, wholesaler, and retailer.
It covers defects that harm buyers, users, or people given or loaned the product. Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute describes that chain in its products liability guide. A cracked valve made by one firm, installed by another, and sold by a store can trigger this rule. Under that rule, the injured user need not prove the store meant harm or acted carelessly. That structure lets a product claim focus on defect and causation, not intent.
What Controls Your Claim and Payment?
Tort boundaries come from common law and state statutes. That means the wrongs courts recognize, the defenses allowed, and damage measures vary by state. According to Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute, judges have wide latitude in this area. Plaintiffs typically seek money damages.
Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute notes compensatory damages repay actual losses. Punitive damages punish in some cases, while injunctions and restitution are less common. Match your facts to the proof each path demands. Use this quick check before you gather records: Bring the claim under the law of the state where the harm occurred. That law sets the available wrongs, defenses, and damages.
- Intentional tort: show deliberate act and required intent.
- Negligence: show duty, breach, harm, and direct legal link.
- Strict liability: show covered act or defect and harm, without proving intent.
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