Tort Liability and Exploration of Assault, Battery, Infliction of Emotional Distress - Case Study Example

?Case Study Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 0 Case 3 2.0 Case 2 6 References 9 0 Case Crime The increase crime in the United States has been of much concern. The violent crimes committed by youth are more compared to adults. The students of Gigantic State University committed the crime by furiously entering the building of President and threatened the secretary of President, Prudence Pimply by showing a gun. Prudence Pimply was much shocked for this event and as a result she was not in a proper state of mind to manage her work properly. In 1991, 35.7% of students in high school in the US were involved in physical fights and violations (Mass General Hospital for Children, “Violence Committed by Adolescents”). Thus, the incident which took place in the Gigantic State University can be stated as a crime. Negligence There was a negligence involved in the case from both the parties. The rise of tuition fees had resulted in violation among the students. The university could have negotiated with the Members of Students for Fair Tuition (SFT) regarding the tuition fees and the students should not have entered the President’s building by breaking the law. Laws and Rights The students broke the laws and rights of the university by taking such a violent step. They violently entered the President’s building and caused damage. Thus, the general civil laws were violated that prevents any person from causing any physical or mental damage to human beings as well as property. They also uttered bad words to the President. They were attempting to attack the President but were not successful to attack him and instead they threatened Prudence Pimply, the secretary. People Liable for Damages Students and University both were liable for the damage caused. If the university would not have raised the tuition fees suddenly, then such situation would not have cropped up. The mental damage was caused to the secretary of the president. She was not involved in this case but became a victim. Moreover, the rising tuition fees also caused physical and mental damage to the students of the university. Tort Liability and Exploration of Assault, Battery, Infliction of Emotional Distress and False Imprisonment A tort is considered as a complex legal concept that transcends to a wrong which may be restored that may not be criminal (governmental) or contractual (private) in its existence (University of South Florida, “Tort Liability”). The touching of one person without the consent of him or her with an intention to harm others is referred as assault. An assault might be committed without the assistance of battery and battery can be occurred without the help of assault. Battery means striking a person from behind without the consent of a person (Duhaime org, “Assault Definition”). Infliction of emotional distress is the cruel and disgraceful causation of extreme emotional distress. There are four planned infliction related to emotional distress. The conduct may be intentional, it can be severe and outrageous, causal association may be there between illegal conduct along with emotional distress. In addition, the emotional distress can be severe (Duhaime org, “Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress Definition”). False imprisonment relates to ‘intentional as well as complete imprisonment of a person against his or her will and without lawful justification’. The activities of false imprisonment will lie where a person is inappropriately detained. Moreover, little force is associated with detention (Duhaime org, False Imprisonment Definition”). In this incident, primarily infliction of emotional distress was caused to Prudence Pimply by the protesting members. 2.0 Case 2 Negligence Negligence takes place when the activities of both parties fail to perform effectively. When each party has certain state of negligence, accident takes place. In this case, Steve Simple was sent to climb the tower for painting, but tremendous thunderstorm had exposed him to a great danger of being hit by lightning. He made an attempt to climb the tower which should not have been done by him as he knew that the tower had become slippery. The department should not have allowed him to take such an attempt in such situation. This would have prevented the accident from taking place (Free Advice, “What are "comparative negligence"). Fault In this case, fault was from both Minor State Teachers College and Steve Simple. The event would not have occurred if both the parties were not negligent towards their duty. Chain of Causation The event which had occurred due to the cause of previous events is the chain of causation. The events from distal and proximal causes to a result of events are collectively termed as chain of causation. In this case, Steve Simple was ordered to climb the tower as par his duty and the accident was the outcome of his strong attempt to climb the sleepy tower (Sanctions Assessment Handbooks, “Proximal and Distal Causes in the Chain of Causation”). Proximate Cause Proximate cause is an act or events that cause injury. Without any activity, no injury can take place. Due to negligence of duty, injury may be caused because responsibility of an injury lies within negligence of activity. In this case, Steve Simple was faced with an injury due to short circuit in the pumping machine. If he had not taken the risk of climbing to the tower in spite of great danger of being stroked by lightning then the injury would not have taken place. The injury was caused only due to the activities of Steve Simple in such situation (Free Advice, “What are "comparative negligence"). Assumption of Risk Assumption of risk is considered to be a situation in which a person takes chance regarding any potentially dangerous scenario despite knowing the situation. In this case, Steve Simple knew about the potential danger that can be caused to him due to the inclement weather condition. Despite the impending danger Steve Simple made an attempt to complete his assigned task (Farlex, Inc, “Assumption of Risk”) Contributory Negligence Contributory Negligence allows the person who is accused of causing the injury to charge the injured person for his or her own negligence that has contributed to the injury. In this case, Minor State Teachers College had sent Steve Simple to climb the tower for painting which was his part of duty. Steve Simple climbed the tower when it was slippery and had faced an accident. The department had given him the duty but he was not forced to climb the tower in such bad situation. Since he knew that the weather was not favorable for climbing, he should not have taken the decision to climb the tower. Thus, one party cannot blame the other for contributory negligence of each others duties (Negligence Cases, “Contributory Negligence Cases and Shifting the Blame”). Comparative Negligence In comparative negligence, the injured victim can recover his or her damage although he or she is partially involved for the results of accident. Judge decides the ‘proportion of faults’ to be assigned to each party in the states which follow comparative negligence. Steve Simple who was caught in an accident for climbing the tower was a victim in this case. He can recover his damages from the departments. As the case had occurred in the US and the US government follows pure comparative negligence, the victims will recover the full damage caused. In this case, Steve can recover his full damage even if he was regarded as faulty for the accident along with his departments (Personal Injury, “Comparative Negligence”). References Duhaime org. “Assault Definition”. April 21, 2011. Legal Dictionary, No Date. Duhaime org. “Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress Definition”. April 21, 2011. Legal Dictionary, No Date. Duhaime org. False Imprisonment Definition”. April 21, 2011. Legal Dictionary, No Date. Free Advice. “What Are "Comparative Negligence", "Proximate Cause", And "Intervening Causes"?”. April 21, 2011. Auto Accidents, 2011. Farlex, Inc. “Assumption of Risk”. April 21, 2011. Legal Dictionary, 2011. Mass General Hospital for Children. “Violence Committed by Adolescents”. April 21, 2011. Home, 2011. Negligence Cases. “Contributory Negligence Cases and Shifting the Blame”. April 21, 2011. Home, 2011. Personal Injury. “Comparative Negligence”. April 21, 2011. Contributory Negligence vs. Comparative Negligence, No Date. Sanctions Assessment Handbooks. “Proximal and Distal Causes in the Chain of Causation”. April 21, 2011. Types of Causes and the Chain of Causation, No Date. University of South Florida. “Tort Liability”. April 21, 2011. Liability, 1997. Read More