Jacksonville Personal Injury Attorney

Battery

Battery is an intentional tort. This means that anyone accusing another of battery must be able to prove intent. It is the tort of intentionally inflicting harmful or offensive contact on a person or on something closely associated with a person, such as a hat, jewelry, or purse. Like assault, battery is a trespass to a person.

Unlike assault, battery requires that there be actual contact. The contact can be directly between the accused and the victim, but contact can also come between an object of the accused and the victim. As an example, Person A intentionally runs over Person B’s foot with his car. Because of the intent, this is a battery. Battery also is actionable per se. This means that a claim for the tort may succeed without any proof of damages.

Intent is a very important part of battery. The degree and quality of the intent is what distinguishes battery as a tort from criminal battery. Intent to inflict an injury on another person is required for criminal battery while intent of doing an act that makes contact is sufficient for battery.

The common law requires that contact for battery be “harmful” or “offensive.” The offensive portion is measured against the standards of a “reasonable person.” This means that a hypersensitive person who is jostled on a bus or in a public place will not succeed in battery claims as this is, to most people, expected and not offensive. “Harmful” is defined by any physical damage to the body.

For more information on battery or other intentional torts, contact Jacksonville personal injury attorney Donald Guthrie at 904-296-1088.