Torts
Intentional Torts
Battery requires harmful or offensive contact with intent; assault requires apprehension of imminent harmful or offensive contact; false imprisonment requires confinement; trespass requires physical invasion; conversion requires substantial interference with chattels. Defenses include consent, self-defense, defense of others, defense of property, necessity, and privilege.
Negligence
Duty, breach, causation, and damages. Duty is owed to foreseeable plaintiffs (Palsgraf). Breach is measured by the reasonable person, with special standards for children and professionals. Causation includes actual cause (but-for) and proximate cause (foreseeability). Damages include compensatory and, in some cases, punitive. Defenses include contributory negligence, comparative negligence, and assumption of risk.
Strict Liability and Products Liability
Strict liability applies to abnormally dangerous activities and defective products. Products liability theories: negligence, strict liability, and breach of warranty. Defects include manufacturing, design, and failure to warn.
Defamation and Privacy
Defamation requires a defamatory statement, publication, and damages (unless defamation per se). Public figures must prove actual malice. Privacy torts: intrusion, public disclosure of private facts, false light, and appropriation.
Traps
Questions test whether a duty exists (no duty to rescue absent a special relationship), whether proximate cause exists (intervening causes), and whether a products liability claim requires a defect at the time of sale.
Rule of thumb
For negligence, always name the duty and the standard of care before analyzing breach.