Intentional Tort - Explained
Intentional conduct giving rise to a civil cause of action.
Written by Jason Gordon
Updated at September 24th, 2021
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Table of Contents
What is an Intentional Tort?When does conduct constitute an intentional tort?Academic ResearchWhat is an Intentional Tort?
The essence of an intentional tort is the intent to undertake an action that has a high probability of causing a harmful result.
There are many intentional statutory and common law torts.
Next Article: Assault and Battery Return to: TORT LAW
When does conduct constitute an intentional tort?
An intentional tort occurs when the result of intentional action is some form of harm (physical, mental, or financial) to another person or property.
It does not matter whether the individual committing the tort (the tortfeasor) fully understands the nature or extent of the harm that may result.
The individual simply needs to undertake an action that has some likelihood of resulting in a potentially harmful result.
- Example: Mark throws a pine cone at Walt, who is not looking. Mark throws the pine with the understanding that it will contact Walt. This is an intentional action that could result in harm to Walt. If the pine cone hits Walt in the eye and causes a loss of vision, this is an intentional tort. It doesn't matter if Mark did not expect the damage to be so severe. The results of throwing a hard object are readily foreseeable.
- Note: Some of the more common intentional torts are also crimes.
Related Topics
- Assault and Battery?
- Intentional Infliction of Emotions Distress?
- Invasion of Privacy?
- False Imprisonment?
- Malicious Prosecution?
- Trespass?
- Conversion?
- Defamation?
- Defenses to Defamation?
- Fraud?
Academic Research
- Geistfeld, Mark, Conceptualizing the Intentional Torts (September 1, 2017). 10 J. Tort Law (Forthcoming 2017); NYU School of Law, Public Law Research Paper No. 17-31; NYU Law and Economics Research Paper No. 17-33. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3034522
- Moore, Nancy J., Restating Intentional Torts: Problems of Process and Substance in the ALI's Third Restatement of Torts (October 13, 2017). 10 J. Tort Law ____ (2017); Boston Univ. School of Law, Public Law Research Paper No. 17-44. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3059046
- Calnan, Alan, Anomalies in Intentional Tort Law. Tennessee Journal of Law and Policy, Vol. 1, p. 187, 2005. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=724864
- Simons, Kenneth W. and Cardi, W. Jonathan, Restating the Intentional Torts to Persons: Seeing the Forest and the Trees (June 11, 2018). Journal of Tort Law, Vol. 10, No. 2, 2017; UC Irvine School of Law Research Paper No. 2018-49; Wake Forest Univ. Legal Studies Paper. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3194108
- Simons, Kenneth W., A Restatement Third of Intentional Torts?. Arizona Law Review, Vol. 48, 2006; Boston Univ. School of Law Working Paper No. 06-18. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=920602
- Calnan, Alan, Anomalies in Intentional Tort Law. Tennessee Journal of Law and Policy, Vol. 1, p. 187, 2005. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=724864
- Priel, Dan, A Public Role for the Intentional Torts (September 3, 2010). King's Law Journal, vol. 22, no. 1. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1671546 [/ht_toggle]