true intentional torts hypo Forum

[usuaggie]

This really happened to my sister. I thought I'd post it for torts practice.

Cody is walking down the high school hallway with Cassidy, his girlfriend. Knowing full-well from experience that Cassidy is afraid of midgets, Cody grabs Cassidy by the arm and throws her inside of a classroom where a midget, a teacher at the high school, is sitting and eating during her lunch break. Cody holds the doorknob to prevent Cassidy from exiting the room with the feasting midget despite Cassidy screaming and banging on the other side of the door, yelling for Cody to let her out. After 20 to 30 seconds, Cody opens the door and lets out Cassidy.

Discuss any intentional torts committed.

Note:irrational fear of midgets is not recognized as an intentional tort in this state.

[beach_terror]

IIED & False imprisonment (assuming there were no other exits).. possibly battery on the girlfriend

False imprisonment is the only one I'd say definitely occurred. IIED is a bitch to prove and the battery wasn't harmful, so it'd have to be offensive touching. With his knowledge that by pushing her toward a midget she'd freak, I guess you could argue it would satisfy the offensive requirement but the contact itself wasn't offensive.

Edit: I guess throw is offensive, derp.

[usuaggie]

IIED & False imprisonment (assuming there were no other exits).. possibly battery on the girlfriend

False imprisonment is the only one I'd say definitely occurred. IIED is a bitch to prove and the battery wasn't harmful, so it'd have to be offensive touching. With his knowledge that by pushing her toward a midget she'd freak, I guess you could argue it would satisfy the offensive requirement but the contact itself wasn't offensive.

Edit: I guess throw is offensive, derp.

yeah, i was also thinking assault if she saw it coming and knew he was going to throw her in there. obviously there is no case here to recover money, but everybody loves a good midget hypo.

[beach_terror]

You could mess with the facts and make this into a pretty sweet hypo.