Tortious Assault
In order to successfully sue for the tort of assault, you must meet several factors.
- It must be a volitional and
- intentional act that causes
- Intent to cause the tort, or
- A substantial certainty that the tort would occur.
- Note: Intent for the consequences is irrelevant, all that is required
is intent for the contact..
- The apprehension
- The apprehension must be reasonable to an average person.
- You do not need to be afraid or intimidated, all you need to have is apprehension.
- Actual ability to inflict a battery is not necessary, only the apparent ability to inflict the battery is required.
- Of an immediate battery.
- There must be immediacy. Apprehension of a battery in the future is not actionable.
- Words are not enough, there must be physical conduct such as the shaking of a fist.
Note: This is one of the original common law torts. Because of that the Transferred Intent doctrine applies. If you only intend to assault a person but accidentally batter the person, the intent to cause the assault will transfer to the battery through the doctrine of Transferred Intent. As a result, you will still be liable for the Intentional Tort of battery, even though you never intended to commit the battery.