Which tort involves apprehension of imminent harmful or offensive contact?

Which tort involves apprehension of imminent harmful or offensive contact?

• A. Battery
• B. Assault
• C. IIED
• D. False imprisonment

Answer: (B)

Assault is the tort that involves apprehension of imminent harmful or offensive contact. The key is that the defendant’s act must be intentional and create a reasonable expectation that contact will occur immediately. The danger does not have to actualize into contact; the plaintiff only needs to be aware of and anticipate that immediate harm or offense is about to happen. Imminence matters: the threat must be immediate, not something in the distant future. Words alone can sometimes satisfy assault if they accompany an imminent ability to carry out the threat (for example, raising a fist and saying you’re about to hit someone). If there is actual contact, that’s battery rather than assault. If there is no imminent threat or the threat is not communicated as imminent, it isn’t assault. Other torts involve different wrongs (battery is the actual contact, false imprisonment is confinement, IIED is extreme distress from outrageous conduct).

Assault is the tort that involves apprehension of imminent harmful or offensive contact. The key is that the defendant’s act must be intentional and create a reasonable expectation that contact will occur immediately. The danger does not have to actualize into contact; the plaintiff only needs to be aware of and anticipate that immediate harm or offense is about to happen.

Imminence matters: the threat must be immediate, not something in the distant future. Words alone can sometimes satisfy assault if they accompany an imminent ability to carry out the threat (for example, raising a fist and saying you’re about to hit someone). If there is actual contact, that’s battery rather than assault. If there is no imminent threat or the threat is not communicated as imminent, it isn’t assault. Other torts involve different wrongs (battery is the actual contact, false imprisonment is confinement, IIED is extreme distress from outrageous conduct).