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What are intentional torts?

What are intentional torts?

Intentional torts involve behavior in which the person that behaves wrongly intends to perform the action. However, the person who performs an intentional tort need not intend the harm. As an example, when someone deliberately shoots a gun across a field and injures someone, the shooter may not have intended the harm, but harm resulted just the same.

Common types of intentional torts include:

  • battery;
  • assault;
  • fraud;
  • defamation;
  • invasion of privacy;
  • trespass.
Many intentional torts are also crimes. The difference is that a tort can result in a civil lawsuit that may award monetary damages to the injured party, whereas a crime can result in criminal proceedings brought by a governmental agency. Criminal cases are not about damages; they are about protecting the public welfare and punishing the guilty.