In tort law, which tort is defined as unwarranted harmful contact?

• A. False Imprisonment
• B. Battery
• C. Assault
• D. Invasion of privacy

Answer: (B)

Battery is the tort that covers intentional harmful or offensive contact with another person without consent. The phrase “unwarranted harmful contact” points to the essential idea: someone deliberately makes contact that a reasonable person would find harmful or offensive, and there is no permission to do so. The key elements are intent to cause contact, actual contact, and the lack of consent, with the contact being harmful or offensive to the plaintiff. The contact can be direct or through an object that the person is touched with, as long as the result is harmful or offensive.

By contrast, assault involves a threat or attempt to cause such contact without actual physical touch, false imprisonment is unlawful restraint of someone’s freedom of movement, and invasion of privacy concerns intrusion or violation of personal privacy rather than bodily contact.