Searches and Seizures

1
Searches and Seizures

• Fourth Amendment requires warrant with probable
  cause.
• Warrantless exceptions exist for evanescent
  evidence.
• Searches of Business generally business
  inspectors must have a warrant. Marshall v.
  Barlows, Inc. (1978).
• general and neutral enforcement
• Business Records.
• Employee Safety.
• Check Points?

2
Self-Incrimination

• Fifth Amendment guarantees no person can be
  compelled to testify against himself in a
  criminal proceeding.
• Does not apply to corporations or partnerships.

3
Due Process and Equal Protection

• Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments provide no
  person shall be deprived of life, liberty or
  property without due process of law.
• Procedural and Substantive issues.

4
Procedural Due Process

• Procedures depriving an individual of her rights
  must be fair and equitable.
• Constitution requires adequate notice and a fair
  and impartial hearing before a disinterested
  magistrate.

5
Substantive Due Process

• Focuses on the content or substance of
  legislation.
• Laws limiting fundamental rights (speech,
  privacy, religion) must have a compelling state
  interest. strict scrutiny
• Laws limiting non-fundamental rights require only
  a rational basis.

6
Equal Protection

• Strict Scrutiny Test.
• Laws that affect the fundamental rights of
  similarly situated individuals in a different
  manner are subject to the strict scrutiny test.
  
• Any suspect class (race, national origin) must
  serve a compelling state interest which
  includes remedying past discrimination.

7
Equal Protection

• Intermediate Scrutiny.
• Applied to laws involving gender or legitimacy.
• To be constitutional laws must be substantially
  related to important government objectives.
• (EXAMPLE Illegitimate teenage pregnancy).

8
TORT ELEMENTS

• All Torts Have The Same Elements
• DUTY
• BREACH
• CAUSATION
• DAMAGES

9
Basics of Tort Law

• A tort is a civil injury designed to provide
  compensation for injury to a legally protected,
  tangible or intangible, interest.
• There are intentional and unintentional
  (negligence) torts.
• The duty that is violated by the tortfeasor
  (i.e., the wrongdoer) must exist as a matter of
  law, not as a consequence of any agreement
  between the tortfeasor and the injured party.

10
The Injury Requirement and Damages (All Torts)

• To recover, Plaintiff must show legally
  recognizable injury.
• Compensatory Damages are designed to reimburse
  Plaintiff for actual losses.
• Economic v. Non-Economic
• Punitive Damages are designed to punish the
  tortfeasor and deter others from wrongdoing.
  (usually not applicable to Negligence, Never in
  MI)

11
Causation (All Torts)

• Even though a Tortfeasor owes a duty of care and
  breaches the duty of care, the act must have
  caused the Plaintiffs injuries.
• Causation in Fact, and
• Proximate Cause.

12
Causation in Fact (All Torts)

• Scientific Causation
• Did the injury occur because of the Defendants
  act, or would the injury have occurred anyway?
• Usually determined by the but for test, i.e.,
  but for the Defendants act the injury would not
  have occurred.

13
Proximate Causation (All Torts)

• Case 7.2 Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co.
  (1928).
• An act is the proximate (or legal) cause of the
  injury when the causal connection between the act
  and injury is strong enough to impose liability.
  
• Foreseeability of POTENTIAL injury is an
  important factor.
• Think of proximate cause as an unbroken chain of
  events.

14
Intent In Tort Law

• The person committing the tort, the Tortfeasor or
  Defendant, must intend to commit the act.
  Intend means
• Tortfeasor intended the consequences of her act
  or
• She knew with substantial certainty that certain
  consequences would result. (
• In the case of Trespass and Conversion, the
  intent to be physically present, only.

15
Types of Intentional Torts (Tort Chart)

• Assault and Battery.
• False Imprisonment.
• Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress.
• Defamation.
• Invasion of Privacy.
• Trespass to Land
• Trespass to Chattel / Conversion

16
Assault and Battery

• Assault Refrain from intentionally creating in
  another person a reasonable apprehension (not
  fear) of immediate harmful or offensive contact.
• Battery Refrain from intentionally creating a
  harmful or offensive contact with another.

17
False Imprisonment Intentional Infliction of
Emotional Distress

• False Imprisonment Refrain from intentionally
  confining another person or restraint of another
  persons activities.
• Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress
  Refrain from intentionally acting in an extreme
  and outrageous manner which is reasonably likely
  to cause severe emotional distress in another.

18
Defenses to Intentional Torts (1)

• Consent.
• When a plaintiff consents to the act that damages
  him or her, the alleged tortfeasor generally is
  not liable for any damage done. (but exceed
  scope, informed consent)
• Necessity
• An otherwise tortuous act may be excused if the
  tortfeasor acted in accordance with law or the
  public good. Especially saving persons or
  property.

19
Defenses to Intentional Torts (2)

• Self-Defense (reasonable force).
• An individual defending his or her life or
  physical well-being, either from real or apparent
  danger, may use reasonably necessary force, or
  resort to reasonably necessary action, to prevent
  harmful contact.
• Defense of Others (reasonable force).
• Stand in their shoes.
• Defense of Property.
• Force that is likely to cause death or serious
  bodily injury (i.e., deadly force) normally may
  not be used solely to protect property SPRING
  GUNS.

20
Defamation

• Right to free speech is constrained by duty we
  owe each other to refrain from making false
  statements.
• Orally breaching this duty is slander breaching
  it in print or media is libel.

21
Defamation

• Gravamen of defamation is the publication of
  a false statement that holds an individual up to
  hatred, contempt or ridicule in the community.
• Publication requires communication to a 3rd party.

22
Damages for Slander

• Defamation Per Se. No proof of damages is
  necessary
• Loathsome disease,
• Business improprieties,
• Serious crime,
• Unmarried Woman is non-chaste or serious sexual
  misconduct.

23
Defenses to Defamation

• Truth is generally an absolute defense.
• Privileged (or Immune) Speech.
• Absolute judicial legislative proceedings.
• Qualified In other situations, statements or
  actions made in good faith and, in the case of
  statements, made only to those who have a
  legitimate interest in the statement, are
  privileged. ie Employee Evaluations.

24
Defamation-Public Figures

• Public figures exercise substantial governmental
  power or are otherwise in the public limelight.
• To prevail, they must show actual malice
  statement was made with either knowledge of
  falsity or reckless disregard for the truth.

25
Defamation of Things

• Disparagement of Property.
• The publication, whether written (trade libel) or
  oral (slander of quality), of false information
  about the quality of anothers product or
  services, proximately causing financial loss to
  the disparaged party.
• Slander of Quality or Title
• The publication, whether written or oral, of a
  statement that denies or casts doubt upon
  anothers legal ownership of any property,
  resulting in financial loss to the disparaged
  party.

26
Invasion of Privacy

• Every person has a fundamental right to solitude
  freedom from public scrutiny.
• Use of Persons Name or Likeness. (Appropriation)
• Intrusion on Individuals Affairs or Seclusion.
• Publication of Information that Places a Person
  in False Light.
• Public Disclosure of Private Facts.

27
Trespass to Land

• Trespass to Land Refrain from unauthorized entry
  onto, above, or below someones real property.
• Trespass to Personal Property and Conversion
  Refrain from taking or harming anothers personal
  property, in such a way as to interfere with the
  other persons right to exclusive possession.

28
Fraudulent Misrepresentation

• Fraud is intentional deceit. Elements
• Misrepresentation of material fact
• Intent to induce another to rely
• Justifiable reliance by innocent party
• Damages as a result of reliance
• Causal connection.
• Fact vs. Opinion.

29
Business Torts-Wrongful Interference

• Tort involving a contractual relationship.
• Occurs when
• Defendant knows about contract between A and B
• Intentionally induces either A or B to breach the
  contract and
• Defendant benefits from breach.
• Pennzoil v. Texaco 784 F.2d 1133 (2d Cir. 1986)
• 10.53 billion dollars

30
Business Torts-Wrongful Interference

• With a business relationship occurs when
• Established business relationship
• Tortfeasor, using predatory methods, causes
  relationship to end and
• Plaintiff suffers damages.
• Permissible behavior (bona fide competition) or
  justified behavior are defenses to this tort.