Reference no: EM133199876
1. You task is to make an argument regarding whether the forceful dispossession of plaintiff Fisher's plate in an offensive manner was sufficient to constitute a contact. Be aware that you do NOT need to argue whether there is a battery but whether the forceful dispossession of the plaintiff's plate in an offensive manner was sufficient to constitute a contact. Here is the explanation. To constitute a battery, there are four considerations:
- The defendant acts
- The defendant intends to cause contact with the victim
- The defendant's contact with the victim is harmful or offensive
- The defendant's contact causes the victim to suffer a contact that is harmful or offensive
The task is NOT to argue whether there is a battery based on this four-element judgement. It is to argue whether there is contact with the victim that is considered contact in tort.
2. The laws or rules you need to know has been listed after the description of the case.
3. You do not need use all the rules provided in the assignment. It is OK if you can make a beautiful argument with one rule.
4. Follow the structure of IRAC.
Fisher v. Carrousel Motor Hotel, Inc.
FACTS:
The plaintiff Fisher had been invited by Ampex Corporation and Defense Electronics to a one day's meeting regarding telemetry equipment at the Carrousel. The invitation included a luncheon. The guests were asked to reply by telephone whether they could attend the luncheon, and Fisher called in his acceptance. After the morning session, the group of 25 or 30 guests adjourned to the Brass Ring Club for lunch. The luncheon was buffet style, and Fisher stood in line with others and just ahead of a graduate student of Rice University who testified at the trial. As Fisher was about to be served, he was approached by Flynn, who snatched the plate from Fisher's hand and shouted that he, a Negro, could not be served in the club. Fisher testified that he was not actually touched, and did not testify that he suffered fear or apprehension of physical injury; but he did testify that he was highly embarrassed and hurt by Flynn's conduct in the presence of his associates.
The jury found that Flynn "forceably dispossessed plaintiff of his dinner plate" and "shouted in a loud and offensive manner" that Fisher could not be served there, thus subjecting Fisher to humiliation and indignity. It was stipulated that Flynn was an employee of the Carrousel Hotel and, as such, managed the Brass Ring Club.
Rules
- "To constitute an assault and battery, it is not necessary to touch the plaintiff's body or even his clothing; knocking or snatching anything from plaintiff's hand or touching anything connected with his person, when done in an offensive manner, is sufficient."
- "Since the essence of the plaintiff's grievance consists in the offense to the dignity involved in the unpermitted and intentional invasion of the inviolability of his person and not in any physical harm done to his body, it is not necessary that the plaintiff's actual body be disturbed. Unpermitted with anything so connected with the body as to be and intentional contacts customarily regarded as part of the other's person and therefore as partaking of its inviolability is actionable as an offensive contact with his person. There are some things such as clothing or a cane or, indeed, anything directly grasped by the hand which are so intimately connected with one's body as to be universally regarded as part of the person."