Mod 3 Discussion Board Sample Hypothetical

Sally and Martha are at a bar playing pool when Martha decides to tell Sally that she previously dated Sally's current boyfriend. Sally becomes very angry and tries to hit Martha with her pool cue. Martha ducks, Sally misses Martha, and hits Lisa in the back instead. Lisa turns around, furious, and charges at Martha, raising her fists to hit her. "Sorry!" Martha yells, and drops the pool cue, holding out her hands to fend off Lisa, "that was an accident!" Lisa's friend stops her from hitting Martha.

Consider a claim brought by Martha against Lisa for assault.

Sample Explanation of Hypothetical

An assault is a volitional act by the defendant which intentionally causes the plaintiff to suffer an apprehension of immediate harmful or offensive contact.

I think the elements of assault are all met in the hypothetical I created. It has intent, apprehension, and the apprehension is of a harmful contact.

Lisa's actions were intentional b/c she charges Martha angrily after Martha mistakenly hit her. It's reasonable to think she knew Martha saw her coming and wanted Martha to be afraid. That means she wanted Martha to "apprehend" immediate harmful or offensive contact. The facts show Martha saw her coming or Martha wouldn't have dropped the pool cue and apologized. So, Lisa had the intent for assault.

Martha reasonably "apprehended" an immediate harmful or offensive contact. Lisa had her fists up to hit Martha. She telegraphed harmful contact, causing pain and physical harm, to Martha. Martha got the message, meaning she apprehended the imminent harm, because she dropped the pool cue and held out her hands to stop Lisa from hitting her. Martha even apologized. Any reasonable person would've done that as a response to understanding Lisa was about to hit them. Martha wouldn't have done so if she hadn't apprehended immediate harmful contact, that is, getting hit by Lisa's fist(s). So, she "apprehended" an imminent harmful contact.