“The tort of battery is an intentional and offensive touching of a person who has not consented to the touching.” To prevail, the plaintiff must establish: “(1) the defendant touched the plaintiff, or caused the plaintiff to be touched, with the intent to harm or offend the plaintiff; (2) the plaintiff did not consent to the touching; (3) the plaintiff was harmed or offended by the defendant’s conduct; and (4) a reasonable person in the plaintiff’s position would have been offended by the touching.”
A touching is “offensive” if it would offend “a reasonable person’s sense of personal dignity. . . The least touching may constitute a battery; it need not be violent or severe, and need not leave a mark or cause pain.” A battery is the harmful or offensive contact, not that such contact is merely feared [see post entitled “Civil: Assault”]. “Because battery requires contact, mere words are not sufficient to constitute the tort.” [“But words alone, if sufficiently threatening or outrageous, may be actionable as intentional infliction of emotional distress.”]
“In the absence of actual injury, [the] plaintiff may recover nominal damages. . . However, if [the] defendant causes injury or damage beyond the harmful contact itself, [the] plaintiff is entitled to recover for that injury.”
Consent is a defense to battery “so long as the act does not exceed the scope of consent given.” Consent is not a defense where the plaintiff lacked capacity to consent, where consent was fraudulently obtained, and where consent is negated by law [e.g., minor cannot by law consent to sexual battery by adult].
The plaintiff may recover compensatory damages, and, upon the proper showing, punitive damages from the defendant. Additional remedies may be provided by a domestic violence restraining order, a civil harassment restraining order, a dependent adult protection order, and protections and orders against workplace violence.
“The statute of limitations for battery is two years. . . A battery is complete when the touching occurs, and a cause of action accrues upon each individual incident of battery.”
[California Practice Guide: Civil Procedure Before Trail Claims & Defenses [citations to primary sources omitted]]
