When someone is hurt by another person’s carelessness, they can seek compensation even though the harm was an accident. An intentional tort is different: it is a civil wrong committed on purpose. The person who caused the harm acted deliberately, and that deliberate act is what sets an intentional tort apart from ordinary negligence.
Defining an intentional tort
An intentional tort is a deliberate act that injures another person, rather than an accidental one. To win an ordinary negligence claim, an injured party does not need to prove the at-fault person meant to cause harm — only that they failed to use reasonable care. With an intentional tort, the injured party shows that the at-fault person acted deliberately. They may not have set out to cause the specific injury, but the dangerous or harmful act itself was intentional.
Intentional torts are not always tied to criminal cases, but many intentional torts are also crimes. A victim of conduct that causes physical or emotional harm can file a civil claim even when the perpetrator faces no criminal consequences. Because the burden of proof is lower in a civil case than in a criminal one, it can be easier for a victim to recover fair compensation.
Common examples of intentional torts
An intentional tort can arise whenever someone deliberately commits a dangerous or harmful act. Some of the most common include:
- Road rage — A driver who speeds may cause a crash unintentionally, which is negligence. A driver who deliberately rams another vehicle or forces it off the road has crossed into an intentional act.
- Assault and battery — Deliberately threatening or offensively striking another person, including sexual assault, is a deliberate act of harm. A victim who suffers significant injury has the right to file a civil claim even if the perpetrator is acquitted.
- False imprisonment — Deliberately detaining or trapping someone who has not consented, when there is no right to do so, can cause both physical harm and serious emotional distress.
- Intentional infliction of emotional distress — Not every intentional tort is physical. Conduct meant to cause severe emotional harm — racial or sexual abuse, or behavior that creates a serious fear of physical harm — can support a claim even when no physical injury occurs.
Pursuing compensation
A person injured by another’s deliberate conduct can file a claim for the resulting losses. Damages in an intentional tort case can include:
- Medical costs — both immediate treatment and long-term care such as physical or occupational therapy or in-home care during recovery.
- Lost income — wages lost while the injured party is unable to work.
- Lost earning potential — when the injury permanently limits the ability to work or to work in a chosen field.
- Property damage — when the incident also damages the injured party’s property.
- Pain and suffering — including the emotional distress tied to the incident.
A lawyer can help the injured party account for every related loss so the claim reflects the full impact of the incident, not just its most obvious costs.
How an intentional tort differs from a criminal case
Many acts behind intentional tort claims are also crimes, but a civil claim and a criminal case are separate proceedings with different burdens of proof. In a criminal case, the prosecutor must prove the defendant’s conduct beyond a reasonable doubt. In a civil claim, the injured party generally needs only to show a reasonable connection between the defendant’s conduct and the harm suffered. That difference is why a victim can recover compensation even when a criminal case ends without a conviction.
A criminal conviction can serve as strong evidence in a civil trial — a driver convicted of a road-rage offense, for example, gives the injured party clear proof of cause. But the criminal case itself does not award the victim any compensation. To recover for the losses tied to the incident, the injured party must file a separate personal injury claim.
Because intentional tort claims turn on proving deliberate conduct and documenting every related loss, an injury lawyer can collect the evidence and build the record that connects the at-fault party’s actions to your injuries.