Assault and Battery Claims in Personal Injury Law

When someone intentionally causes another person to fear immediate harm or makes physical contact without permission, the law may recognize an injury known as assault or battery. These intentional acts can lead to both criminal charges and personal injury lawsuits. In a civil setting, the injured individual may seek compensation for medical expenses, lost income, emotional distress, and other harms that arise from these offenses.

What Is Assault?

Assault occurs when a person intentionally takes actions that make someone else reasonably believe that they are about to be immediately harmed or offensively touched. The essential element is the perception of an imminent threat, rather than the threat’s eventual fulfillment. Verbal threats or heated gestures can constitute assault if they would cause a normal person in that situation to fear imminent harm. For instance, raising a fist and yelling in a way that suggests a physical attack is about to happen can be considered assault.

What Is Battery?

Battery describes intentional, unwanted physical contact that is harmful or offensive. Actual physical injury need not be severe for battery to exist, since the law primarily focuses on whether the contact occurred without consent. Striking a person directly, throwing an object that strikes them, or even touching them in a clearly offensive way without their permission can amount to battery under personal injury law. Pushing someone into another individual, or causing indirect contact in other similar ways, can also be classified as battery.

Intent vs. Negligence

Assault and battery are known as intentional torts, setting them apart from negligence claims. In negligence cases, liability arises when someone fails to act with the degree of care that a reasonable person would use under the same circumstances, such as a distracted driver causing a car accident. For assault or battery, the focus is on whether the defendant meant to create a reasonable fear of immediate harm (assault) or to engage in unwanted contact (battery). Proving this element of intent is crucial in establishing liability for an intentional tort.

Common Defenses

Self-defense, defense of others, and consent are examples of defenses that may be raised against an accusation of assault or battery. Self-defense often applies when a defendant can show that the use of force was both necessary and proportionate. Defense of others follows the same logic but involves coming to someone else’s aid. Consent may be relevant when the purported victim voluntarily permitted the touching. For example, if they agreed to participate in a contact sport, this would indicate that they consented to types of contact normal in that sport.

Proving Damages

Proving the physical, financial, and emotional impact of assault or battery is an integral part of a personal injury claim. An injured party may present evidence of medical bills, treatment records, and changes to daily life to show damages. Witness statements and photographs can also support a claim of harmful contact. The degree of injury may affect the amount of potential compensation but does not affect whether assault or battery took place.

Civil vs. Criminal Consequences

Assault and battery can be handled as criminal cases, civil cases, or both. Criminal proceedings are brought by the government in response to a violation of a criminal statute. A conviction or guilty plea may lead to fines, incarceration, or other penalties. Civil lawsuits for assault or battery, on the other hand, focus on compensating the victim for losses. A civil claim does not require the same level of proof as a criminal case, which means that a defendant may be held liable in civil court even if the criminal case does not result in a conviction.

Last reviewed April 2025