LAW 122 Lecture 29: chap 29
15 Sep 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
To which tort does it apply: it is necessary to distinguish between two forms of the tort of intimidation. Two-party intimidation occurs when the plaintiff is directly coerced by the defendant into suffering a loss. For instance, the defendant may extract a payment from the plaintiff by threatening the plaintiff with the crime of murder or the tort of battery. A breach of contract is also an unlawful act. However, the cases indicate that the tort of intimidation is not established if the defendant merely threatened to breach a contract with the plaintiff. In that situation, the plaintiff is expected to bring a contractual, rather than a tortious, action against the defendant. A contractual claim is possible because both the plaintiff and the defendant are parties to the agreement. Three-party intimidation occurs when the defendant coerces a third party into acting in a way that hurts the plaintiff.
