A tort is “an act or omission that gives rise to injury or harm to another and amounts to a civil wrong for which courts impose liability.” Most people are familiar with personal injury lawsuits where a person acts carelessly or accidentally and harms someone else. For example, most car accidents and slip and fall cases qualify as civil negligence torts.
However, if someone purposely harms another person, that is an intentional tort. Battery is one of the most common intentional torts. If an intentional action results in someone’s death, the family or personal representative of the estate can file an intentional wrongful death claim.
Returning to our injured Alabama dock worker, because the angry crowd intentionally attacked him and apparently caused him bodily harm, he probably has the right to bring a civil lawsuit against his attackers for the intentional torts of assault and battery.