Which of the following is an unintentional tort?

Which of the following is an unintentional tort?

• A. Negligence.
• B. Battery.
• C. Defamation.
• D. Assault.

Answer: (A)

Unintentional torts come from a failure to exercise reasonable care, resulting in harm even though there was no intention to cause it. That’s why negligence is the correct choice. Negligence happens when a person owes a duty to act with reasonable care, breaches that duty, and that breach causes actual injury or damages. In a correctional context, imagine a guard who overlooks a known hazard or fails to follow safety procedures, and someone is hurt as a result. The harm occurred because of carelessness, not because the guard meant to harm someone. The other options involve intentional acts: battery is intentional harmful or offensive contact, assault is intentional conduct that creates apprehension of imminent harm, and defamation involves false statements that harm someone’s reputation. These require intent or knowledge of the wrong, whereas negligence does not.

Unintentional torts come from a failure to exercise reasonable care, resulting in harm even though there was no intention to cause it. That’s why negligence is the correct choice. Negligence happens when a person owes a duty to act with reasonable care, breaches that duty, and that breach causes actual injury or damages. In a correctional context, imagine a guard who overlooks a known hazard or fails to follow safety procedures, and someone is hurt as a result. The harm occurred because of carelessness, not because the guard meant to harm someone.

The other options involve intentional acts: battery is intentional harmful or offensive contact, assault is intentional conduct that creates apprehension of imminent harm, and defamation involves false statements that harm someone’s reputation. These require intent or knowledge of the wrong, whereas negligence does not.