CIVIL RIGHTS: Battery, Causing Grievous/Permanent Injuries

b. Battery, Causing Grievous/Permanent Injuries

As distinct from assault, battery is the actual unlawful contact to your person. So, if a man holds a stick, raises it up with a threat to hit you with it, it is assault. It, however, becomes battery when he actually hits you with the stick. A man who hits another with a fist blow has actually battered the person, so also is a man who slaps another. If Mr. A throws a stone at Mr. B which hits him, it is battery.

Please note that in criminal law, the Police do not often make this distinction between assault and battery. When the Police charge a suspect for assault, it may actually mean that the victim has been battered. But this distinction is very important in filing a civil suit.

Battery could result in grievous injuries to the victim in which case, the victim may be compelled to seek medical treatment. There are instances when such medical treatment may even involve surgery or intense medical treatment, for example, where Mr. A stabs Mr. B with a knife, broken bottle or any other sharp object. Or where a man hits another with iron rod or stick which causes grievous injuries resulting in loss of blood, open wound, or a cut. In some instances, the victim incurs some expenses in obtaining medical treatment. And when battery is grievous, it could leave a permanent scar on the victim.

Battery could also result in permanent injuries or incapacitation. For instance, a man hits another on the leg with a heavy iron which results in the victim not being able to make use of the leg permanently. Or Mr. A hits Mr. B on the back which results in broken spine and a permanent paralysis. In any situation of grievous or permanent injury or incapacitation, the victim is Where this happens, Mr. B is entitled to claim for the pain and suffering, loss of earning, loss of enjoyment of life as a result of the incapacitation, etc.

Let me, however, point it out that battery does not have to result in injury to you before you can make a claim. If a man shoves/pushes another unlawfully, it becomes battery, though the victim did not suffer any physical injury. In a particular case, it was held to be battery when Mrs. A cut the hair of Mrs. B without her consent. So, you may make your claim for battery even when you have not suffered any physical violence or injury.

There are times when the bodily contact resulting in battery is not direct. For example, if I set a dog upon John and the dog bites him, it is battery and John is entitled to make his claim against me. If John is sitting or wants to sit on a chair and I kick the chair away with the result that John falls or and sustains injury, it is battery. It is so even if John did not sustain any injury from my act.
The most important elements in battery are that there must have been a touch or bodily contact with the victim which was unlawful, unauthorized, and/or harmful. Secondly, the defendant must have had the intention to commit the act of unlawful bodily contact, in most cases with the intention to cause bodily harm or injury. It does not matter even that the contact was for the victim’s benefit. For instance, if Mrs. A is under medical treatment for typhoid and the doctor discovers in the course of treatment that she also has breast cancer requiring urgent surgery that would result in cutting off the breast, the doctor would still be liable for battery if he cuts off Mrs. A’s breast without her consent. It is irrelevant that the surgery was necessary to save her life.

The above notwithstanding, Note however that it is not every instances of unlawful contact that result in battery. There are times when an involuntary/unintentional contact takes place, like in everyday life. For instance, if I go to market or stay at a bus stop or inside a crowded bus where there are many people who are probably rushing, pushing or shoving each other, I cannot make a claim for battery so long as the pushing or shoving do not cause me physical injury and so long as it is normal in everyday life. Again, if I drive a car and the brake fails and hits Mr. James, I may not be liable for battery, though, he can make a claim for negligence.

Again, where there is consent, a defendant cannot be held liable for battery. Consent here could be express or implied. For example, a boxer or wrestler engaged in the sport cannot make a claim for battery against a fellow wrestler or boxer for injury sustained during the gamematch. He is taken to have consented to the bodily contact resulting in the injury. A football player on the field of play may not be able to maintain a claim for battery against a co-player, for bodily contact on the field of play, even if the contact is injurious. Note, however, that the bodily contact resulting in injury must be normal in the course of that particular sport. If Mr. A slaps or head- butts Mr. B in the course of a football match, then Mr. A may be liable for battery because such a bodily contact is not a feature of that sport. The same rule applies if Tyson bites Holyfield in a boxing game, because biting is not part of the authorized bodily contact in boxing.