A woman with a large, baggy purse enters a store. She kneels down and begins examining various products. The store has just hired a security guard because of a recent rash of shoplifting incidents. The guard believes that the woman is stealing. The guard tells the store manager, who confronts the woman. The woman denies taking any items.

Undeterred, the manager and the guard take the woman to the back of the store and call the police. They prevent the woman from leaving until they question her. A female police officer then comes and strip-searches the woman. No items are found. The police and the store manager then apologize profusely to the distraught woman.

Can the woman sue the store, the store manager, and the police for false imprisonment? Can the shop argue that it has a privilege to detain persons suspected of shoplifting for a reasonable period of time?

1. What are intentional torts?
2. But isn't hitting someone a crime?
3. What are some typical intentional torts?
4. Is a civil lawsuit based on liability for an intentional tort different from a lawsuit based on negligence or strict liability?
5. I got a black eye in a fistfight with a man whose car accidentally bumped into mine while we sat at a red light. I would love to get even with him. Can I recover if I sue him?
6. Isn't battery a crime?
7. What is the tort of assault?
8. My neighbor fired his shotgun to scare a solicitor whom he did not want coming to his door. One of the pellets grazed a passerby. Will my neighbor be liable?
9. A security guard in a store suspected me of shoplifting and detained me. I have heard about something called false imprisonment. Do I have an action for that?
10. Someone broke into my house in the middle of the night and attacked me. I chased and knocked down the culprit running down the street. Will I be liable to him?
11. We got behind on our bills and a bill collector has been stopping by and calling us day and night. The bill collector intimidates us, calls us names, and threatens to destroy our credit record. We are nervous wrecks. What may we do?
12. What about someone hurting our reputation? Is that a tort?
13. What is the difference between slander and libel?
14. My late grandfather, who owned a textile factory, was called "unfair to labor" in a recent book about the industry. Is that libelous?
15. I have a tax-return preparation business, and a neighbor recently told a potential client that I did not know a thing about tax law. Isn't that slander?
16. Are there defenses to defamation?