What Is a Tort?

A tort is a civil, or private, act that harms other people or their property. The harm may involve physical injury, emotional distress, invasion of privacy, or defamation (injuring a person’s character by publication of false statements). The injured party may go to court and sue the wrongdoer to recover damages for the harm or loss. A tort is not the result of a breach of contract, which would be settled under contract law. Torts are part of common law. Examples of tort cases that happen in a business context are medical malpractice (substandard health care that results in harm), slander (an untrue oral statement that damages a person’s or business’ reputation), libel (an untrue written statement that damages a person’s or business’ reputation), product liability (discussed in the next section), and fraud.

Although some acts can be both torts and crimes (battery, for instance, is a criminal act that would be prosecuted by the state and is a tort because of the injury to the person.), torts are treated differently than crimes in the legal system. Torts are private wrongs and are settled in civil courts; the party who is injured seeks to be compensated by the party who caused the harm. Crimes are violations of public law where the government seeks to prove the accused committed the offense in criminal court and have a punishment imposed by a judge. The purpose of criminal law is to punish the person who committed the crime. The purpose of tort law is to provide remedies or compensation to the injured party.