Personal Injury - Assault and Battery Attorney
For Hilton Head Island, Bluffton, & Beaufort South Carolina (SC) Area

In personal injury law cases, assault and battery are known as "intentional torts," which means that the personal injuries were purposefully inflicted on one person by another.  While mostly interconnected, assault and battery are quite distinctive in nature.

The Basics of Assault
An assault is classified as an intentional attempt or threat to inflict injury upon a person, in addition to an apparent, existing ability to cause the harm.  This signifies a reasonable fearfulness of bodily injury or abusive contact. Assault does not necessitate physical touching or bodily harm to the victim.  While most often the terms assault and battery work together in tandem, battery is the unjustifiable harm or offensive touching.  In basic terms, assault refers to a threat and is both a crime and a tort and an assailant is liable to face criminal and civil liability. 

Civil Assault Cases. 
A victim may claim civil damages for injuries caused by it; separate from any criminal charges.   Once a judge or jury determines that an assault was committed, it is then customary to establish what compensation is proper. Medical expenses are generally considered to be compensatory damages and are intended to recompense for the injury sustained.  Nominal damages function as an acknowledgment that a person has suffered a technical invasion of rights.   They are awarded in cases where no actual injury has resulted, or where an injury occurred, but the amount has not yet been established.  Nominal damage awards are generally a small sum of money.  Lastly, punitive damages may be awarded in particularly damaging circumstances, with the intent to further punish the wrongdoer.

The Elements of Assault
Assault requires:

• An act intended to cause an apprehension of harmful or offensive contact.
• An act that causes apprehension in the victim that harmful or offensive contact is imminent.

Words alone, devoid of an act, cannot amount to an assault.  However, if the threatening words are tied in with an action indicating the perpetrator encompasses the ability to carry out a threat, an assault has occurred.  For example, an assault occurs when a person threatens to shoot another while pointing a gun, even if the gun was not loaded.  Additionally, pointing a gun without the accompanying spoken threat is still an assault with the assumption that the victim saw the gun.  Moreover, the victim must have a reasonable apprehension of imminent injury or offensive contact.

The Basics of Battery
In both criminal and civil law, a battery is the intentional touching of, or application of force to, the body of another person, in a harmful or offensive manner, and without consent. A battery is often confused with an assault, which is merely the act of threatening a battery, or of placing another in fear or apprehension of an impending and immediate battery. A battery is almost always preceded by an assault, which is why the terms are often used transitionally or combined, as in "assault and battery."

The Restatement (Second) of Torts, Sections 13 and 18, states that an actor commits a battery if he acts intentionally either to cause a harmful or offensive contact or to cause imminent apprehension of such a contact and a harmful or offensive contact actually occurs.

Criminal Battery.
The difference between battery as a crime and battery as a civil tort is merely in the type of intent required. A criminal battery requires a criminal intent to do wrong, in other words, to cause a harmful or offensive convergence.  Accordingly, a defendant found guilty of the crime of battery is often sued by the defendant in a civil action for the same offense/incident.  Simple criminal battery is most often prosecuted as a misdemeanor whereas repeat offenses or the specific nature of the offense may warrant more severe treatment.  

Aggravated battery is a simple battery with an aggravating factor. This is most often the addition of a weapon regardless of whether it was used or if the threat was present and is in most cases a felony offense. Other aggravated batteries include those committed against protected persons such as children, the disabled, elderly or governmental agents; when the victim suffers serious injury; or those occurring in a public transit vehicle or station, or school zone, or other protected place.

Civil Battery (Tort).
A battery is classified as an intentional tort and in establishing the tort of battery, the criteria is the same as utilized in criminal battery, with the exception that criminal intent need not be distinguished.  Basically, making contact without consent is a tortuous battery. 
A battery involves actual contact. An assault is, in actuality, an incomplete battery; a person commits an assault if he or she intentionally places a person in apprehension of an impending battery.  Battery is a general intent offense which means that the actor does not necessarily intend the specific harm that will result from the unwanted contact.  The person has only committed an act of unwanted contact.   Once there is palpable physical, emotional or monetary harm, all elements of a battery are present, and an aggrieved person may file charges.  In criminal law, the individual state will file charges for battery, and the victim becomes a witness for the prosecution.  In a criminal court of law, the focus is on the guilt or innocence of the defendant and generally no damages are available to the victim.   On the other hand, the victim of a battery may file a civil lawsuit stemming from the same incident, in which the defendant is charged with the tort of battery. In such a case, damages are typically compensatory, along with special relief such as injunctive or punitive.

Battery in Special Circumstances
Medical Battery:  Virtually all states have recognized, either by express statute or common law, the right to receive information about one's medical condition, the treatment choices, risks associated with the treatments, and prognosis. The information must be in plain language terms that can readily be understood and in sufficient amounts such that a patient is able to make an "informed" decision about his or her health care. If the patient has received this information, any consent to treatment that is given will be presumed to be an "informed consent." A doctor who fails to obtain informed consent for non-emergency treatment may be charged with a civil and/or criminal offense, including a battery, for the unauthorized touching of the plaintiff's person.

Toxic Battery:  Toxic torts typically involve claims of negligence or strict liability. However, in recent years, cognizable claims for toxic battery have succeeded in many courts. Again, the intent necessary to constitute a tortious battery need not be an intent to cause harm, but rather, the intent to do the act which ultimately causes the harm. Companies that manufacture chemicals that are known to be volatile or known to ultimately result in human contact are vulnerable to such claims. They may be sued for illegal disposal of toxic/hazardous materials as well as toxic battery if persons are harmed by leached chemicals or fumes in the air, ground, or water. The intent was not to harm others, but to dump the material in an illegal manner or location. This is a good example of gross negligence or recklessness so egregious as to constitute the requisite intent to commit battery under law.

Sports:  Most sports injuries, which are common in competitive, contact sports, are accidental. However, viable causes of action have been found in cases where sports players used excessive force in their tactics, to the detriment or harm of other players. Of course, the infamous fights among hockey players have resulted in numerous multi-party claims for battery.

Domestic Violence:  Of all torts and crimes involving domestic relations, the most recurring ones involve charges of battery. This is true not only in spousal relations, but also in child abuse cases. Sexual offenses against other persons (including children) are both specific crimes as well as batteries. Unfortunately, spousal batteries often escalate into situations involving serious physical harm and property damage. Some courts permit batteries to the "extended personality," committed in the presence of the victim, because intentional destruction of items personal to a spouse are not uncommon in situations involving highly emotionally-charged marital discord. Moreover, in criminal battery, authorities recognize that victims may not want to press charges for fear of future harm or retaliation, especially in spousal battery. For this reason, prosecution may proceed even where the spousal victim is compelled to testify, or becomes an adverse witness for the state.

Consider hiring an attorney.
If you have been accused of a violent crime or are the victim of a violent crime, it is imperative to take the system seriously and contact an attorney from the Kiker Law Firm.  An attorney from Kiker Law Firm encompasses the familiarity with assault and battery crimes and can assist you in winning your case.   Our lawyers know how to fight for your rights. 

Dedicated to the Client
Assault and battery cases are a highly technical and specialized field.  The attorneys at Kiker Law Firm have extensive experience in pursuing these cases.  We understand what you're up against and also know that many damages do not appear serious at first but that they may, in fact, plague someone for life. Our staff can aggressively pursue full compensation for all your injuries – including present and future.

We offer a free consultation and evaluation of your case. Simply complete a free consultation form online or call us at 843-842-7200. We'd be happy to meet with you and help you make an informed decision regarding your accident and injury claim.