During a classroom session, a schoolboy, Putney, lightly kicked another boy, Vosburg, in the shin. Unknown to Putney, Vosburg had a prior injury that made the contact far more harmful than an ordinary kick would have been. The kick allegedly aggravated the condition and led to serious medical consequences. The incident occurred after the class had been called to order, when students were expected to maintain decorum.
Is a defendant liable for all resulting harm when he intentionally makes an unlawful physical contact, even if he did not intend or foresee the severe injury that followed?
An intentional, unlawful touching constitutes a battery. When a battery is established, the actor is liable for the resulting injuries, including unexpectedly severe harm, even if the full extent of the harm was not intended or foreseeable.
Yes. Because the kick was an intentional and unlawful contact in the classroom setting, Putney was liable for the injuries that followed, notwithstanding that the serious consequences were not intended.
The court treated the central question as whether the contact was unlawful, not whether the defendant intended the precise injury. Once the classroom was in session, ordinary horseplay was not privileged, so the intentional kick counted as a battery. Under the principle that a wrongdoer takes the victim as found, liability extends to the full consequences of the unlawful touching. Thus the unexpected aggravation of Vosburg's condition did not limit recovery.
Vosburg v. Putney is a foundational American battery case for the propositions that intent to make unlawful contact is sufficient and that a defendant is liable for unforeseeable, unusually severe injuries caused by that contact. It is closely associated with the eggshell-plaintiff principle and helped shape modern intent doctrine in torts. Related authorities include Garratt v. Dailey, 46 Wn.2d 197, 279 P.2d 1091 (1955), on intent in battery, and Restatement (Second) of Torts § 13, which reflects the modern formulation of battery.
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