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False Imprisonment

The tort of false imprisonment is the unlawful restraint of the plaintiff against his or her will, without the color of authority.  The essence of a cause of action for false imprisonment is the unlawful detention of the plaintiff and the deprivation of his or her liberty.  To constitute an action for false imprisonment, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant either intended to cause the confinement or had knowledge that the confinement was substantially certain to result from his or her actions.  The plaintiff need not show that force was used in the detention nor that the plaintiff made an oral protest to prove that the detention was against his or her will.  The restraint of the plaintiff must be unreasonable and not warranted by the circumstances.  It may be caused by actual force or by threat, and the threat may be by conduct or by words.  The confinement of the plaintiff does not need to be in a jail or prison.  The plaintiff does not need to demonstrate that the defendant was prompted by malicious motives or that the defendant was the party who previously took the plaintiff into custody. 

A plaintiff should consult an experienced West Palm Beach intentional tort's lawyer regarding his or her case.  A West Palm Beach intentional torts lawyer will help a plaintiff in proving that the defendant's actions constituted a tort for false imprisonment by demonstrating that:

The defendant's action was intentional;

The defendant caused the restraint;

The restraint was complete; and the restraint was against the plaintiff's will.

A West Palm Beach intentional torts lawyer will also advice a plaintiff that Florida courts equate the torts of false imprisonment and false arrest, that is, they are essentially just different labels for the same cause of action. The showing for false arrest and false imprisonment is basically the same, in procuring the arrest the defendant exercised unlawful restraint and detained the plaintiff against his or her will.

If you believe that you have a cause of action for false imprisonment call the experienced West Palm Beach intentional torts lawyers of Sharmin & Sharmin P.A. at 1-800-74-TRIAL.


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