What is the difference between a tort and a crime? For instance, assault is an example of a dual civil tort and criminal case. Assault is a crime, so calling the police is an appropriate response. But assault is also a tort, so a person could file an assault tort case civilly. Given that, is a company at risk of a family member filing a tort action against them for an assault at the workplace? If so, what can they do to prevent and/or mitigate that risk? Thoughts?

A tort can be said to be a wrongful action which is injurious to another person or interferes with the property of another party (Luntz, Hambly et al. 2017). A tort case is purely a civil proceeding in court. On the other hand, a crime is an illegality or an action which has been identified by a government, either state of federal to be a wrongful action hence a crime.  As such, a family can indeed sue a company for an assault at the workplace if a member of the family is assaulted. To prevent such a problem from occurring, the company can pass laws and code of conduct to make an individual personally liable for any action (assault) they take against a member. A person can only thus be answerable for a wrongful action committed to another employee such that the case can be a criminal case where the plaintiff is a witness of the state or company. Additionally, the company must invest in alternative dispute resolution mechanisms which are settled out of court.

References

Luntz, H., Hambly, D., Burns, K., Dietrich, J., Foster, N., Grant, G., & Harder, S. (2017). Torts: cases and commentary. LexisNexis Butterworths.