Law for Business 10th Edition by James Barnes,Terry Dworkin,Eric Richards

Exercise 5

Hutchinson prepaid for $8.00 worth of gas at a Conoco station and asked the employee to set the pump to shut off at $8.00. Hutchinson set the handle to automatic fill. When he looked back at the pump, it had filled to $18.63 worth. He did not have enough money to pay the $10.63 difference and offered to leave his driver's license and several work tools as proof he would return and pay. The manager refused and said Hutchinson should siphon $10.63 worth of gas and offered him a bucket and hose. When police came, they agreed with the manager that he had to suck the gas out or he would be apprehended. Hutchinson knew siphoning this way was dangerous, but he feared jail more, so he did it. He inhaled gas fumes and swallowed gas in the process, and was dizzy, his eyes watered constantly, and his lips, mouth, tongue, and throat burned. He got treatment twice for uncontrollable vomiting, severe abdominal pain, and other symptoms. He sued for battery. Was requiring the gas siphoning a sufficiently offensive touching to be a battery?