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Originally Posted by John Drake
So you have to have a contract to do harm to someone?
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To prosecute someone for lying, yes. For instance, you can tell someone they look pretty when they're actually ugly (and you think they're ugly) and you won't be liable for a lawsuit.
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The woman intentionally acted to cause harm to the girl.
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She caused no harm to the girl. The girl killed herself.
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And I believe you can be sued for breach of promise in breaking an engagment, so feelings can be seen as having tangible value.
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According to contract law, promises have to have consideration from both sides, or they at least have to promise something tangible upon which expectations are built. For instance, someone promising to lend you a car which you plan to use to drive to a very important business meeting. I don't think lying about your sex, age and emotions in a non-business environment passes for that. If you think it does, then you'd be able to sue someone who lies to you about their age on this forum or falsely tells you they like your posts and hurt your feelings with it. It would get pretty fucking ridiculous.
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Someone fraudulently calls you up and says they are a policeman and you have to come down to the morgue and identify your daughter's body, as they have her driver's license but need a positive id from a family member. You have a heart attack from the shock. There's nothing that can be done to this person?
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Not really. There probably are "emotional distress" torts, but I don't support them because it's ridiculous to sue people for hurt feelings. I'm guessing if the person had a heart attack, it was because of poor health. Besides, they became worried on their own.
In any case, the girl clearly had plenty of problems and who is to say she would not have committed suicide 2 weeks later because someone called her fat?