Fisher v. Carrousel Motor Hotel, Inc., 424 S.W.2d 627 (Tex. 1967)

            The term battery often brings to mind images of physical injury. But as the next case shows, the law takes harms just as seriously when they involve a person’s sense of dignity or bodily integrity. But how do we measure offense to an individual’s dignity? Do we rely on the plaintiff’s subjective reaction? To some sense of what an objective observer would think? How much will our answer vary depending on the culture and moment in time in which a tort takes place?

            Consider these questions in reading the next case. The plaintiff had a plate snatched from his hand at a segregated restaurant. No direct touching ever took place, but yet the court considered the possibility that battery had taken place.