## Facts

- Mariano Teolis and neighboring landowners Eugenio Moscatelli and Neri argued about a division fence.
- Moscatelli challenged Teolis to fight; Teolis agreed to go into the highway to fight.
- In the road, Teolis removed his coat and was immediately stabbed with a knife by Moscatelli.
- Teolis testified that Neri held him and urged Moscatelli to attack, telling Moscatelli to “give it to him.”
- Teolis brought an action of trespass for assault and battery against Moscatelli and Neri.
- A jury returned a verdict for Teolis for $750.

## Issues

1. Whether Teolis’s agreement to engage in a fight barred his civil recovery for assault and battery under a consent or “mutual combat” theory.
2. Whether any consent to fight extended to being stabbed with a knife and restrained by a third party.
3. Whether the trial court erred in refusing to direct a verdict for defendants and in denying a motion for a new trial.

## Decision

- The Rhode Island Supreme Court overruled defendants’ exceptions.
- The court held that Teolis’s agreement to a fistfight did not constitute consent to a knife attack or to being held while stabbed.
- The court rejected the contention that an agreement to fight is, by itself, a complete bar to recovery for injuries inflicted during the combat.
- The court upheld the trial justice’s refusal to direct a verdict and denial of a new trial.
- The case was remitted with instructions to enter judgment on the jury’s verdict for Teolis.

## Legal Principles

- Consent is limited to the scope of what was actually agreed; agreeing to a fistfight does not imply consent to the use of a deadly weapon.
- Participation in an unlawful fight does not automatically bar a civil action for assault and battery for injuries inflicted in the fight.
- When evidence permits findings that a defendant used excessive or different force than what was consented to, liability may be imposed notwithstanding the plaintiff’s willingness to fight.
- Appellate review will not disturb a verdict where the evidence supports submission to the jury and supports the trial court’s denial of a new trial.

## Conclusion

The court sustained the plaintiff’s verdict because any consent extended, at most, to a fistfight and did not cover a knife stabbing or restraint, and because mutual combat was not treated as a categorical defense to civil liability for assault and battery.


Teolis v. Moscatelli, 119 A. 161 (R.I. 1923)