Legal Liability

Black’s Law Dictionary defines liability as “responsible or answerable in law; legally obligated.”

2 Forms

occurs when a person violates a criminal law
if a person is found guilty of violating criminal law,
- may be deprived of their liberty
  - imprisonment, fined, forced to pay restitution
charges of criminal liability are brought by the government
- acting through state or federal prosecutor
a requirement for criminal liability is mens rea (“guilty mind”)
- requires that the person had criminal intent
  - intended to commit a crime
  - or know action/inaction would result in a crime
standard of proof is beyond a reasonable doubt
- prosecution must convince the jury, that after considering the evidence, there is no other plausible conclusion than that the defendant is guilty

occurs when one person claims that another person has failed to carry out a legal duty that they were responsible for
brought to court by one party, claimant, against another party, respondent
claimant can be an individual, corporation, or government
standard of proof is preponderance of the evidence
- the prevailing party must present evidence demonstrating that there is greater than 50% chance that their claim is correct
some civil cases use strict liability standard
- a person is responsible for the consequences of their actions, even if they could not reasonably anticipate the adverse outcome

Theories of liability describe the conditions that must be met for someone to be found liable of a criminal or civil violation of the law.

theories differ for civil and criminal violations
vary based on the standard
- written into the law
- decided in case law
- and appropriate for the circumstances