Also known as: directions · court direction
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An instruction or command issued to guide or control the actions of another person or entity.
Judge Harlan overheard his bailiff make a disparaging remark about a litigant's ethnicity during a recess. The judge immediately instructed the bailiff to stop and reminded him that such comments violated court policy. Because the bailiff was subject to the judge's direction and control, the judge's failure to intervene earlier exposed the court to a claim of permitting bias.
Drake Logistics hired an independent contractor to repair a warehouse roof and specifically directed the crew to use a particular scaffolding method known to be unstable in high winds. When the scaffolding collapsed and injured a passerby, Drake Logistics faced the same liability as if its own employees had chosen the unsafe method.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A mid-level engineer at Dominion Capital emailed in-house counsel at the explicit direction of her division vice president to provide facts needed for a pending regulatory inquiry. The communication remained protected by attorney-client privilege even though the engineer was not part of senior management.
Denise Donovan, unable to hold a pen because of arthritis, asked her neighbor to sign her name on the will document while she watched from across the table. The neighbor signed at Donovan's direction in her conscious presence, satisfying the statutory execution requirement.
The board of directors of Desert Oil passed a resolution requiring the CEO to obtain board approval before entering any contract exceeding five million dollars. All subsequent major transactions were executed under the direction and oversight of the board as required by the statute.
An associate at a firm prepared a discovery response containing misleading statements after her supervising partner told her to follow a particular strategy. The associate remained personally bound by the Rules of Professional Conduct despite having acted at the direction of the partner.
Yes. When an employer gives negligent directions to an independent contractor, the employer is liable for resulting physical harm as though the employer had committed the act itself.
Supporting sources
Communications made by any corporate employee to counsel at the direction of superiors for the purpose of obtaining legal advice are protected, regardless of the employee's rank.
Supporting sources
The person signing the testator's name must do so in the testator's conscious presence and at the testator's direction. The signature is then treated as the testator's own.
Supporting sources
No. A lawyer remains bound by the Rules of Professional Conduct even when acting at the direction of another person.
Supporting sources
Yes. A judge must not permit court staff or others subject to the judge's direction and control to manifest bias or prejudice in the performance of judicial duties.
Supporting sources
…with a view to recommending specific terms for such decrees;" "(d) should this Court remand to the courts of first instance with directions to frame decrees in these cases and, if so, what general directions should the decrees of this Court include and what procedures should the courts of first instance follow in arriving at…