Also known as: imminent dangers · imminent harm · immediate danger
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An immediate threat of serious harm that justifies defensive or protective measures by another party. The threat must be real and pressing enough that delay would prevent effective response.
State officials in Borderland learn of an armed force massing just across the line and preparing to cross at dawn. Without waiting for Congress, the governor orders state troops to intercept the incursion. The action rests on the presence of imminent danger that admits of no delay.
Worker Ivan Ivanov is ordered to repair wiring inside a silo while a supervisor watches. A sudden grain avalanche traps Ivan and begins to suffocate him. The supervisor, aware of the situation, fails to activate the emergency shutoff or summon help. The master faces liability for not averting the threatened harm.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
During wartime, military commanders order the removal of residents from coastal zones after intelligence indicates sabotage teams are preparing attacks. Courts uphold the orders because the authorities reasonably apprehended the gravest imminent danger to public safety.
The Secretary issues an emergency temporary standard limiting worker exposure to a chemical after studies show even brief contact can cause irreversible lung damage. The standard is sustained only because the agency demonstrated a significant risk of imminent harm rather than a speculative possibility.
State inspectors close a residential facility after finding several residents cannot move themselves from situations involving imminent danger such as fire. The operators challenge the closure orders, but the requirement that all residents be capable of self-evacuation is upheld.
A university defends a race-conscious admissions policy by arguing that racial diversity is necessary to avoid violence on campus. The justification fails because obtaining educational benefits from diversity does not rise to the level of imminent danger to life and limb.
Imminent danger requires an immediate, real threat that leaves no time for ordinary enforcement procedures. A general risk may be serious yet not trigger the same urgent duties or exceptions.
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Yes. An immediate threat of harmful contact that would cause a reasonable person to apprehend injury supports the use of defensive force. The danger must be imminent rather than remote or speculative.
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The prisoner must show an immediate threat of serious physical injury that is real and not merely hypothetical. Courts examine the specific facts alleged to determine whether the danger is imminent.
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The employer must exercise reasonable care to avert the threatened harm once the danger is known to management. Failure to act exposes the employer to liability for resulting injury.
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…confinement to the home from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Nothing short of apprehension by the proper military authorities of the gravest imminent danger to the public safety can constitutionally justify either. But exclusion from a threatened area, no less than curfew, has a definite and close relationship to the prevention of espionage and…