Also known as: duty to act · duties to act
Written by attorneys — see sources below.
A legal obligation requiring a person to take affirmative action in specified circumstances. Breach of the obligation can support criminal liability for resulting harm or civil liability for failure to perform functions attached to an office or agency relationship.
Lars Lindstrom, chief technology officer at NovaSpark, secretly redirected company engineers to build an app for his own side venture and told the board the work aligned with NovaSpark's roadmap. When the diversion came to light, NovaSpark sued. The court measured Lindstrom's conduct against the obligation that applies when an officer performs corporate functions and found the concealment inconsistent with that obligation.
Lila Lin agreed to represent both the seller and the buyer in the same commercial property transaction. She knew facts about the buyer's financing that would have affected the seller's willingness to proceed but said nothing to either side. When the deal collapsed, the seller sued Lin for breach of her obligation to act fairly and disclose material information to each principal.
Lamar Lewis and Latoya Lane belonged to a religious group that rejected conventional medicine. Their young son developed a treatable infection that worsened over several days. They provided only spiritual treatment and never sought professional care. After the child died, prosecutors charged the parents with involuntary manslaughter on the theory that their parental relationship created an obligation to obtain medical help.
David and Ginger Twitchell were the parents of Robyn Twitchell, who died on April 8, 1986, at the age of two and one-half years. Robyn's death resulted from peritonitis caused by the perforation of his bowel, which had been obstructed as a result of an anomaly known as Meckel's diverticulum. Evidence presented at trial indicated that this condition could be corrected by surgery with a high success rate. The Twitchells are practicing Christian Scientists who grew up in Christian Science families and believe in healing by spiritual treatment. During Robyn's five-day illness from Friday, April 4, through Tuesday, April 8, they retained a Christian Science practitioner, a Christian Science nurse, and at one time consulted with Nathan Talbot, who held a position in the church known as the Committee on Publication. As a result of that consultation, David Twitchell read a church publication concerning the legal rights and obligations of Christian Scientists in Massachusetts. That publication quoted a portion of G.L. c. 273, § 1, as then amended, which accepted remedial treatment by spiritual means alone as satisfying any parental obligation not to neglect a child or to provide a child with physical care. The Twitchells appealed their convictions of involuntary manslaughter, and the Supreme Judicial Court granted their request for direct appellate review.
Lena Lopez served as the designated agent for a corporation required by statute to file an annual report. She received notice of the filing deadline but took no steps to prepare or submit the report. When the state imposed penalties, prosecutors charged Lopez with reckless omission, relying on the duty imposed by law on the agent having primary responsibility for discharge of the corporate obligation.
Leo Lang, an officer of a community association, was entrusted by the governing documents with the duty to inspect and maintain common-area safety equipment. After receiving reports of a hazard, he failed to investigate or arrange repairs. When a resident was injured, the resident sued Lang for breach of the obligation to act that had been assumed for the protection of others.
A statute, a contract, or a special relationship between the defendant and the victim can each create the obligation. Once the obligation exists, an omission that breaches it can support criminal liability if the other elements of the offense are satisfied.
Yes. An officer performing corporate functions must act honestly and with a sincere effort to advance the corporation's interests. Concealing self-dealing or misrepresenting facts to the board violates that obligation even if the officer later claims the side activity might have helped the company.
…779, 783 (1990). A charge of involuntary manslaughter based on an omission to act can be proved only if the defendant had a duty to act and did not do so. Commonwealth v. Welansky, supra . That duty, however, is not limited to those duties whose violation would create civil liability. Commonwealth v. Godin, supra at…
…Dist. R. 149. See also Miller v. Strahl , 239 U. S. 426. : Compare the case of an employer who at common law owes no duty to his employees to make his factory safer than it appeared to be when the employment began, because they contractually assumed the risk. Jones v. Granite Mills , 126 Mass. 84. Keith…
…may submit the issue of entrapment to a jury for advice. But whatever may be the finding upon such submission the power and the duty to act remain with the court and not with the jury. Such action does not grant immunity to a guilty defendant. But to afford him as his right a defense founded not on the statute, but on the…
A dual agent breaches the obligation when, knowing facts that would reasonably affect either principal's judgment, the agent fails to disclose those facts to both sides. The obligation applies unless a principal has manifested that the facts are already known or not of interest.
Yes. A parental relationship creates an obligation to provide necessary medical services. Intentional failure to seek care for a child who has a treatable condition can support a conviction for involuntary manslaughter when the omission causes death.
A gratuitous agent must exercise the care and skill that persons who are not agents would use when performing similar unpaid tasks. The standard is lower than the standard for paid agents but still requires reasonable attention to the task undertaken.