Also known as: reasonably under the circumstances · reasonableness under the circumstances · objective reasonableness standard
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A context-dependent standard of conduct or decision that measures appropriateness against the specific facts, risks, and practical constraints present at the time of the action. The standard requires an objective assessment of what a reasonably prudent actor in the same position would do given those particulars rather than applying a fixed or abstract rule.
Rosa Ruiz asked her lawyer to handle only the negotiation of a commercial lease and nothing else. The lawyer agreed after confirming that Rosa understood the limits and that the restriction fit the straightforward transaction and her budget. When a dispute later arose over an unrelated contract term, the lawyer declined to expand the representation.
Rina Rahman installed a non-lethal spring gun inside a locked shed on her rural property after repeated break-ins. A deliberate intruder triggered the device and suffered minor injury. The placement and calibration matched the low risk of serious harm and the difficulty of constant personal guarding.
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Ruby Rivera served as trustee of a modest family trust whose terms were silent on compensation. She petitioned the court for payment after three years of routine administration that required no special expertise or unusual time demands. The court set the fee at the market rate for comparable local trusteeships.
Ricardo Rojas, a surgeon, discussed with patient Raphael Rivera the risks of a spinal procedure, including a one-in-fifty chance of paralysis that local practice sometimes omitted. Rivera later claimed inadequate warning. The court measured the disclosure against what a reasonable physician would convey given the severity of the risk and the patient's need to decide.
Renata Russo faced two cancer therapies with sharply different side-effect profiles. Her physician presented both options and their respective probabilities without steering the decision. The court upheld the disclosure because it supplied the information a reasonable patient in Russo's position would need to exercise informed choice.
Rhapsody Entertainment maintained an internal complaint line and an anti-retaliation policy that Riverstone Manufacturing employees could access without cost or fear. An employee who bypassed the system and sued directly was later found to have failed to use the available mechanism that a reasonable person in her position would have tried first.
The standard looks to the concrete facts facing the actor rather than to any single professional custom or bright-line rule. Courts reject attempts to tie the obligation solely to local practice when those practices themselves fall short of what the situation reasonably demands.
No. The rule expressly requires both that the limitation be reasonable under the circumstances and that the client give informed consent. Absence of either element prevents the limitation from taking effect.
A trustee may receive compensation that is reasonable under the circumstances, measured by the duties performed, the size of the trust, and prevailing local rates for comparable services.
An employer can reduce or avoid liability by showing it took reasonable steps under the circumstances to prevent and correct harassment, including providing an accessible complaint procedure that a reasonable employee would use.
…picture.[^maj-65] We hold that the standard measuring performance of that duty by physicians, as by others, is conduct which is reasonable under the circumstances.[^maj-66] V Once the circumstances give rise to a duty on the physician’s part to inform his patient, the next inquiry is the scope of the disclosure the physician is legally obliged…