Also known as: standards of care
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
The degree of care that a reasonable person would exercise under the circumstances. In negligence analysis the standard supplies the benchmark against which conduct is measured to determine breach.
Solomon Silver, a warehouse supervisor, ignored repeated warnings that a loading dock gate was unstable and ordered workers to continue using it. The gate collapsed, killing a pedestrian below. Because Silver's failure to secure the gate created a high risk of death that a reasonable person would have recognized, the conduct meets the threshold for criminal negligence.
Serena Soto, a plant operator, skipped the required pressure test on a valve after a shift change. The valve later ruptured, releasing toxic gas that injured nearby residents. Soto should have been aware of the substantial risk created by her omission, and her failure constitutes a gross deviation from the standard a reasonable person would observe.
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Skylar Sullivan, appointed personal representative of an estate, sold estate property at a below-market price without obtaining an appraisal or marketing the asset. The sale reduced the amount available for distribution to the heirs. Sullivan's conduct is measured against the standards of care applicable to trustees.
Sarah Sullivan, age sixteen, drove a delivery van for her family's business and struck a pedestrian while speeding through an intersection. Because operating a commercial vehicle on public roads is an adult activity, her conduct is judged by the standard of care expected of a reasonably prudent adult driver.
Sasha Stone, a television reporter, broadcast the name of a crime victim obtained from public court records. The victim's family sued for invasion of privacy. The reporter's decision to publish is evaluated against the standard of care a reasonable journalist would observe when handling sensitive identifying information.
Selena Singh, a smoker, joined a proposed class action claiming tobacco companies negligently marketed addictive products. The complaint alleged the companies failed to meet the standard of care expected of manufacturers aware of nicotine's effects. The court examined whether common proof could establish breach of that standard across the class.
Children are generally held to the standard of a reasonably prudent child of like age, intelligence, and experience. When a minor engages in an adult activity such as driving, the modern trend applies the adult reasonable-person standard instead.
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Criminal negligence requires a gross deviation from the standard of care a reasonable person would observe, creating a high risk of death or serious bodily harm. This is a higher threshold than ordinary civil negligence but lower than the malice required for murder.
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Yes. A personal representative is a fiduciary who must observe the standards of care applicable to trustees when settling and distributing an estate.
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A person acts negligently when the failure to perceive a substantial and unjustifiable risk constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would observe in the actor's situation.
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…to understand what is constitutionally wrong with assessing punitive damages to deter a publisher from departing from those standards of care ordinarily followed in the publishing industry, particularly if common-law malice is also shown. I note also the questionable premise that "juries assess punitive damages in wholly…