Timeline for Can a company officially decide to break the law since the penalty for breaking it is cheaper than following it?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
19 events
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| Feb 26, 2021 at 21:47 | comment | added | ohwilleke | @Trish In Colorado, it is a crime to smoke in a non-smoking room in a hotel and it is also often a breach of contract. The tort claim would often be barred by the economic loss rule. | |
| Feb 24, 2021 at 23:51 | answer | added | Harper - Reinstate Monica | timeline score: 2 | |
| Feb 24, 2021 at 21:51 | comment | added | bdb484 | Although it sounds like the government could do more than levy fines in your specific example, there isn't really anything it can do simply on the basis of a person's decision that the maximum punishment is an acceptable cost for breaking the law. There are of course laws that subject you to increased penalties for repeat violations to discourage this sort of thing, but the government is still stuck with the maximum penalties written into the law. The government can't punish you for accepting your punishment. | |
| Feb 24, 2021 at 21:06 | comment | added | David Siegel | @JonathanReez Under section 103.8 that you linked above, jail time up to 365 days per violation is possible. | |
| Feb 24, 2021 at 21:05 | vote | accept | JonathanReez | ||
| Feb 24, 2021 at 20:57 | answer | added | David Siegel | timeline score: 4 | |
| Feb 24, 2021 at 20:38 | comment | added | Trish | @JonathanReez the punishment for the unlawful building is, that the whole building is torn down on the cost of the perpetrator - which means that the building cost just about tripled. | |
| Feb 24, 2021 at 20:18 | answer | added | Dale M♦ | timeline score: 4 | |
| Feb 24, 2021 at 19:35 | comment | added | JonathanReez | @bdb484 but if no jail time is prescribed in the law for a particular violation (there seems to be none for the unlawful building in my example), is there anything else that the government can do? I.e. a special generic law that punishes companies for willfully paying the fine as its more profitable. | |
| Feb 24, 2021 at 19:33 | comment | added | bdb484 | Note, though, that while the penalty for a business is generally limited to a monetary fine, there is also the possibility of jail time for individual actors within the company. That may radically alter the calculus. | |
| Feb 24, 2021 at 19:32 | comment | added | bdb484 | Yes, just as with an efficient breach of contract, the law is the law and the punishment is the punishment. The law imposes penalties, but it generally can't do anything about the person who is willing to pay the maximum penalty to obtain some benefit. Willfulness might factor into what that maximum is, but the government will eventually hit a ceiling, and a potential defendant can decide whether it is or is not a fair price to pay. Obviously this calculation is separate from what one should do. | |
| Feb 24, 2021 at 18:11 | answer | added | Tardy | timeline score: -5 | |
| Feb 24, 2021 at 9:05 | comment | added | ohwilleke | In contract law there is a concept called "efficient breach", in tort law the same doctrine by and large does not apply. It isn't clear that either of these areas of law are within the scope of the question which addresses statutory, quasi-criminal penalties in its example. | |
| Feb 24, 2021 at 8:35 | comment | added | Trish | Smoking in hotels is a tort, not a crime. | |
| Feb 24, 2021 at 8:16 | history | edited | JonathanReez | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Feb 24, 2021 at 8:16 | history | edited | user35069 |
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| Feb 24, 2021 at 8:15 | history | edited | JonathanReez | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Feb 24, 2021 at 7:20 | answer | added | user35069 | timeline score: 3 | |
| Feb 24, 2021 at 5:24 | history | asked | JonathanReez | CC BY-SA 4.0 |