120
votes
Why is stealing from an employer a criminal act when stealing from an employee is a civil act?
Because one is theft and the other is breach of contract
Theft is taking someone’s property with the intent of permanently depriving them of it. It has always been a crime, in fact, it’s a toss up ...
- 192k
77
votes
Accepted
Can I sue a restaurant for serving me meat in vegetarian dish?
An essential component of your contract with them is that they will provide you with food free of animal stuff (the exact nature of "vegan approved" may be up for debate, but actual meat should not be ...
- 206k
75
votes
Accepted
What are some possible law suits or civil actions the Las Vegas shooting victims could take?
You can sue anyone for anything. I will answer these on the assumption that the real question is whether there is a legal basis for such a suit.
1) Could someone open a civil action against the ...
- 186k
63
votes
Can I sue a restaurant for serving me meat in vegetarian dish?
The goal of civil proceedings is to make the injured party whole.
Your damages amount to the cost of the meal that you ordered. You have no other demonstrable, concrete damages. If you were, for ...
58
votes
Accepted
Would I have a reasonable cause of action to consider suing a science centre for violating disability rights law?
I think there's a reasonable argument to be made. ADA requires reasonable accommodations for disabilities, but there's always going to be a fight over what is reasonable.
What's pretty clear, though,...
- 55.8k
57
votes
Would I have a reasonable cause of action to consider suing a science centre for violating disability rights law?
“Maximum conservation”
Museums rarely allow anyone except trained conservators to touch any exhibit. Besides the real risk of physical damage, human skin is covered with a cocktail of bacteria and ...
- 192k
52
votes
What does this fuzzy court clerk stamp say? It's from a very old case in 1995 in the state of Washington
FILMED
The document was archived onto microfilm.
User @Dai used the font Myriad Pro Bold to overlay this onto the image:
- 2,025
51
votes
Accepted
Is it a real legal principle that any ambiguity in a contract is interpreted to the benefit of the side that did not write the contract?
Contra proferentem
However, it's a principle that is rarely applied in practice since it's at the end of a long line of judicial reasoning that gets applied first.
Ambiguity in contract provisions are ...
- 192k
43
votes
Is there any limit to the rate at which court cases can be filed?
Yes, it's actally happened. Several outfits have filed cases by the hundreds, and they were even literally photocopies.
And it works rather well, until one victim stands up for what's right - and then ...
42
votes
Accepted
I am being threatened for defamation for sharing an article about an alleged scammer which was published in local news site
Repeating a defamatory statement is itself defamatory
This is known as the repetition rule and is illustrated in Brown v Bower & Another [2017] EWHC 2637 (QB). In essence, the "local news ...
- 192k
41
votes
Can a person purposely provoke someone to hit him and then report a crime?
It is legal to insult a person (at least in the US: it's a crime in Indonesia). It is legal to report a crime. It is therefore legal to insult a person and report the ensuing crime. The law assumes ...
- 206k
41
votes
Accepted
Law Firm with one lawyer and hundreds of legal experts who haven't passed the bar
A Lawyer may hire paralegals, clerks, secretaries, and other assistants. The lawyer may hire as many as s/he pleases, and assign them whatever tasks s/he chooses.
However, some kinds of documents may ...
- 112k
36
votes
Why is Trump's alleged fraud in New York not prosecuted as a criminal offense?
In the U.S., public official enforce the law with both civil actions and criminal actions as they deem appropriate. In this case, the NY attorney-general did bring a separate criminal case against the ...
- 186k
33
votes
Accepted
How did Dominion legally obtain text messages from Fox News hosts?
Because the hosts are part of the defendants.
A party in a lawsuit can demand documents to be turned over to them from the opposing party. That is called Discovery and participation is mandatory. Not ...
- 31.4k
32
votes
Accepted
Equivalent of "illegal" for violating civil law
The term "illegal" is also often used for actions that the law prohibits, but that give rise to civil liability, rather than criminal prosecution. We see such use a lot in questions on Law.SE. One ...
- 112k
32
votes
Accepted
Why is stealing from an employer a criminal act when stealing from an employee is a civil act?
What do you mean by "stealing"; this matters, because "stealing" often doesn't have a formal/legal definition (and when it does, it falls under your #2 point above, where the ...
- 8,697
31
votes
When does silence imply consent?
Silence itself does not generally imply consent, but in the context of a history of transacting, silence in the face of continued actions by the other side can indicate consent. Here's a fun little ...
- 36.5k
26
votes
Accepted
Can a person purposely provoke someone to hit him and then report a crime?
People hurling abuse at one another and starting fights happens absolutely all the time, especially when drink has been taken, and will be a regular part of police business.
In the UK, potentially ...
- 1,127
26
votes
Accepted
How does California (CA) have standing in CA vs Activision Blizzard?
A government always has standing to enforce violations of its own laws in its own jurisdiction. The harm to its legally protected interest is its interest in enforcing its own laws. While the forum ...
- 186k
24
votes
Accepted
Can I sue Volkswagen for damage to my health?
You can sue anyone you want. But if you are talking about suing VW because they are one of the thousands of entities that contribute to the overall degeneration of our atmospheric quality, then you ...
- 11.2k
24
votes
Equivalent of "illegal" for violating civil law
“Illegal” is not limited to criminal matters
Illegal and unlawful are synonymous and refer to any conduct which is in breach of any law. So:
Murder is illegal and a crime
Stopping in a No Stopping ...
- 192k
24
votes
Why doesn't law take into account probability?
[L]et's say you almost get run over by a car[; t]here was a very real probability that you may have been runover […], but you didn't. Why isn't there some civil repercussions for that?
Construing the ...
- 3,875
23
votes
Accepted
Peanut butter - may contain peanuts
When the dangerous nature of a product is or should be known to a manufacturer and the product is being used in the usual and expected manner, the manufacturer has a duty to warn of the danger. Breach ...
- 206k
22
votes
Is there criminal or civil liability for sabotaging or lying about the use of contraception, which then results in a pregnancy?
canada criminal-law
These acts could be sexual assault. Pregnancy is irrelevant to the analysis.
Deviating from the sexual activity consented to
A majority of the Supreme Court of Canada, in R. v. ...
- 36.5k
22
votes
Does a purely accidental act preclude civil liability for its resulting damages?
In Common Law Countries
In common law countries, Dale M. is right (the vast majority of the time).
Without negligence there is usually no liability for damage to property in an accident. The general ...
- 186k
21
votes
Law about adult video websites retaining actors' PII
united-states
Are there laws in the United States which obligate adult video
websites to retain personal information (such as first and second
names) of the actors/actresses in the videos uploaded on ...
- 186k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible