68
votes
Is it legal for a bank to trap you in an ATM vestibule?
A power failure is an obvious example of force majeure. Nobody would talk of kidnapping, as you tagged your question, if a power failure trapped a lift between floors.
The real issue would be one of ...
- 19.3k
52
votes
Can a bank sue someone that disseminates information that starts a bank run that destroys the bank?
Can a bank sue someone that starts a bank run that destroys the bank?
No (assuming, of course, as is the usual case, that the person who starts the bank run is not engaged in perpetrating a ...
- 231k
45
votes
Is it legal for a bank to trap you in an ATM vestibule?
Many US jurisdictions have adopted the NFPA 101 Life Safety Code (which falls into the general category of building codes). The 2024 edition states
4.5.3.2 Unobstructed Egress. In every occupied ...
- 4,833
43
votes
Accepted
Can I viably sue for damages caused by bugs in freeware?
No, you can't
The last paragraph of the MIT License explicitly says the author is not responsible for damages (emphasis mine):
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,...
- 1,525
38
votes
Why does the U.S. have much higher litigation cost than other countries?
Litigation Costs v. Liability Insurance Cost
It is worth noting that what the Institute for Legal Reform, a tort reform lobbying group, is stating, is not that the U.S. has "higher litigation ...
- 231k
28
votes
Accepted
A car catches fire in a carpark. The resulting fire spreads destroying the entire carpark. Who is liable?
In General
The insurer is never primarily liable for anything. Someone who may or may not have insurance is responsible.
A person harmed can't sue somebody else's insurance company (except in the rare ...
- 231k
27
votes
Can I viably sue for damages caused by bugs in freeware?
In addition to the argument that that particular license contains a disclaimer of liability as a condition of the license grant, you have no privity with the author.
The license binds your use of the ...
26
votes
Can a bank sue someone that disseminates information that starts a bank run that destroys the bank?
netherlands
In The Netherlands, DSB Bank went bankrupt after investigator Pieter Lakeman, representative of a foundation of dissatisfied customers of the bank, called for a bank run, his argument ...
- 397
24
votes
Someone has a video of me doing drugs. Is there legal protection against its release?
The tort for this kind of activity is called public disclosure of private facts, and almost every U.S. state recognizes that this tort is invalid under the First Amendment in the absence of a legal ...
- 231k
23
votes
Is lying on a survey illegal?
There are a very few government surveys which it is a crime to lie in responding to, most notably, census related surveys. Proving that a representation is false with respect to some questions (e.g. ...
- 231k
17
votes
Is it legal for a bank to trap you in an ATM vestibule?
canada
Is it legal for a bank to trap you in an ATM vestibule?
If this was done intentionally, and outside of a citizen's arrest (s. 494, Criminal Code), this would make out the tort of false ...
- 66.6k
16
votes
Accepted
Civil liability for criminal punishment
In england-and-wales, Mark's claim is likely to fail. There are several overlapping principles, which are different rules of law but which all point to the same outcome:
"It is a rule of law and ...
- 7,455
15
votes
Is a company liable for "potential" harms?
Not in tort
You have tagged your question tort. The other answers explain why there is no tort liability.
Case 1 is a breach of contract claim
Assuming that meeting minimum indoor air quality ...
- 219k
13
votes
If someone threatens force to prevent another person from leaving, are they holding them hostage?
This was written to answer an earlier revision of this question.
canada
The facts you have presented do not make out the offence of hostage taking under section 279.1 of the Criminal Code. This would ...
- 66.6k
13
votes
Accepted
Does the city of Springfield have a possible claim against the Trump/Vance campaign?
No.
These statements do not fall into any category of unprotected speech, so Trump and Vance are fully protected by the First Amendment.
This protection extends only to the courts; voters are free to ...
- 61.6k
12
votes
Accepted
How far does legal gymnastics go to remove liability?
england-and-wales
"A term in a consumer contract is unfair if, contrary to the requirement of good
faith, it causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations
under the ...
- 18.2k
12
votes
Accepted
What is the duty of a medical office to properly bill one's insurance? (USA)
To my knowledge there is no actual law requiring a provider to file anything on your behalf. Most do it as a courtesy but if you read the terms of service that you almost certainly agreed to, it will ...
- 3,486
12
votes
What legal relief is available when a neighbour uses my address as his own for communication without written consent from me?
Mark the mail delivered as "addressee unknown, return to sender" and give it to the postal delivery person next time around. If the mail stops getting through, the neighbor will update their ...
- 231k
12
votes
What legal relief is available when a neighbour uses my address as his own for communication without written consent from me?
Based on the description, there is no legal relief available.
To quote:
a tort is breach of a non-contractual duty which has caused damage to
the plaintiff giving rise to a civil cause of action and ...
- 223
12
votes
How can a liability limitation in a contract between two parties prevent a damaged 3rd-party from taking action?
You are not bound by a contract you are not a party to
So, in general, an agreement between two parties to limit one's liability to the other will have no effect on another person's cause of action.
...
- 219k
11
votes
Can you sue someone for stealing a slice of pizza?
If it’s your pizza, yes
The civil equivalent of theft is the tort of conversion, “consisting of "taking with the intent of exercising over the chattel an ownership inconsistent with the real ...
- 219k
10
votes
Civil liability for criminal punishment
In the hypothetical jurisdiction a duty of care arose in the circumstances and Eve breached the duty, causing damages to Mark, which gives Mark a cause of action against Eve.
Although in the ...
- 18.2k
10
votes
Is a company liable for "potential" harms?
You tagged your question "tort." A potential harm without actual harm is not actionable under tort law.
Quoting from an article "Negligence Without Harm" by Yehuda Adar and Ronen ...
- 1,941
9
votes
Accepted
What is tort law and how does it differ from civil law?
First, civil law has, confusingly, two meanings. It can denote the legal systems used in most of Europe, as opposed to the common-law systems arising in England and spreading to most of the former ...
- 39.1k
8
votes
Someone has a video of me doing drugs. Is there legal protection against its release?
I know nothing about the law.
What I have heard from others (that also know nothing) is that in some countries/states it might be illegal to record audio/video without the recording party being ...
- 209
8
votes
Alternate recourse to assault
There's always civil action possible; "assault and battery" has a civil variant as an "intentional tort"
Civil assault and battery are torts. A tort is a wrong committed by one ...
- 3,619
8
votes
Does a duty of care arise from advertised functionality?
Jurisdiction: england-and-wales.
You don't necessarily need to turn to tort law to find a duty of care. For example, assuming the customer is a consumer (i.e. not operating as part of their business) ...
- 9,357
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible