Also known as: agency regulations · administrative regulation · agency rule
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A rule or order having the force of law issued by an administrative agency. Such a regulation may establish the standard of conduct for reasonable care in negligence actions or create a repair duty for landlords when its purpose is to protect a particular class and interest.
Aisha Ahmed leases a warehouse to Alpine Mining. City inspectors issue an order to Aisha requiring her to replace corroded support beams that violate a structural safety regulation. Aisha fails to act. A beam collapses and injures a visitor on the premises. The regulation supplies the duty whose breach supports liability for the resulting harm.
Avalon Pharmaceuticals stores drums outdoors without lined containment areas. A state environmental agency regulation requires lined areas to prevent groundwater leaks. A neighboring homeowner's well becomes contaminated. The regulation defines the standard of care whose violation supports a negligence claim.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Atlas Ventures owns hangars leased to a maintenance firm. Airport officials issue an order directing Atlas to repair a cracked jet-blast barrier that violates safety regulations. Atlas does nothing. The barrier later collapses onto a passing motorist. The regulation creates the repair duty whose breach supports liability for off-site harm.
Anthony Arnold operates a waste facility that violates an agency rule requiring lined containment. A court adopts the rule as the standard of reasonable conduct even though the rule itself does not expressly declare it creates tort liability. The adoption supplies the measure of care applied to the operator's conduct.
Amelia Amari sues a neighboring plant after its chemical leak contaminates her well. An agency regulation requires containment measures to prevent groundwater pollution. The court adopts the regulation because it protects the class of nearby property owners and the precise interest in clean groundwater that was invaded.
Austin Abbott installs a railing that meets the exact specifications of a local building regulation. A guest leans on the railing and it gives way because additional bracing would have been prudent under the circumstances. Compliance with the regulation does not prevent a finding that reasonable care required further precautions.
A court may adopt the requirements of a regulation whose purpose is to protect a class of persons that includes the plaintiff, to protect the particular interest invaded, to protect against the kind of harm that occurred, and to protect against the specific hazard that caused the harm.
No. Compliance does not preclude liability when a reasonable person would have taken additional precautions beyond those required by the regulation.
A landlord is subject to liability when a dangerous condition violates a duty created by statute or administrative regulation and the landlord fails to exercise reasonable care to repair it.
The plaintiff must show that the regulation protects the class of persons and the particular interest invaded and that the harm resulted from the kind of hazard the regulation addresses.
Supporting sources
…veto, see J. Bolton, The Legislative Veto: Unseparating the Powers (1977); Bruff & Gellhorn, Congressional Control of Administrative Regulation: A Study of Legislative Vetoes, 90 Harv. L. Rev. 1369 (1977); Dixon, The Congressional Veto and Separation of Powers: The Executive On a Leash?, 56 N. C. L. Rev. 423 (1978); FitzGerald,…