Also known as: diligences · diligent · diligently · diligentia · due diligence
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Reasonable care, promptness, and persistence in performing a legal duty or task. The standard requires sustained effort tailored to the circumstances without undue delay.
Judge Ramirez faced a backlog of criminal trials. She scheduled hearings promptly, reviewed filings the same day they arrived, and coordinated with clerks to avoid unnecessary continuances. The administrative office noted her timely resolutions satisfied the duty of diligence.
Attorney Patel represented client Torres in a contract dispute. Patel filed the complaint within two weeks of receiving the file, served discovery requests immediately after the answer, and followed up on responses within days. The court granted summary judgment for Torres because Patel's consistent actions met the diligence requirement.
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Detectives Lopez and Rivera developed probable cause that suspect Morales kept narcotics in his apartment. While one officer watched the building, the other obtained a warrant within ninety minutes. They prevented Morales from entering alone during that period, preserving evidence until the warrant arrived.
Defendant Quinn moved under Rule 60(b)(2) after judgment. Quinn showed that altered maintenance logs surfaced only after trial and that earlier searches of the plaintiff's records would not have uncovered them despite reasonable efforts by counsel. The court granted relief because the evidence could not have been found with diligence in time for a Rule 59 motion.
Engineer Rivera received an offer from Apex Labs to test a prototype for a cash prize. Rivera emailed Apex the same day stating the test would be performed only for personal research and not as acceptance of the prize. Apex received the message before the test occurred. Rivera's later completion of the test did not form a contract.
Second Bank obtained a receiver for the mortgaged apartment building after the borrower defaulted. The receiver collected rents and applied them first to taxes and repairs. When First Bank later appointed its own receiver, Second Bank retained the excess rents collected before the senior appointment because it had acted diligently to prevent waste.
A lawyer must pursue a client's matter with the promptness and persistence that a reasonably competent practitioner would exercise under the circumstances. This includes timely filing, following up on discovery, and avoiding unnecessary delay.
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An inventor who conceives first but reduces to practice second can prevail if the inventor exercised reasonable diligence from a time just prior to the other party's conception through the date of reduction to practice. The effort must be persistent and documented throughout the critical period.
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A party cannot obtain relief for newly discovered evidence if the evidence could have been found earlier through reasonable diligence in time to support a Rule 59 motion. Courts examine what steps the party took and whether those steps were adequate under the circumstances.
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No. Notice of non-acceptance is required only when the offeree wishes to prevent performance from operating as acceptance. The offer itself need not demand notice unless it expressly states that condition.
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…be considered not only the respective dates of conception and reduction to practice of the invention, but also the reasonable diligence of one who was first to conceive and last to reduce to practice, from a time prior to conception by the other.” The precursors of these sections are to be found in the Act of February 21,…