Also known as: inducement rules · inducement
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A legal doctrine that treats an improper or significant inducement as a basis for liability, reformation, or remedies. The doctrine identifies when an offer, representation, or condition motivates conduct or a transaction in a manner that triggers specific legal consequences such as professional sanctions, lease termination, will reformation, or acquittal in criminal cases.
Isabella Ingram, counsel for the defense, approached a key eyewitness before trial and offered a cash payment in exchange for testimony that would favor her client. The payment was not authorized by any statute or court order. The disciplinary board found that the offer violated the prohibition on providing inducements to witnesses.
Ivy Ibarra leased retail space from Integrity Partners under a lease that prohibited operating a competing business nearby. Ibarra opened a second store across the street that directly competed with the landlord's own retail operation. After notice and a reasonable cure period, the landlord terminated the lease and recovered damages because the breach deprived it of a significant inducement for entering the lease.
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Iris Irons executed a will leaving her estate to her nephew after being told by a family member that her son had died. Clear and convincing evidence later showed the son was alive and that the false information had induced the bequest to the nephew. The court reformed the will to reflect the donor's true intention.
Israel Irving created a trust instrument that omitted a remainder interest for his granddaughter because he mistakenly believed state law already provided for her. Clear and convincing evidence established both the mistake in inducement and his actual intention. The court reformed the trust to include the omitted remainder.
An undercover officer posing as a collector repeatedly urged Ismael Ibrahim to sell a controlled substance, assuring him that the transaction was legal and offering unusually favorable terms. Ibrahim had no prior record or inclination to sell. The court acquitted Ibrahim on entrapment grounds because the officer's methods of persuasion created a substantial risk that a person not ready to commit the offense would do so.
Igor Ito leased commercial space from Imperial Motors after the landlord promised to install climate-control equipment essential to Ito's manufacturing process. The landlord never installed the equipment despite repeated requests. Ito terminated the lease and recovered damages because the landlord's failure deprived him of a significant inducement to entering the lease.
The rule permits termination or equitable relief only when the tenant's or landlord's failure deprives the other party of a significant inducement to making the lease. Ordinary breach may support damages but does not automatically trigger termination unless the inducement element is satisfied.
Supporting sources
Clear and convincing evidence must establish both that a mistake of fact or law in inducement affected specific terms and what the donor's actual intention was. Direct evidence contradicting the text may be considered.
Supporting sources
Entrapment occurs when a law-enforcement official induces the offense by knowingly false representations or by methods of persuasion that create a substantial risk that persons not ready to commit the offense will do so. The defense is unavailable when the offense involves causing or threatening bodily injury to a third person.
Supporting sources
No. The rule prohibits any inducement to a witness that is prohibited by law, including non-monetary benefits offered to encourage false testimony or to obstruct access to evidence.
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…of its falsity or with reckless disregard for the truth. This standard administers an extremely powerful antidote to the inducement to media self-censorship of the common-law rule of strict liability for libel and slander. And it exacts a correspondingly high price from the victims of defamatory falsehood. Plainly many…