Also known as: legal duties · legal obligation
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A legal obligation imposed by law that one party owes to another and that requires specific conduct or forbearance for the protection or benefit of the right-holder.
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Leonard Lowe learned that his adult son planned to set fire to a vacant warehouse. Lowe had a prior legal obligation arising from his role as the property's court-appointed custodian to stop any criminal damage. He watched the son gather materials but made no call to police or attempt to intervene. The warehouse burned and Lowe faced accomplice liability for the arson.
Luke Latham already owed Landmark Realty a contractual duty to complete roof repairs for a fixed price. When heavy rain caused extra damage, Latham demanded an additional $15,000 to finish the job. Landmark agreed in writing but later refused payment. The court held the promise unenforceable because Latham merely performed the same preexisting legal duty.
Levi Lowe worked for Lighthouse Shipping inside a warehouse owned by Lone Peak Energy. Lone Peak retained exclusive control over all safety labeling on high-pressure valves. A faded label caused Lowe to open the wrong valve and suffer burns. The facts established that Lone Peak owed Lowe a legal duty to maintain accurate safety markings.
Lily Lopez, a county health inspector, observed missing pool fencing during a required sanitary inspection of a hotel. She recorded the violation on an official form that state law required her to complete and file. At trial the form was offered to prove the condition on the date of inspection. The record qualified for admission because Lopez prepared it while under a legal duty to report.
Lucy Liu slipped on an unmarked wet floor inside a store owned by Loyal Insurance's client. The store manager had posted no warning despite knowing of recurring leaks. At summary judgment the court first determined whether the facts gave rise to any legal duty on the part of the store. Finding that a possessor owes invitees a duty to warn of known hazards, the court allowed the negligence claim to proceed to the jury.
Lena Lawson died at a hospital after a fall. The attending physician completed the death certificate listing the cause as accidental trauma and filed it with the county vital records office as state law required. In a later insurance dispute the certificate was offered to prove the cause of death. The document was admissible because it recorded a death reported to a public office in accordance with a legal duty.
The plaintiff must show facts that give rise to a legal duty on the part of the defendant to conform to the standard of conduct established by law for the protection of the plaintiff. The court decides whether those facts create any legal duty. Once duty is found the jury determines whether the defendant conformed to the required standard.
Performance of a legal duty owed to the promisor that is neither doubtful nor the subject of honest dispute is not consideration. A similar performance supplies consideration only if it differs from what the duty required in a way that reflects more than a pretense of bargain.
…statements, private memoranda and personal recollections prepared or formed by an adverse party’s counsel in the course of his legal duties. As such, it falls outside the arena of discovery and contravenes the public policy underlying the orderly prosecution and defense of legal claims. Not even the most liberal of discovery…
…to inquire whether non-conformist beliefs will exempt from the duty to salute unless we first find power to make the salute a
…that by him the car would not be used. Yet the defendant would have us say that he was the one person whom it was under a legal duty to protect. The law does not lead us to so inconsequent a conclusion. Precedents drawn from the days of travel by stage coach do not fit the conditions of travel to-day. The principle that…
…an actual conflict with a federal objective is at stake? Some such principle is needed. In its absence, state law could impose legal duties
…itself cannot require a suspect to answer questions. This case concerns a different issue, however. Here, the source of the
A person becomes an accomplice if, with the purpose of promoting or facilitating the offense, the person has a legal duty to prevent the commission of the offense and fails to make a proper effort to do so.
A record of a public office is admissible if it sets out a matter observed while under a legal duty to report, provided the opponent does not show lack of trustworthiness. In criminal cases the exception excludes matters observed by law-enforcement personnel.
A record of a birth, death, or marriage is admissible if it was reported to a public office in accordance with a legal duty. The exception rests on the official obligation to create and maintain accurate vital statistics.