Also known as: pessimae fidei · mala fides · bad faith
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Conduct marked by moral dishonesty or the deliberate absence of good faith in legal transactions or proceedings. The concept supplies the disqualifying element that prevents a party from invoking protective rules or exculpatory clauses when the party's actions were designed to frustrate an opposing party's rights or remedies.
Parker Phillips filed a state-court diversity action against Prism Analytics more than thirteen months before an expert report quantified damages above the jurisdictional threshold. Phillips deliberately withheld the report to keep the case in state court. The district court found bad faith under the one-year bar and permitted Prism Analytics to remove.
Pierce Patterson offered an oral description of a lost contract after deliberately destroying the original document in a warehouse fire to suppress its terms. The court excluded the testimony because the proponent had caused the destruction in bad faith.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Pierre Poulin threatened to sue Paul Peterson for breach of warranty on a vehicle sold years earlier even though internal inspection records confirmed no defects. Peterson signed a new contract under the threat. The court later rescinded the agreement because the threat of civil process had been made in bad faith.
Pulse Media's trust instrument purported to relieve the trustee of liability for any breach. The beneficiaries proved the trustee had diverted trust funds for personal use. The court held the exculpatory clause unenforceable because the breach had been committed in bad faith.
Philip Powell listed property with Phoenix Technologies under an exclusive agreement. The broker produced a buyer who signed a contract at the listed price. Powell later refused to close and denied the commission. The court awarded the commission because Powell's refusal constituted bad-faith conduct after the broker had fully performed.
Peak Performance's limited-partnership agreement attempted to exonerate a general partner from all liability. The limited partners showed the partner had knowingly diverted partnership funds. The court refused to enforce the clause because the conduct involved bad faith.
A district court may permit removal more than one year after commencement only when the plaintiff acted in bad faith to prevent removal. The statute treats deliberate nondisclosure of the amount in controversy as bad faith.
Secondary evidence is admissible when originals are lost or destroyed unless the proponent caused the loss in bad faith. Routine deletion under a neutral retention policy does not constitute bad faith.
A threat to use civil process is improper when made in bad faith. Internal records showing no factual basis for the threatened claim support a finding of bad faith.
A clause relieving a trustee or partner of liability is unenforceable to the extent it covers breaches committed in bad faith or with reckless indifference to beneficiaries or partners.
A seller who refuses to close in bad faith after the broker produces a ready, willing, and able buyer cannot deny the commission. The rule prevents the seller from taking advantage of the broker's efforts.
…In order to escape the rule articulated in the cases cited in the next paragraph of this opinion that, absent harassment and bad faith, a defendant in a pending state criminal case cannot affirmatively challenge in federal court the statutes under which the State is prosecuting him, Dr. Hallford seeks to distinguish his…