{"id":17617,"date":"2023-02-11T20:13:27","date_gmt":"2023-02-11T20:13:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/?page_id=17617"},"modified":"2023-02-11T22:08:19","modified_gmt":"2023-02-11T22:08:19","slug":"responsible-corporate-officer-doctrine-corporate-directors-and-officers-are-personally-liable-for-crimes-they-commit-and-may-be-held-liable-for-employees-under-their-supervision","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/?page_id=17617","title":{"rendered":"responsible corporate officer doctrine – corporate directors and officers are personally liable for crimes they commit, and may be held liable for employees under their supervision"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This page is continued from Civil Law Self-Help Walkthrough<\/a> >>>> Section 1 \u2013 Torts, Breaches of Contract, and Assessing Liability<\/em><\/a> >>>> Liability<\/a> >>>> Types of Liabilities Associated with Civil Law<\/a> >>>> Vicarious Liability<\/a>:
\n<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

**************************<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

responsible corporate officer doctrine<\/span>:<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Liability of Corporate Officers and Directors<\/span> – Corporate directors and officers <\/span><\/strong>are personally liable for the crimes they commit, regardless of whether the crimes\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>were committed for their personal benefit or on the corporation’s behalf. Addi<\/span><\/strong>tionally, corporate directors and officers may be held liable for the actions of\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>employees under their supervision. Under the responsible corporate officer doctrine, a court<\/span><\/strong> may impose criminal liability on a corporate officer regardless of whether she or<\/span><\/strong> he participated in, directed, or even knew about a given criminal violation.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
CASE EXAMPLE<\/span>: The Roscoe family owned the Customer Company, which\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>coerced an underground storage tank that leaked gasoline. After the leak occurred, an employee, John Johnson, notified the state environmental agency, and the<\/span><\/strong> Roscoes hired an environmental services firm to clean up the spill. The clean-up<\/span><\/strong> did not occur immediately, however, and the state sent many notices to\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>John Roscoe, a corporate officer, warning him that the company was violating fed<\/span><\/strong>eral and state environmental laws. Roscoe gave the letters to Johnson, who passed them on to the environmental services firm, but the spill was not cleaned up.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The state eventually filed criminal charges against the corporation and the <\/span><\/strong>Roscoes individually, and they were convicted. On appeal, the court affirmed the\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Roscoes convictions under the responsible corporate officer doctrine<\/em>. The Roscoes were in\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>positions of responsibility, they had influence over the corporation’s actions, and their failure to act constituted a violation of environmental laws.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0 If you become a corporate officer or director at some point in your career, you will <\/strong>be potentially liable for the crimes of your subordinates. Always be familiar with any criminal statutes relevant to the corporation\u2019s industry or trade. Also, make sure that corporate employees are trained in how to comply with the multitude of applicable rules, particularly environmental laws and health and safety regulations, which frequently involve criminal sanctions. <\/span><\/strong>[1]<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
References:<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
[1]: Miller, Roger LeRoy. Business Law Today: 11th Edition<\/i>. Cengage Learning, 2017.\u00a0 p. 190.\u00a0 ISBN 978-1-305-64452-6<\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Back to Civil Law Self-Help\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Back to Section 1 \u2013 Torts, Breaches of Contract, and Assessing Liability<\/em><\/a> <\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Back to Liability<\/a> <\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Back to Types of Liabilities Associated with Civil Law<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Back to Vicarious Liability<\/a> –<\/span>
\n<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This page is continued from Civil Law Self-Help Walkthrough >>>> Section 1 \u2013 Torts, Breaches of Contract, and Assessing Liability >>>> Liability >>>> Types of Liabilities Associated with Civil Law >>>> Vicarious Liability: ************************** responsible corporate officer doctrine: Liability of Corporate Officers and Directors – Corporate directors and officers are personally liable for the … Continue reading responsible corporate officer doctrine – corporate directors and officers are personally liable for crimes they commit, and may be held liable for employees under their supervision<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":15159,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-17617","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17617"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17624,"href":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17617\/revisions\/17624"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}