What Is Wanton Disregard?
Let me explain wanton disregard directly: it's a legal term that points to someone's extreme lack of care for another person's well-being or rights. You should know this is a heavy accusation, showing that the person acted with serious recklessness, and it's often used in insurance to describe negligence leading to damages or injury.
You might hear it called wanton conduct or more formally, willful and wanton disregard. Stick with me as I break this down.
Key Takeaways
Here's what you need to grasp: wanton disregard is legal speak for extreme negligence. It's a grave claim that someone behaved recklessly. In finance, if advisors or firm employees show willful disregard for rules or client interests, they could face this accusation.
Understanding Wanton Disregard
When someone doesn't use reasonable care in their actions, that's negligence, but not all negligence is equal—there are levels to it. Wanton disregard isn't always meant to be malicious, but it's worse than just being careless. In a lawsuit, it could lead to punitive damages based on how bad the situation is and what state laws say.
Ordinary Negligence
Ordinary negligence means acting in a way that a reasonable person wouldn't under similar circumstances, or failing to do what a reasonable person would. Laws on negligence demand that you take reasonable steps to protect yourself and others—a basic standard of care. If that duty isn't met, you can seek damages for the harm caused.
Gross Negligence
Gross negligence shows a big indifference from a person or entity—it's a much greater lack of care than ordinary negligence. Courts see it as violating the legal duty to others' rights. In wrongful death cases, you need proof of gross negligence to get punitive damages awarded.
Willful, Wanton or Reckless Behavior
This kind of behavior is almost like intending to cause harm or damage, but it doesn't quite cross into actual malice. For instance, 'willful and wanton disregard' means the person understands the danger of their action, knows it could cause serious harm, and does it regardless.
Examples of Wanton Disregard
Consider a financial advisor at a big firm who stores client sensitive info in the company's online database. If it's hacked and a client's identity gets stolen, the client reports it to the advisor, who tells the right people in the company—but they ignore fixing it. That's wanton disregard: not intentionally exposing data, but recklessly overlooking a known issue.
Another case: a supervisor tells a worker to fix machinery while it's still running. Any reasonable person knows that's dangerously unsafe. If injury happens, that's clear evidence of wanton disregard.
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