Damages in a professional liability claim are compensatory and are measured by the difference between the actual position and the position competent work would have produced. Recoverable items typically include the value of the lost claim or bargain, fees paid for defective work and the cost of correcting it. Emotional distress and punitive awards are generally unavailable absent conduct beyond negligence, and consequential losses must satisfy foreseeability and certainty requirements.
The acquisition regulation lists, as a separate cause for debarment, a determination by the Secretary of Homeland Security or the Attorney General that a contractor is not in compliance with the immigration employment provisions. That determination is expressly not reviewable in the debarment proceeding. Debarment on that ground runs for one year unless extended. Termination of the verification agreement separately produces a referral to a suspending and debarring official.
The terms of an irrevocable trust may be altered by agreement, by court order, or by the trustee's own exercise of a distributive power. Consent modification requires the settlor and all beneficiaries, or all beneficiaries alone where the change respects a material purpose. A court may modify for circumstances the settlor did not anticipate. Decanting lets a trustee with discretion over principal distribute it to a second trust.
A professional defending a liability claim commonly argues that the client was informed of the options and risks and chose the course now complained of, or that the decision was a considered judgment among reasonable alternatives. Both defenses depend on a contemporaneous record. Informed consent requires that adequate information was communicated, not merely that a document was signed, and judgmental immunity protects a choice made after reasonable inquiry rather than one made in ignorance.
A surety defending a payment bond claim asserts, in sequence, that the claimant is outside the protected class, that the statutory notice was defective or late, that the action was untimely, that the claim was released or already paid, that the amount is wrong, and that the penal sum is exhausted. It may also assert the defenses the principal itself would have against the underlying obligation. Statutory waiver restrictions limit the release defense on required bonds.
Once a commission has fixed each class's revenue responsibility, rate design determines the structure through which that revenue is collected. The components are a fixed customer charge, energy charges that may be flat or blocked, demand charges applied to larger customers, and time-varying or seasonal differentials. Federal law requires state commissions to consider a defined set of ratemaking standards.
In a directed trust the instrument gives a third party, commonly called a trust director or adviser, power over a defined function such as investments or distributions. The directed trustee holds the property and executes directions. Statutes relieve that trustee of the duty to monitor or second-guess the director within the scope of the power, but retain a residual duty that varies by state. The director owes fiduciary duties of its own.
Public communications by political committees, and communications by anyone that expressly advocate or solicit contributions, must identify who paid for them. The prescribed wording differs according to whether the communication was authorized by a candidate, authorized but paid for by another, or unauthorized. Print notices must sit in a bordered box in legible type; broadcast notices must be clearly spoken and, on television, displayed. Small items and impracticable placements are exempt.
Municipal disclosure matters proceed under the general antifraud provisions rather than a registration regime, because municipal securities are exempt from registration and direct regulation of issuers is limited by statute. One route reaches negligent conduct in the offer or sale of securities; another requires scienter. Officials are reached through primary liability for their own statements or through provisions addressing those who cause a violation.
Because certification requirements are proved rather than pleaded, courts receive expert opinions on class membership, common impact and damages methodology. The evidentiary rule requires that expert testimony rest on sufficient facts, reliable principles and methods, and a reliable application of those methods. Circuits differ on how completely that screening must be performed at certification, but a model that does not match the certified theory of liability fails regardless.
Customer dispute information may be removed from the central registration record only where a panel unanimously finds that the claim is factually impossible or clearly erroneous, that the person was not involved in the alleged violation, or that it is false. A specialized panel of three public arbitrators decides the request, state securities regulators may participate, and a court order confirming the award is required.
A claim against a professional and a dispute over the professional's fee are usually two aspects of one disagreement. Unpaid fees may be pursued as an affirmative claim, asserted as setoff, or submitted to a fee arbitration program. A claimant may seek forfeiture or disgorgement of fees paid, a remedy that in many states rests on breach of fiduciary duty rather than negligence and does not require proof that the work caused separate loss.
