Giving information and liability

Can you be liable if you give someone information and they harm someone else or harm themselves?

Can you give us an example of what you mean?

If we could, do you think we’d tell you?

Like if I gave someone information how to build bomb on a blog or in a book. Then someone goes and blow up something. Or, if I told someone to take a supplement for something and they have an allergic reaction.

Would I be held responsible?

It depends on whether the prosecutor of any victim’s lawyers want to take you to court for it. And the results will depend on the circumstances. There’s no blanket answer.

Why, what have you done? :wink:

That question, in such a broad form, is impossible to answer. Whether or not legal action is possible against someone who has made a claim of some sort is going to vary in every single instance. That’s why we have a legal system, to determine the validity of individual cases.

Liability varies based on so many different factors, it would be irresponsible to even hazard an answer to your question. However, if you are hurt as a result of information provided by someone else, you are certainly able to file a suit to your heart’s content. Doesn’t mean you’ll win, but anyone can sue anyone for just about anything.

What about adding a disclaimer, and saying if someone gets hurt or harmed it is not my responsibily?

What if I warn them about the consequences? An example, I tell people that taking long jogs in the neighborhood is an convenient and inexpensive way to get in shape. I warn them that they could get attacked by dogs or drop dead from heart problems. If a jogger gets attacked after reading my advice, could I be held liable then? I’m thinking “no”.

There is no way you are going to get any sort of a meaningful answer here. There are so many variable inputs that change the nature of the answer to your question. What’s the jursidction? How was the information sought out? How was it conveyed? Who specifically were the people involved? You’re basically asking for the entirety of a body of legal theory to be distilled and handed to you in a one-size-fits-all format and it’s impossible.

Do you know where I can get this info w/out becoming a law student, lol?

Without a specific instance of the type of information and manner in which it was conveyed, and the nature of injury to the second party, no. Are you talking about information on a product sold to consumers? Information given out by a company selling a product or service? Information released by a government agency? Information from a private citizen? Was this information requested by the party involved? Paid for? Posted online? Published in another form? What are the nature of the damages? Was property damage caused? Was someone hurt or injured? What actually caused the damage or injury? Where did the damage or injury occur? etc.

Your question is too broad to limit it to a specifc area of law. But considering this and your other threads here, you might want to start here, lol.

This may sound crazy, but have you considered asking a lawyer?

Now, that is just crazy talk.

As I understand, you can be held liable if you knew the person to whom you gave information was going to use it to harm others. For example, if someone asked you how to make explosives because they stated they wanted to blow up a building, you’d be liable for telling them, but not if the person had told you they intended to use the knowledge to clear a tree stump from their land. In the former case, you might be considered a co-conspirator or at least an accessory-- in the latter you were just a dupe.