# In a non-criminal action, if you invoke your 5th amendment rights, can that be used against you?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-non-criminal-action-if-you-invoke-your-5th-amendment-rights-can-that-be-used-against-you/669063>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 17, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-non-criminal-action-if-you-invoke-your-5th-amendment-rights-can-that-be-used-against-you/669063 "2013-09-17T16:17:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bizerta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@bizerta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizerta)\
**Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-non-criminal-action-if-you-invoke-your-5th-amendment-rights-can-that-be-used-against-you/669063/1 "2013-09-17T16:17:18Z")

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Can one refuse to answer questions and/or if one invokes their 5th amendment rights, can that fact be used against them?

I’m not talking about a criminal trial, but in other situations, such as …

In a civil action where the question is directly related to the issue at hand. Could either the plaintiff or the defendant refuse to answer questions.

How about questions arising in an employer/employee situation? (e.g. “Did you post that comment on the company web site about the company president?”)

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**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\
**Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-non-criminal-action-if-you-invoke-your-5th-amendment-rights-can-that-be-used-against-you/669063/2 "2013-09-17T16:19:11Z")

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Yes, you can do it. Yes, it can be used against you.

From[Wikipedia:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution#Refusal_to_testify_in_a_civil_case)

> [@](#):
>
> While defendants are entitled to assert that right, there are consequences to the assertion of the Fifth Amendment in a civil action.
> 
> The Supreme Court has held that “the Fifth Amendment does not forbid adverse inferences against parties to civil actions when they refuse to testify in response to probative evidence offered against them.” Baxter v. Palmigiano,[49] “[A]s Mr. Justice Brandeis declared, speaking for a unanimous court in the Tod case, ‘Silence is often evidence of the most persuasive character.’”[50] “‘Failure to contest an assertion … is considered evidence of acquiescence … if it would have been natural under the circumstances to object to the assertion in question.’”[51]
> 
> In Baxter, the state was entitled to an adverse inference against Palmigiano because of the evidence against him and his assertion of the Fifth Amendment privilege.

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**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-non-criminal-action-if-you-invoke-your-5th-amendment-rights-can-that-be-used-against-you/669063/3 "2013-09-17T19:17:18Z")

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> [@bizerta](#):
>
> How about questions arising in an employer/employee situation? (e.g. “Did you post that comment on the company web site about the company president?”)

Your relationship with your employer is not covered by the 5th Amendment.

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**Author:** ![dstarfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dstarfire/32/5762_2.png) [@dstarfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dstarfire)\
**Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-non-criminal-action-if-you-invoke-your-5th-amendment-rights-can-that-be-used-against-you/669063/4 "2013-09-17T20:25:46Z")

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Yes that has actually happened recently.

The folks at Prenda law asserted their fifth amendment rights in a civil trial when the judge accused them of fraud and other criminal acts. In other cases where Prenda Law was a plaintiff, a judge allow the defendants to use that assertion (of their 5th amendment rights) as evidence that Prenda was not trustworthy (i.e. don’t accept any of their statements or assertions without reliable proof).

To put it simple: if person A asserts their fifth amendment privelges in trial xyz (whether it is a civil or a criminal trial) opposing parties are allowed to draw inferences from person A’s silence in other civil trials, but not in criminal trials (criminal trials have much stricter standards of evidence).