So I don’t think it is correct to assume that unfavorable information will be publicly disclosed no matter what.
This feels like a nonsequitur to me. The question is “is there information an org or person might like to disclose, but shouldn’t, due to its effect on legal risk (including procedural burden)?”. If the entity doesn’t want the information to be public then this question doesn’t arise (we could argue about whether orgs have a proactive moral duty to confess to crimes, but that’s definitely not the question here).
It sounds like you’re saying there is a ceiling on the burden for discovery, trial, etc, so at a certain point new statements can’t increase that burden, although they could have other negative consequences. Is that correct?
There is certainly a ceiling. Then again, your organization ceasing to exist because it’s overrun with legal bills and/or a crippling judgment is entered against it is a ceiling, and for smaller organizations (especially those that spent grant funds and are already going to get hit with a clawback) it may well be a realistic estimate of the ceiling.
As far as a non sequitur, I think we’re interested in somewhat different questions. My formulation is more: “What are the relative costs and benefits of making statements and releasing information on this matter?” I don’t find comparing benefits to only the increase in legal risk to be particularly decision-relevant on what organizations should do. I think almost any statement that is not “we’re giving back all the money, right now” is going to be net negative PR, and I think the increased risk of public disclosure of unfavorable information has to be considered to answer my question (it’s OK if it isn’t part of your question).
I’m not sure how to ask this but it seems like you’re...angry?… at me for trying to be precise about this? I’m not trying to challenge you, I just want to double crux to discover where our assessments differ. I thought that might have been any number of places you have expertise and I don’t, but now it seems like maybe you just don’t see value in public sense-making.
This feels like a nonsequitur to me. The question is “is there information an org or person might like to disclose, but shouldn’t, due to its effect on legal risk (including procedural burden)?”. If the entity doesn’t want the information to be public then this question doesn’t arise (we could argue about whether orgs have a proactive moral duty to confess to crimes, but that’s definitely not the question here).
It sounds like you’re saying there is a ceiling on the burden for discovery, trial, etc, so at a certain point new statements can’t increase that burden, although they could have other negative consequences. Is that correct?
There is certainly a ceiling. Then again, your organization ceasing to exist because it’s overrun with legal bills and/or a crippling judgment is entered against it is a ceiling, and for smaller organizations (especially those that spent grant funds and are already going to get hit with a clawback) it may well be a realistic estimate of the ceiling.
As far as a non sequitur, I think we’re interested in somewhat different questions. My formulation is more: “What are the relative costs and benefits of making statements and releasing information on this matter?” I don’t find comparing benefits to only the increase in legal risk to be particularly decision-relevant on what organizations should do. I think almost any statement that is not “we’re giving back all the money, right now” is going to be net negative PR, and I think the increased risk of public disclosure of unfavorable information has to be considered to answer my question (it’s OK if it isn’t part of your question).
I would note that there is a huge jump from “unfavorable information” to “confess to crimes”—for instance, there is generally no duty to rescue in common-law jurisdictions (which would include the US and UK).
I’m not sure how to ask this but it seems like you’re...angry?… at me for trying to be precise about this? I’m not trying to challenge you, I just want to double crux to discover where our assessments differ. I thought that might have been any number of places you have expertise and I don’t, but now it seems like maybe you just don’t see value in public sense-making.
My two cents: I don’t read any negative emotions from Jason’s comment