Very off-the-cuff here, so forgive any sloppiness. 2 and 3 seem like empirical questions about which I don’t have enough information to even hazard a guess. I’d at best be stoking a similar kind of confusion my original post attempts to warn about.
Re 1, if we’re talking in the abstract about criminal or civil liability, then I think the answer is probably yes (with potential exceptions for situations where after-the-fact actions might give rise to liability for things like perjury and witness tampering, etc.).
But if we’re talking about cost in time, treasure and mental well-being associated with being a witness, or the knock-on effects for others and the system more generally, I think the answer is a strong no. Loose talk after a dispute has arisen can easily take a near-0% chance of someone being significantly involved (looking exclusively at pre-dispute facts) and make it a near certainty. And this would not necessarily be just for the individual or organization doing the talking. A simple but hopefully clear example would be where a central figure in the pre-dispute facts speaks post-dispute and identifies someone else as being significantly involved. The identified person would suddenly be on everyone’s radar even if they were on nobody’s radar before the statement, and that would be true even they weren’t actually involved (i.e., the post-dispute statement was false), and even if the false statement was an innocent mistake (a few examples of which I try to outline in the post—e.g., confusing post-dispute involvement with pre-dispute involvement, etc.).
If I understand you correctly, you’d agree that carefully saying true things, with extra attention to clarity (to avoid easy misreadings), would go a long way to reducing risk of (1).
I’m not sure I understand this comment completely, but I think I disagree with it. Speaking in the abstract because I don’t want to suggest I know anything about any specifics here, I think the best way to avoid legal risk (including but not limited to liability) based on pre-blow-up actions or statements in any situation like this is to stay silent after the fact and only say what is absolutely necessary through the formal legal process.
Very off-the-cuff here, so forgive any sloppiness. 2 and 3 seem like empirical questions about which I don’t have enough information to even hazard a guess. I’d at best be stoking a similar kind of confusion my original post attempts to warn about.
Re 1, if we’re talking in the abstract about criminal or civil liability, then I think the answer is probably yes (with potential exceptions for situations where after-the-fact actions might give rise to liability for things like perjury and witness tampering, etc.).
But if we’re talking about cost in time, treasure and mental well-being associated with being a witness, or the knock-on effects for others and the system more generally, I think the answer is a strong no. Loose talk after a dispute has arisen can easily take a near-0% chance of someone being significantly involved (looking exclusively at pre-dispute facts) and make it a near certainty. And this would not necessarily be just for the individual or organization doing the talking. A simple but hopefully clear example would be where a central figure in the pre-dispute facts speaks post-dispute and identifies someone else as being significantly involved. The identified person would suddenly be on everyone’s radar even if they were on nobody’s radar before the statement, and that would be true even they weren’t actually involved (i.e., the post-dispute statement was false), and even if the false statement was an innocent mistake (a few examples of which I try to outline in the post—e.g., confusing post-dispute involvement with pre-dispute involvement, etc.).
Hope this is useful.
Very helpful, thanks Tyler!
If I understand you correctly, you’d agree that carefully saying true things, with extra attention to clarity (to avoid easy misreadings), would go a long way to reducing risk of (1).
I’m not sure I understand this comment completely, but I think I disagree with it. Speaking in the abstract because I don’t want to suggest I know anything about any specifics here, I think the best way to avoid legal risk (including but not limited to liability) based on pre-blow-up actions or statements in any situation like this is to stay silent after the fact and only say what is absolutely necessary through the formal legal process.