The Corporate Conspiracy Vacuum (Formerly "Corporate Conspiracy: How Not Calling A Conspiracy A Conspiracy Is Warping The Law On Corporate Wrongdoing"), J.S. Nelson
Sep 2015
The Corporate Conspiracy Vacuum (Formerly "Corporate Conspiracy: How Not Calling A Conspiracy A Conspiracy Is Warping The Law On Corporate Wrongdoing"), J.S. Nelson
J.S. Nelson
The intracorporate conspiracy doctrine immunizes an enterprise and its agents from conspiracy prosecution based on the legal fiction that an enterprise and its agents are a single actor incapable of the meeting of two minds to form a conspiracy. The doctrine, however, misplaces incentives in contravention of agency law, criminal law, tort law, and public policy. As a result of this absence of accountability, harmful behavior is ordered and performed without consequences, and the victims of the behavior suffer without appropriate remedy.
This vacuum at the center of American conspiracy law has now warped the doctrines around it. Especially in …
The Corporate Conspiracy Vacuum Presentation, J.S. Nelson
Aug 2015
The Corporate Conspiracy Vacuum Presentation, J.S. Nelson
J.S. Nelson
This is a presentation on my Corporate Conspiracy Vacuum article.
The Corporate Shell Game Presentation, J.S. Nelson
Feb 2015
The Corporate Shell Game Presentation, J.S. Nelson
J.S. Nelson
This presentation on The Corporate Shell Game identifies for the first time the hardening of the corporate shell. It provides compelling evidence that shell-hardening pushes and disguises the way that corporations and agents commit large-scale wrongdoing, and it traces the contributing legal streams that protect the agents who engage in this behavior. The only way to combat widespread frauds that inflict damage on the public is for the corporate shell to become less opaque.
The Intracorporate Conspiracy Trap (Formerly "Perverse Incentives And Corporate Conspiracy: Why We Are Asking The Wrong Basic Question In Assessing Liability For Corporations And Their Agents"), J.S. Nelson
Jan 2015
The Intracorporate Conspiracy Trap (Formerly "Perverse Incentives And Corporate Conspiracy: Why We Are Asking The Wrong Basic Question In Assessing Liability For Corporations And Their Agents"), J.S. Nelson
J.S. Nelson
In the recent case of Commonwealth v. Lynn, Pennsylvania prosecuted a Roman Catholic priest who had not abused children himself but who, to protect the archdiocese that employed him, covered up information about priests who had abused children and reassigned the priests to new parishes. This case was the first of its kind to bring criminal charges against an official of the Church solely for how he supervised the careers of priests to protect his employer.
Because the intracorporate conspiracy doctrine prohibits it, the state—as is now typical of both state and federal jurisdictions around the country—was unable to prosecute …
The Ethical Slide, Train Tickets, And Helping The Next Generation Of Corporate Leaders To Choose Differently, J.S. Nelson
Jan 2015
The Ethical Slide, Train Tickets, And Helping The Next Generation Of Corporate Leaders To Choose Differently, J.S. Nelson
J.S. Nelson
Sometimes bad ethical behavior is simply the result of making obviously poor decisions. Consider the very human case of
Jonathan Burrows, the former …
The Intracorporate Conspiracy Doctrine And D&O Litigation Incentives, J.S. Nelson
Jan 2015
The Intracorporate Conspiracy Doctrine And D&O Litigation Incentives, J.S. Nelson
J.S. Nelson
The Intracorporate Conspiracy Doctrine And Ceo Turnover, J.S. Nelson
Jan 2015
The Intracorporate Conspiracy Doctrine And Ceo Turnover, J.S. Nelson
J.S. Nelson
My previous blogposts (
one,
two,
three,
four,
five,
six, and
seven) discussed why conspiracy prosecutions were the best method to penalize coordinated wrongdoing by agents within an organization. Using alternative doctrines to impose liability on behavior that would otherwise be recognized as an
intracorporate conspiracy results in flawed incentives and disproportionate awards.
Frustration With The Intracorporate Conspiracy Doctrine Distorts Other Areas Of Law, J.S. Nelson
Jan 2015
Frustration With The Intracorporate Conspiracy Doctrine Distorts Other Areas Of Law, J.S. Nelson
J.S. Nelson
My previous blogposts (
one,
two,
three,
four,
five, and
six) discussed why conspiracy prosecutions should be used to reach coordinated wrongdoing by agents within an organization. The
intracorporate conspiracy doctrine has distorted agency law and inappropriately handicaps the ability of tort and criminal law to regulate the behavior of organizations and their agents.
My
Intracorporate Conspiracy Trap article argues that the intracorporate conspiracy doctrine is not properly based in agency law, and that it should most certainly not be applied throughout tort law and criminal law. As a result of the immunity granted …
The Silenced Connecticut Sex-Abuse Case, J.S. Nelson
Jan 2015
The Silenced Connecticut Sex-Abuse Case, J.S. Nelson
J.S. Nelson
My previous blogposts (
one,
two,
three,
four, and
five) introduced why conspiracy prosecutions should be used to reach wrongdoing by agents within an organization. The 2012 prosecution of
Monsignor Lynn for twelve years of transferring predator priests from parish to parish at the command and for the benefit of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia was defeated by the
intracorporate conspiracy doctrine. Moreover, this was not the first time that the Roman Catholic Church had used the doctrine to help its bureaucrats escape liability for suppressing sex abuse cases.
In 1997, employees of the Roman …
How We Should Have Tried Monsignor Lynn, J.S. Nelson
Jan 2015
How We Should Have Tried Monsignor Lynn, J.S. Nelson
J.S. Nelson
My previous blogposts (
one,
two,
three, and
four) introduced why conspiracy prosecutions should be used to reach wrongdoing by agents within a business organization. The same legal analysis applies to
religious organizations.
We should have been able to charge
Monsignor Lynn and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia that directed his actions to hide the sexual abuse by priests with criminal conspiracy. Instead, Pennsylvania charged Lynn with two things: child endangerment and conspiracy
with the priests.
Sex Abuse, Priests, And Corporate Conspiracy, J.S. Nelson
Jan 2015
Sex Abuse, Priests, And Corporate Conspiracy, J.S. Nelson
J.S. Nelson
My previous blogposts (
one,
two, and
three) introduced the topic of how the
intracorporate conspiracy doctrine prevents the prosecution of coordinated wrongdoing by individuals within organizations. This post illustrates the doctrine’s effect in the context of a specific organization—here a religious one: the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the systematic transfer of predator priests. This post is based on my article
The Intracorporate Conspiracy Trap to be published soon in the
Cardozo Law Review. The article is available in draft form
here.
For twelve years, from 1992 to 2004, as Secretary for Clergy, …
Where Are The Prosecutions For Corporate Conspiracy?, J.S. Nelson
Jan 2015
Where Are The Prosecutions For Corporate Conspiracy?, J.S. Nelson
J.S. Nelson
My
first and
second blogposts introduced why conspiracy prosecutions are particularly important for reaching the coordinated actions of individuals when the elements of wrong-doing may be delegated among members of the group.
So where are the prosecutions for corporate conspiracy??? The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act of 1970 (“RICO”, 18 U.S.C.A. §§ 1961 et seq.),
no longer applies to most business organizations and their employees. In fact, business organizations working together with outside agents can
form new protected “enterprises.”
What’s going on here? In this area and many other parts of the law, we are witnessing the power …
Jpmorgan’S Witness And The Holes In Corporate Criminal Law, J.S. Nelson
Jan 2015
Jpmorgan’S Witness And The Holes In Corporate Criminal Law, J.S. Nelson
J.S. Nelson
Corporate Conspiracy Charges For The Financial Crisis, J.S. Nelson
Jan 2015
Corporate Conspiracy Charges For The Financial Crisis, J.S. Nelson
J.S. Nelson
In my
previous blogpost, I granted the merit of defense counsel’s argument that the actions of discrete individual defendants—when the law is not permitted to consider the coordination of those actions—may not satisfy the elements of a prosecutable crime.
But what is the coordination of individuals for a wrongful common purpose? That’s a conspiracy. And, for exactly the reasons that defense counsel articulates, these types of crimes cannot be reached by other forms of prosecution. The
U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that conspiracy is its own animal. “[C]ollective criminal agreement—partnership in crime—presents a greater potential threat to the public than individual …