Companies that neglect safety standards or ethical duties may face legal consequences. Learn how corporate negligence can lead to liability and accountability.
Topic Overview
Corporate negligence occurs when a company fails to uphold reasonable standards of care, resulting in harm to individuals or the public. These failures may involve unsafe products, environmental harm, systemic safety violations, or failure to implement policies and procedures to mitigate harm. They can lead to injury claims, regulatory action or litigation.
Key takeaways about corporate negligence
- Corporate negligence occurs when a business breaches its legal duty of care, often by failing to implement basic safety, ethical or compliance practices.
- To succeed in court, plaintiffs must prove a company’s action or inaction caused harm.
- The healthcare, manufacturing, transportation and construction industries are frequently involved in corporate negligence lawsuits.
What does corporate negligence mean?
Corporate negligence is a legal concept. It holds a business accountable when it fails to exercise reasonable care in its operations, causing harm to individuals or the public. It stems from the legal doctrine of duty of care, which requires companies to take appropriate steps to prevent foreseeable harm.
While individual negligence focuses on personal wrongdoing, corporate negligence looks at the company’s policies, procedures or systemic failures. Corporate negligence may include:
- Failure to follow safety protocols
- Inadequate employee training or supervision
- Lack of product testing or failure to warn
- Neglect in responding to known risks
A corporation may be held liable even if no individual employee intended harm. Additionally, under the legal theory of vicarious liability, a corporation may be held responsible for employees’ negligent actions that occur within the scope of their job duties.
How to prove corporate negligence in court
To hold a company legally accountable for negligence, a plaintiff must establish four key legal elements:
- Duty of care: The company had a legal obligation to act with reasonable care.
- Breach of duty: The company failed to meet that obligation, either by action (doing something) or omission (failing to do something).
- Causation: The company’s breach caused or contributed to the harm suffered.
- Harm suffered: The plaintiff experienced real, measurable harm, such as injury, financial loss, or emotional distress. Monetary compensation for these harms is called damages.
Proving corporate negligence often requires evidence of systemic practices, internal communications, safety records and/or expert testimony. For example, plaintiffs in medical device lawsuits may present reports showing the company ignored known risks during production.
Examples of corporate negligence lawsuits
Corporate negligence can manifest in various impactful industries where a breach of duty can have devastating consequences.
- Johnson & Johnson talcum powder: The company allegedly sold talcum powder products contaminated with asbestos without proper warnings, leading to lawsuits linking the product to cancer.
- Boeing 737 MAX crashes: Design flaws in the flight control system contributed to fatal crashes, including Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302. Investigations found that Boeing failed to adequately disclose or correct known issues.
- BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill: A series of corporate and contractor missteps led to an explosion on an offshore rig. It caused massive environmental damage and loss of life, leading to a large legal settlement.
These examples show how corporate malpractice can have far-reaching legal and societal consequences.
Contact a corporate litigation lawyer
If corporate negligence harmed you or your community, you may have legal options. Motley Rice has experience pursuing litigation against major corporations and holding them accountable. We can help you explore your options and seek justice.
For more information, contact our team by filling out our online form or call 1.800.768.4026
What industries face corporate negligence lawsuits?
Corporate negligence can occur in any sector. But certain industries face higher risks due to the nature of their operations, scale or regulatory environment.
Environmental and public health
When corporations mishandle hazardous materials, the results can be catastrophic. Companies have been held liable for exposing people to toxic substances such as PFAS chemicals, lead and benzene. Motley Rice has experience representing those impacted by Camp Lejeune water contamination and PFAS chemical exposure.
Healthcare and hospitals
Hospitals and healthcare facilities may face lawsuits for failing to enforce safety standards, supervise staff or respond to misconduct. These failures can lead to medical errors, patient harm or abuse. Motley Rice also supports survivors in cases of sexual abuse in medical settings where institutional negligence enabled abuse.
Manufacturing and product liability
Companies may release dangerous products due to poor design, inadequate testing, bad manufacturing or failure to warn. They can face lawsuits under legal theories of product liability and corporate negligence. To support those affected by harmful products, Motley Rice attorneys have taken legal action against manufacturers of Roundup weed killer and GLP-1 diabetes medications like Ozempic® and Wegovy®.
Social media and digital platforms
Social media companies face allegations of corporate negligence when they fail to protect users from foreseeable harm. This includes failing to address algorithms that amplify harmful content, user privacy violations or known safety risks. Motley Rice is representing individuals and families harmed by social media platforms such as Facebook and TikTok that may have contributed to mental health crises or addictive use patterns.
Transportation and logistics
Negligent hiring practices, poor maintenance protocols, or systemic oversight failures can lead to serious transportation accidents. Motley Rice has represented victims in cases involving trucking collisions, train derailments, and other transportation-related disasters, including those resulting in catastrophic injury or mass harm.
Our corporate negligence litigation experience
Motley Rice has spent decades representing individuals, families and communities harmed by corporate wrongdoing. Our attorneys have litigated against some of the world’s largest companies in cases involving defective products, environmental disasters, consumer fraud and institutional failures.
We combine deep legal experience with investigative resources to uncover evidence of systemic corporate negligence and build compelling legal cases. Our work has helped secure meaningful compensation and accountability for clients all over the country.
Read more on our complex litigation experience.
Do not stop taking a prescribed medication without first consulting with your doctor. Discontinuing a prescribed medication without your doctor's advice can result in injury or death. Ozempic and Wegovy remain approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
- Sources
- Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School. Negligence.
- Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School. Vicarious liability.
- University of Pennsylvania. Personal Liability of Directors and Officers in Tort: Searching for Coherence and Accountability.