Is a failure to act pursuant to a duty equivalent to an injurious or negligent act?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Smith, C082458 (Cal. App. 2018):

It is unclear from what source the pattern instruction derived its statement that a failure to act pursuant to a duty is the equivalent of an injurious or negligent act. The prior pattern instructions used in connection with a parent's failure to protect a minor child did not make any reference to negligent acts. (See Rolon, supra, 160 Cal.App.4th at pp. 1213-1214.) The failure to take "reasonable" steps (as opposed to extraordinary) to protect the minor must be done "knowingly"; "such intentional conduct in support of an aider and abettor can support liability for implied malice murder." (Id. at p. 1219, italics added; accord, People v. Latham (2012) 203 Cal.App.4th 319, 332 [evidence sufficient to establish that parents knew of extent of minor's medical condition and failed to obtain medical treatment "in conscious disregard of that risk"].)

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