A Duty To Disclose Social Injustice Torts

By Gilat Juli Bachar. 

Are tort victims ever obligated to disclose the wrongdoing they suffered? This unanswered question demands our prompt attention given two recent trends: the prevalence of non-disclosure agreements concealing injustices such as sexual wrongdoing and police misconduct; and a new wave of sunshine-in-litigation laws attempting to curb confidentiality in at least a dozen states, from Tennessee to California. Such laws have sought to prioritize the public interest in information regarding certain harmful behavior over the interests of individual litigants. But, to date, scholars and policymakers have failed to identify one of the key justifications for curtailing the widespread practice of confidentiality in tort settlements. This Article is the first to fill this crucial gap, conceptualizing and delineating a disclosure duty owed by tort victims to others . . . Full Article.