The general doctrine of duress applies when a party engages in some unlawful action or gives their consent to something, e.g., a contract, because someone engenders fear in them or threatens them with harm. Duress is a concept of importance in both civil and criminal law. A lawyer consultation with a California lawyer would assist a person in understanding the concept of duress in California law.
In civil law, for example, the concept of economic duress can be an effective defense in breach of contract lawsuits. If a party to a contract entered into the contractual agreement because the other party subjected them to a coercive act and they had no alternative, the party can claim economic duress to avoid the contract.
In the past, duress by definition was limited to the commission of an unlawful act that would qualify as a civil wrong, a “tort” in legal terminology, or a crime. However, currently this is not required. Rather, economic duress may be found when someone commits a wrongful act that is coercive enough that it would lead a reasonably prudent person faced with no reasonable alternative to give in to the perpetrator’s pressure.
The party subjected to the coercive act, and having no reasonable alternative, can then plead economic duress to avoid the contract.
What Is Criminal Duress?
In criminal law, distress may be used as a defense to a criminal charge. If a person is successful in claiming the defense of duress, it can result in the dismissal of the charge against them. An individual can claim the defense of duress if they or a close associate, e.g., a family member or close friend, committed the charged crime, because they had been threatened with immediate death or serious bodily injury.
If a person is subject to duress, also called “coercion,” the responsibility for any illegal acts they may have committed belongs to the person who subjected them to criminal duress.
In California criminal law, if a person charged with a crime wants to assert an affirmative defense, they do not then have the burden of proving it. Rather, they can present facts that create a reasonable doubt about their having willingly or intentionally perpetrated the crime with which they are charged. The prosecution must then prove the person’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
In California, there are 3 parts to the defense of duress in state criminal law as follows:
- Threat of Immediate Harm: The person charged with a crime, the “defendant” in legal terminology, or some close to them was threatened with immediate harm. The defendant must have feared the threat would be carried out immediately and not at some time in the future. Again, the threat could have been made to the defendant but the intended victim of the infliction of harm could have been someone who had a direct connection to the defendant, e.g., their spouse or child.
- Reasonable Belief: The defendant really believed that the threatened harm would be carried out. In addition, any reasonable person in the same situation would have believed it.
- No Chance of Escape: The defendant could not have escaped in any reasonable manner. The defendant had no choice but to do what the person making the threat wanted them to do, because there was no possibility of retreat.
So, for example, if one person were to point a gun at another and order them to do some criminal act, the person at whom the gun is pointed would be able to claim the defense of duress.
The defense of duress does not absolve a person of guilt in some situations. The defense of duress is not available to a defendant charged with murder. In addition, the defense is not available to a defendant who put themselves in a threatening situation of their own volition, e.g., if they joined a criminal gang and then commit a crime under duress exerted by a fellow gang member.
When Does Duress Occur in Contracts?
As noted above, in California civil law, duress may be used to avoid liability for breach of contract. It is used by the party to a contract to avoid liability on the grounds that they only agreed to the contract because they were subject to the threat of unavoidable harm.
The threat of harm can be a threat to inflict physical or psychological injury in addition to economic harm. However, California defines “menace” as, technically, a threat of duress or a threat of violent and unlawful injury to the person or property of another person, or injury to the character of another. Duress in California may also consist of unlawful confinement or other acts that deprive a person of their free will.
Unlike economic duress, claims of menace typically involve physical threats often not present in cases of economic duress.
What Does It Mean To Sign Something Under Duress?
Just because a deal is unfair does not mean there was duress involved in making the deal. California courts look at whether the person had a reasonable choice and whether any pressure amounted to coercion. Certain aggressive tactics may not be the most ethical of business practices, but they may not constitute duress. Duress is something that crosses the line to be a threat of unavoidable harm or injury to the person who receives it.
What Is Economic Duress in California and When Does It Occur?
Economic duress may take the form of a bad faith threat to take legal action against a person or to blackmail them. However, of course, a person may threaten to sue another person without becoming liable for duress.
Or, the party who perpetrates duress may make a claim of some type that they know is false. Duress creates a fear of economic hardship, possibly hardship that would be suffered unfairly or unjustly. Duress might take the form of blackmail, or making a fraudulent misrepresentation. Again, economic duress is a threat made in bad faith to harm the economic interests of the recipient of the threat.
Some communications that California courts have held not to be duress are stating a different view of contractual rights and obligations than another party to a contract, even if the view expressed is incorrect.
It is not duress to simply refuse to go forward with a contract, even if the decision turns out to have been disadvantageous. And it is not duress to do something in connection with a contract for which the other party can seek a remedy in court through legal action.
Again, if someone has a reasonable alternative to doing what is demanded by a person in a contract situation, then there is probably no duress. Whether some conduct or threat amounts to duress is assessed according to the reasonably prudent person standard. If a reasonably prudent person would pursue some alternative course of action rather than submit, the threat or pressure is not duress.
How Does Duress Affect Consideration in Contracts?
One remedy available in law for duress is rescission of the contract. Rescission means invalidating the contract into which one party entered because of the duress to which they were subjected by the other party. This would require both parties to return any benefits they exchanged pursuant to the contract. So a party who received consideration from the other would have to return it.
Thus, duress can essentially negate consideration in a contract, and a California court could require that any consideration that may have been provided by one party to the other be returned.
If you believe that you have been the victim of duress in a contract situation you want to talk to a California contract lawyer. Your lawyer can review the facts of your situation and advise you as to whether the concept of duress might be of help and get you the relief you need.
Should I Hire a California Attorney for Help With Duress Legal Issues?
If you have been charged with a crime and believe that you committed the criminal conduct because of duress, you want to talk to a California criminal defense lawyer. Your lawyer can review the facts of your situation and advise you as to whether you might be able to claim the defense of duress. The duress defense can eliminate the criminal charge against you, so you definitely want to talk to your lawyer about what it might do for you.
