Civil Conspiracy and the Rule of Law: A Proposal for Reappraisal and Reform
I. INTRODUCTION
A civil conspiracy is a group of two or more persons acting together to achieve an unlawful objective or to achieve a lawful objective by unlawful or criminal means.”
. . . . “[T]here must also be some illegal or tortious act committed by at least one of the parties to carry out the objectives of the agreement.
A. The Nature of the Problem and Questions Posed This article considers the doctrine of civil conspiracy, which has been used to impose expansive liability on defendants, in certain cases with limited (if any) fault, through a form of vicarious liability where each coconspirator is jointly and severally liable for the acts of the other.
Civil conspiracy has also been applied inconsistently in various places throughout the United States: for example, some states restrict its scope, through a concept of “duty limitations” while others do not, and some states are still