Opinion ID: 417693
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Civil Conspiracy Elsewhere

Text: 31 A few cases in other jurisdictions have considered more carefully than the District of Columbia two issues at the heart of Halberstam's conspiracy case against Hamilton: what kind of evidence is sufficient to establish an agreement to pursue wrongful conduct, and the extent of liability for acts performed by a coconspirator. 32 Both issues arose in Davidson v. Simmons, 203 Neb. 804, 280 N.W.2d 645 (1979), which involved a civil conspiracy to commit burglary. The boy whose liability was in question was the driver of a getaway truck. One of his codefendants, who had been inside the burglarized building, had struck an investigating policeman on the head with a hammer. Even though the driver never entered the building and had beaten a hasty retreat from the scene when the police appeared, the court held he could be liable to the injured policeman on a conspiracy basis. The court observed that [a] conspiracy need not be established by direct evidence ... but may, and generally must, be proved by a number of indefinite acts, conditions, and circumstances which vary according to the purpose to be accomplished. The court stated that the finding of a conspiracy would be justified if the defendants' acts revealed that they had pursued the same object, although by different means, one performing one part and another another part. 280 N.W.2d at 648-49 (citation omitted). On the issue of extent of liability, the Davidson court asserted that once the conspiracy had been established, all parties to it would be liable for injuries from acts pursuant to and in furtherance of the common design, even if the parties had not actively participated or benefited by the particular acts resulting in injury. Id. 280 N.W.2d at 649 (citation omitted). 33 The Davidson court cited a similar case: Tabb v. Norred, 277 So.2d 223 (La.App.), cert. denied, 279 So.2d 694 (1973), in which two armed boys burglarized a school and one shot an investigating officer. The boy who did not shoot the deputy argued that he was not liable because he had not fired the injurious shot and had not assisted in or encouraged the shooting; indeed, the boy had been disarmed by police before the deputy was wounded. The boy further argued that even if there had been a conspiracy, it had not contemplated gunfire. The court held that both boys were liable for the shooting under a statute that established liability for assisting or encouraging a person in the commission of an unlawful act. Its analysis, however, merged the conspiracy and aiding-abetting theories. The court based a finding of conspiracy on the boys' joint action of breaking into the school with pistols. Since both boys carried pistols and fired them at the police to avoid apprehension, the court found that the wounding shot was not beyond the scope of the conspiracy. 34 One might reasonably conclude from these cases that where two or more persons jointly commit an onsite burglary, a court will infer that there has been a prior agreement to do so, and that a violent act is within the reasonable scope of such an agreement, particularly when both persons are armed. 35 Peterson v. Cruickshank, 144 Cal.App.2d 148, 300 P.2d 915 (1956), extends the reasoning about inferring agreement to a situation where, as in this case, the parties did not execute the tort together at the same time and place. In Peterson, the issue was whether there [was] any substantial evidence to support the finding that appellant conspired with his two co-defendants to falsely imprison [appellant's consort], id. 300 P.2d at 925, in a sanitarium where she received shock treatments. The appellant protested that all he had done was pay his consort's bills; he had neither directed the doctor at the sanitarium to imprison her or administer shock treatments. The court observed that, absent a confession, an agreement between conspirators must generally be inferred from circumstantial evidence revealing a common intent; it found a number of circumstances that permitted the inference that appellant had reached an understanding with his codefendants about the restraint and treatment of his consort. First, appellant's past stormy personal relationship with the woman had provided him a motive to have her restrained. Second, there was evidence of a conversation within a few days of the confinement between appellant and a codefendant doctor at the sanitarium. In this conversation, appellant and the doctor had discussed appellant's falling out with the woman, the history of appellant's relationship with her, and appellant's willingness to pay all bills for her treatment. After the talk, the doctor had refused to let the woman's sister take her home; he also secured, under suspicious circumstances and over her sister's objection, the woman's consent to shock treatments. Furthermore, before the woman left the sanitarium, appellant sent an attorney to induce her to sign a release of all claims. The court found such evidence sufficient to sustain the finding of a conspiracy between appellant and the doctor to imprison the woman against her will. 36 Davidson, Tabb, and Peterson provide some insights into the amount and kind of evidence necessary to establish prior agreement as well as into the extent of liability for a coconspirator's acts. Davidson and Peterson in particular recognize that since in most cases the court will have to infer a conspiracy from indirect evidence, it must initially look to see if the alleged joint tortfeasors are pursuing the same goal--although performing different functions--and are in contact with one another. The circumstances of each case dictate what other specific evidence may be useful in inferring agreement. The easiest situation in which to draw the inference of agreement is where the parties are on the scene together at the same time performing acts in support of one another. This description approximates Tabb: two armed persons travel together to a building, both break in, and both shoot when confronted by police. In Davidson, the defendants were performing different but connected acts, relatively close in time and location: driving the getaway vehicle and breaking in. The performance of different acts at different times in different places, as in Peterson, requires a more extensive set of inferences to link the actors together. But such inferences are still sustainable in the proper factual setting. Additionally, the length of time two parties work closely together may also strengthen the likelihood that they are engaged in a common pursuit. Mutually supportive activity by parties in contact with one another over a long period suggests a common plan. 37 In sum, we expect that the relationships between the actors and between the actions (e.g., the proximity in time and place of the acts, and the duration of the actors' joint activity) are relevant in inferring an agreement in a civil conspiracy action. There may well be other significant factors in individual cases. 38 As to the extent of liability, once the conspiracy has been formed, all its members are liable for injuries caused by acts pursuant to or in furtherance of the conspiracy. A conspirator need not participate actively in or benefit from the wrongful action in order to be found liable. He need not even have planned or known about the injurious action, as in the case of the getaway driver in Davidson, so long as the purpose of the tortious action was to advance the overall object of the conspiracy.