Legal Definitions - positive wrong

A positive wrong refers to a harmful or unlawful act that is committed through an affirmative, intentional action, rather than through a failure to act (an omission). It involves actively doing something that violates a legal duty or right, causing injury or damage to another party.

Here are some examples illustrating a positive wrong:

• Deliberate Vandalism: Imagine a situation where a disgruntled former employee intentionally spray-paints graffiti on the exterior walls of their previous employer's building. This act is a positive wrong because the individual actively and deliberately caused damage to property belonging to another. It wasn't a failure to prevent damage, but a direct, intentional act of destruction.

• Fraudulent Misrepresentation: Consider a car dealership salesperson who knowingly tells a customer that a used car has never been in an accident, even though they are aware it was involved in a major collision. This is a positive wrong because the salesperson actively made a false statement of fact with the intent to deceive the customer and induce them to purchase the car. The harm arises directly from their affirmative, dishonest communication, not from an oversight or inaction.

• Unauthorized Disclosure of Confidential Information: Suppose an employee, in violation of their employment agreement, actively downloads and emails proprietary trade secrets to a competitor. This constitutes a positive wrong. The employee didn't merely fail to protect the information; they took deliberate steps to access, copy, and transmit it to an unauthorized party, thereby actively breaching their duty of confidentiality and causing potential harm to their employer.