Legal Definitions - prevaricator

A prevaricator is an individual who deliberately avoids the truth, speaks evasively, or misleads others, often to conceal facts, avoid responsibility, or betray a trust. Essentially, it describes a person who practices prevarication – the act of telling a lie, especially in a devious or misleading way, rather than directly stating falsehoods.

Here are some examples illustrating the term:

• Example 1: Evasive Testimony
  During a company investigation into a data breach, an employee is questioned about their access logs. Instead of providing direct answers, the employee repeatedly gives vague responses, changes the subject, and offers irrelevant details, carefully avoiding any statement that could directly implicate them or reveal their actions.

  This employee is acting as a prevaricator because they are intentionally being evasive and misleading, rather than providing a straightforward account of their activities related to the data breach.

• Example 2: Misleading Product Claims
  A marketing executive is asked by a regulatory body if their new product contains a specific ingredient that has recently been flagged as potentially harmful. The executive responds by highlighting other beneficial ingredients and discussing the product's overall safety record, but never directly confirms or denies the presence of the problematic ingredient.

  The executive is a prevaricator because they are deliberately using ambiguous language and diverting attention to avoid directly addressing the question about the ingredient, thereby misleading the regulatory body without uttering a direct falsehood.

• Example 3: Betrayal of Trust in a Professional Role
  A lawyer, representing a client in a complex business dispute, is approached by the opposing counsel with an offer to settle. When relaying the offer to their client, the lawyer downplays the benefits of the settlement and exaggerates its risks, subtly guiding the client towards rejecting it because the lawyer personally prefers to take the case to trial for higher fees.

  In this scenario, the lawyer is acting as a prevaricator by intentionally misrepresenting the truth about the settlement offer to their client, thereby betraying their client's trust through deceptive communication for personal gain.