Legal Definitions - reasonable diligence

Reasonable diligence refers to the level of care, effort, and attention that a prudent and sensible person would exercise under similar circumstances to achieve a particular goal, fulfill a duty, or avoid harm. It does not demand perfection or extraordinary effort, but rather the appropriate and responsible actions that one would expect from someone acting carefully and thoughtfully.

Here are a few examples illustrating reasonable diligence:

• Property Management: Imagine a property manager for an apartment complex who receives a report of a broken handrail on a common staircase. Demonstrating reasonable diligence would involve promptly assessing the hazard, placing a clear warning sign or temporarily cordoning off the area if necessary, and immediately contacting a qualified contractor to schedule repairs within a timeframe appropriate for the safety risk. It would not be considered reasonable diligence to wait several weeks to address a clear safety hazard, nor would it require the manager to personally fix the rail if they lack the expertise.

  This example illustrates that reasonable diligence involves taking timely and appropriate steps to mitigate a known risk, consistent with what a responsible property manager would do to ensure tenant safety.

• Contractual Obligations: Consider a small business that has contracted with a vendor to supply a critical component for its product by a specific date. If the vendor informs the business that they will be late, the business must exercise reasonable diligence to mitigate potential losses. This might involve immediately searching for an alternative supplier, exploring expedited shipping options from other sources, or adjusting their own production schedule to minimize disruption. Simply waiting for the original vendor without exploring other options, and then claiming maximum damages, would likely not be considered reasonable diligence.

  This example illustrates that reasonable diligence in a contractual context means taking proactive and sensible steps to minimize the negative impact of a breach or delay, rather than passively allowing damages to accumulate.

• Legal Discovery: In a lawsuit, a party is often required to produce all relevant documents. Exercising reasonable diligence in this context means conducting a thorough and systematic search for all responsive materials. For instance, a company responding to a document request would need to instruct employees to search their emails, hard drives, cloud storage, and physical files, and follow up to ensure the search was comprehensive. It would not be reasonable diligence to simply ask employees once if they have any documents without providing clear instructions or verifying the completeness of their search.

  This example illustrates that reasonable diligence in legal proceedings requires a good faith, systematic effort to gather and produce information, not just a superficial or incomplete attempt.