Sarbanes-Oxley can be complicated, but North Carolina retaliation attorney Kathryn Abernethy explains what if anything needs to be proven in a case. Living in Raleigh, employment attorney Abernethy understands North Carolina law better than anyone. She has been doing a weekly series on employment law in North Carolina. For more of her knowledge, click here. You can read the transcription of the video below.
https://youtu.be/pV3wOzjucxo
Transcription: Is There a Burden of Proof in a Sarbanes-Oxley Retaliation Case?
Plaintiff’s responsibility is always going to be to prove the violation by preponderance of the evidence.
There are some statutes, Sarbanes-Oxley is not one of them, that require a heightened evidentiary standard like clear and convincing evidence.
That’s not the case in Sarbanes-Oxley. It is a preponderance of the evidence standard for the most part.
But if you want, for example, punitive damages, that’s always going to be a heightened evidentiary standard.
So, you’re going to have to prove the violation and prove the intentionality of the violation by either clear and convincing evidence or some other similar type of heightened standard.
Preponderance of the evidence basically means more evidence than not.
So, think of it like if you get the ball over the 50 yard line in a football game, you’ve won the preponderance of the evidence standard.
