Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California

Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California refers to a 1976 case before the Supreme Court of California that represents the first legal decision providing that a mental health professional owes a duty to a third party not in his or her care and threatened by a patient in his or her care because of the special relationship created through the provision of mental health treatment to the patient. Although the Tarasoff decision is legally binding only in California, similar legal decisions have been made throughout the United States. As a result, mental health professionals colloquially refer to third party duty to warn or otherwise protect as Tarasoff duties. The Tarasoff court was the first to find that through the creation of a therapist-patient ...