Smooth -- you're a little off. Since they got jail time, I'm guessing the charges were criminal, not civil, and what you're saying only applies to civil negligence. It's not really clear what the distinction between civil and criminal negligence is, only that criminal negligence is a much higher standard than civil negligence. The standard for civil negligence is, as you say, the "reasonably prudent person." But to be criminally negligent, your conduct has to be outrageous, beyond the bounds of decency . . . . Courts put it in different ways, but the idea is that you have to be really, really negligent. I don't know what the exact facts are in this case, so I'm not going to comment directly, but if the manager was actually criminally negligent, then he certainly deserves the jail time.
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"Die Deutschen meinen, daß die Kraft sich in Härte und Grausamkeit offenbaren müsse, sie unterwerfen sich dann gerne und mit Bewunderung:[...]. Daß es Kraft giebt in der Milde und Stille, das glauben sie nicht leicht."
"The Germans believe that power must reveal itself in hardness and cruelty and then submit themselves gladly and with admiration[...]. They do not believe readily that there is power in meekness and calm."
-- Friedrich Nietzsche
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