Presume for a minute that (OK, so maybe this premise was slightly borrowed from the movie The Stepfather, the one from the 1980s, not the terrible recent one), a new college professor moves into town and gets a job teaching math. The new professor is charming and funny and everyone likes him. The dean introduces him to his daughter and they begin an engagement. Shortly thereafter, he begins acting possessive and increasingly paranoid. He begins staying after class, very late in fact. Soon, a chemistry student goes missing, followed by an art student. In a very dramatic car chase scene involving the dean's daughter and the professor, the professor is expelled from the windshield of his car and eaten by an alligator. A fingerprint check establishes that he previously lived in Richmond, VA under a different name and worked as a social worker and was suspected in the disappearance of several college students.

Assume the college did not make the background check and the background check would have easily discovered this information. What would they be liable for? In today's #metoo environment, what liability can companies incur from failure to do due diligence? What about marijuana? It's lawful in many states now, does that absolve the employer's liability for accidents on the job?