adverse

{{Refimprove|date=December 2012}}

{{For|the 2020 film|Adverse (film)}}

Adverse or adverse interest, in law, is anything that functions contrary to a party's interest.{{cite web|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/adverse_interest|website=Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute |title=adverse interest|date=June 1, 2022|access-date=March 12, 2025}}

This word should not be confused with averse.

The most common use of the term is "an interest, claim , or right that is against another’s interest." This occurs not only in the law; examples also pop up in accounting.

{{cite web|url=https://www.universalcpareview.com/ask-joey/what-are-some-examples-of-the-adverse-interest-threat/|website=Universal CPA Review|title=What are some examples of the adverse interest threat?|year=2022|access-date=March 12, 2025}} Furthermore, an adverse interest is an exception to agency law.

{{cite web|url=https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/faculty-articles/103/|first=Mark J.|last=Loewenstein|title=Imputation, the Adverse Interest Exception, and the Curious Case of the Restatement (Third) of Agency|volume=84 |journal=U. Colo. L. Rev.|page= 305 |year=2013|access-date=March 12, 2025}} The law regarding this exception is narrowly defined, so a judge will instruct a trial jury on the specific law.{{cite web|url=https://www.ce9.uscourts.gov/jury-instructions/node/99 |website=United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit |title=Manual of Model Civil Jury Instructions › 4. Agency: 4.13 Adverse Interest Exception|date=|access-date=March 12, 2025}}

A second use of the phrase is when some "witness with adverse interest means the witness is hostile. A hostile witness wants different results of the lawsuit than the party who calls them."