More and more educators are being charged with liability in court. Hence community educators need greater understanding of liability and need to know how to avoid being defendants in litigation. Ignorance of the law is no defense, even though it is often difficult to know what the law is. While there is a tension between protecting the rights of the individual and those of society, if the community educator fails to respect rights or to provide adequate care, then he or she has committed a tort. The most common tort is negligence, which relates to injury suffered because care has fallen below a certain standard. Negligence decisions take into account the circumstances, standard of care, risk, and participants' age and capability. Three standards are used to determine negligence, and another two standards--involving the defendant's guilt and the plaintiff's injury--are used to determine damages to be recovered for negligence. Ten guidelines for community educators to follow to avoid litigation involve sponsoring agency authorization, provision of adequate instruction, supervision by qualified personnel, use of a safe place, enforcement of rules, prohibition of dangerous activities, repair of equipment, first aid, and records of accidents and injuries. (RW)