Pleading the 5th Amendment Right Against Self Incrimination in a Civil Dispute

If you watch TV, you have seen legal shows where the witness on the stand refuses to testify under his/her Fifth Amendment’s right against self incrimination. Most of these TV shows are in the criminal context. However, the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination also applies in civil disputes: The Fifth Amendment provides no person “shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.” Amend. V, U.S. Const. The Fourteenth Amendment incorporates the Fifth Amendment so that the privilege against self-incrimination is protected from both federal and state action. See, e.g., Malloy v. Hogan, 378 U.S. 1, 8 (1964). The privilege...