# Good cause

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{{Short description|Legal term}}{{refimprove |date=May 2025}}
'''Good cause''' is a legal term denoting adequate or substantial grounds or reason to take a certain action, or to fail to take an action prescribed by law. What constitutes a good cause is usually determined on a case-by-case basis and is thus relative.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|article=good cause|encyclopedia=Black's Law Dictionary|author1=Henry Campbell Black |author2=Joseph R. Nolan |author3=Jacqueline M. Nolan-Haley |pages=476|date=1991|publisher=West Pub. Co.|isbn=0-314-88536-6}}</ref>

Often the court or other legal body determines whether a particular fact or facts amount to a good cause. For example, if a party to a case has failed to take legal action before a particular [statute of limitations](/source/statute_of_limitations) has expired, the court might decide that the said party preserves its rights nonetheless, since that party's serious illness is a good cause, or justification for having additional time to take the legal action.

== See also ==
* [Employment law](/source/Employment_law)

== References ==
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Category:American legal terminology

{{US-law-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Good cause](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_cause) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_cause?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.