Law Commons^™

Compelling The Courts To Question Gonzalez V. O Centro: A Public Harms Approach To Free Exercise Analysis, Ari B. Fontecchio

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

Part I will set forth the analytical framework established by the Supreme Court in the RFRA and RLUIPA contexts before 0 Centro." This Part will provide a brief background to RFRA and RLUIPA and set forth the definition of "compelling interest" before 0 Centro. Part II will focus on the decision in 0 Centro; specifically, how the Supreme Court's redefinition of "compelling interest" significantly elevates the government's burden. Part III will compare the government's chance of winning on a "compelling interest" argument before 0 Centro" with the chance of winning in its wake. This Part will discuss the merits, flaws, …

Does Strickland Prejudice Defendants On Death Row?, Kenneth Williams

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Order Out Of Chaos: Products Liability Design-Defect Law, Dominick Vetri

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Proving Preemption By Proving Exemption: The Quandary Of The National Securities Market Improvement Act, Jeffrey D. Chadwick

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Proposed Legislation: A (Second) Modest Proposal To Protect Virginia Consumers Against Defective Products, Peter Nash Swisher

University of Richmond Law Review

The purpose of this article is to suggest a viable, necessary, and eminently reasonable legislative alternative that the Virginia General Assembly should enact for legitimate and pressing public policy reasons in order to properly protect Virginia consumers from defective and unreasonably dangerous consumer products.Adopting this alternative would bring the Commonwealth of Virginia into the mainstream of twenty-first century American, and transnational, products liability law.

Construction Law, D. Stan Barnhill

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Criminal Law And Procedure, Marla G. Decker, Stephen R. Mccullough

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Rights And Obligations Of Americans In Mexico Under Immigration Law And Other Areas Of Mexican Law, Jorge A. Vargas

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Asymmetrical Warfare: The Cost Of Electronic Discovery In Employment Litigation, Rodney A. Satterwhite, Matthew J. Quatrara

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

A fundamental tenet of the 2006 Amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (the “2006 Amendments”) is the notion that parties can agree and cooperate on issues relating to electronic discovery. Many of the rule changes now either require parties to meet and confer about electronic discovery or presuppose a certain level of dialogue between the parties regarding such issues.

Issue 3: Table Of Contents

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Pro Se Litigation: Best Practices From A Judge's Perspective, Hon. Beverly W. Snukals, Glen H. Sturtevant Jr.

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reassessing Charitable Immunity In Virginia, Carl Tobias

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Why Does The Chesapeake Bay Need Litigators?, Jon A. Mueller, Joseph Tannery

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Amending Perpetual Conservation Easements: A Case Study Of The Myrtle Grove Controversy, Nancy A. Mclaughlin

University of Richmond Law Review

This article explores the issue of amending perpetual conservation easements by examining the Myrtle Grove controversy, in which the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States (the "National Trust")" "conceptually approved" a request made by a successor owner of land encumbered by a perpetual conservation easement to substantially amend the easement. Several months later, as a result of public opposition to the amendments and a reassessment of its position, the National Trust withdrew that approval. The owner of the encumbered land subsequently filed a suit for breach of contract, and the National Trust and the Attorney General of …

Barriers To Accessible Housing: Enforcement Issues In "Design And Construction" Cases Under The Fair Housing Act, Robert G. Schwemm

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Product Liability Law, Gary J. Spahn, Brent M. Timberlake

University of Richmond Law Review

While Virginia is not typically seen as "progressive" in the field of product liability law, the Commonwealth is nonetheless a forum in which these product liability battles take place. This article summarizes selected decisions of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, federal district courts in Virginia, and courts of the Commonwealth issued between July 1, 2004 and May 15, 2005. This article also includes a discussion of the most relevant legislative changes made by the Virginia General Assembly over the same time period. While a complete analysis of every decision and statute affecting product liability is …

Crawford V. Washington: Encouraging And Ensuring The Confrontation Of Witness, Robert P. Mosteller

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

An Evidentiary Paradox: Defending The Character Evidence Prohibition By Upholding A Non-Character Theory Of Logical Relevance, The Doctrine Of Chances, Edward J. Imwinkelried

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. V. Campbell: Refining Bmw Of North America, Inc. V. Gore And Further Restricting Punitive Damages, Bridget E. Leonard

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Factual Causation In Toxic Tort Litigation: A Philosophical View Of Proof And Certainty In Uncertain Disciplines, Danielle Conway-Jones

University of Richmond Law Review

The headline reads: "Town clenched in suffocating grip of as- bestos: W.R. Grace & Co. closed its vermiculite mine in Libby, Mont[ana], 10 years ago, but hazardous material was embedded in the ore. Experts attribute many cases of lung disease to what they call secondary exposure." Lately, exposure to toxic substances and harm to human health and the environment have become the norm, not the exception. Within the United States and its territories alone, environmental groups, as well as individuals, have documented the proliferation of harmful exposure to toxic substances from as far away as Kaho'olawe, Hawai'i, to as close …

Shifting Winds: Court Whittles Away At Plaintiffs' Recovery Of Attorney Fees, Carl W. Tobias, Margaret L. Sanner

Law Faculty Publications

A Supreme Court ruling in a case brought by an assisted-living home doesn't offer much assistance to civil rights lawyers. The ruling in Buckhannon Board & Care Home v. West Virginia will frustrate plaintiffs' efforts to recover attorney fees in litigation to vindicate important societal values such as the prevention of discrimination. But it shouldn't come as a big surprise. Buckhannon is only the most recent of numerous High Court decisions since the 1980s that can complicate attempts by plaintiffs lawyers to secure attorney's fees.

Ineffective Assistance Of Counsel, F. Emmit Fitzpatrick, Nialena Caravasos

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

As an accompaniment to the surge of litigation, we have also witnessed an increase in the claims of ineffective representation by counsel. As more and more litigants are called upon to respond to such claims, the appellate courts have been forced to delineate a basic threshold of competence. Not only is the standard by which counsel is deemed effective or ineffective constantly changing, but also decisions of the higher courts have been devoid of a guideline through which future problems may be anticipated. The review of case law below traces the evolution of both state and federal decisions during approximately …

Civil Justice Delay And Empirical Data: A Response To Professor Heise, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

One decade ago, Congress undertook an ambitious, controversial effort to reduce expense and delay in the federal civil justice system. The Civil Justice Reform Act ("CJRA") of 1990 instituted unprecedented nationwide experimentation by requiring that all ninety-four federal district courts scrutinize their civil and criminal dockets and then promulgate and apply numerous procedures which district judges believed would save cost and time in civil litigation. Congress also prescribed rigorous assessment of the six principles, guidelines, and techniques of litigation management and expense and delay reduction that federal districts in fact adopted and enforced. Lawmakers provided for an expert, independent evaluator …

Ineffective Assistance Of Counsel, F. Emmit Fitzpatrick, Nialena Caravasos

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

As an accompaniment to the surge of litigation, we have also witnessed an increase in the claims of ineffective representation by counsel. As more and more litigants are called upon to respond to such claims, the appellate courts have been forced to delineate a basic threshold of competence. Not only is the standard by which counsel is deemed effective or ineffective constantly changing, but also decisions of the higher courts have been devoid of a guideline through which future problems may be anticipated. The review of case law below traces the evolution of both state and federal decisions during approximately …

Nuremberg In America: Litigating The Holocaust In United States Courts, Michael J. Bazyler

University of Richmond Law Review

The phrase "opening the floodgates of litigation" connotes a pejorative meaning in American legal argument. Most often, it is used by courts as a reason not to allow a certain case to proceed for fear that it would overburden both courts and society with a new class of lawsuits.

What Passes For Policy And Proof In First Amendment Litigation?, Rodney A. Smolla

University of Richmond Law Review

In this Allen Chair Symposium issue of the University of Richmond Law Review, three outstanding scholars have written provocative pieces on the First Amendment. Professor John Nowak engages in an exercise of constitutional futurism, "'remembering the future" to propose a number of relatively radical alterations of First Amendment doctrine to achieve what he argues should be the appropriate balance between freedom of speech and fair trials in "cyber world." Professor Paul Carrington, arguing that a communitarian right of citizens to self-government is the principal that ought to animate our politics and law, has launched a broadside indictment against contemporary First …

Trial Participants In The Newsgathering Process, C. Thomas Dienes

University of Richmond Law Review

The 1990s produced a number of sensational criminal and civil trials. The media and public avidly followed the murder trials of O.J. Simpson and the Menendez brothers, the Oklahoma City bombing trials of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, and the trial of those charged in the World Trade Center bombing. Civil trials involving products liability, medical malpractice, environmental pollution; the civil trial of O.J. Simpson; Paula Jones's sexual harassment action against President Clinton; and the notorious antitrust case against Microsoft similarly captured the public's attention. Also, as might be expected, trial judges and the legal system generally grappled with questions …

Elevated Pleading In Environmental Litigation, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

The recent United States Supreme Court opinion in Leatherman v. Tarrant County Narcotics Intelligence and Coordination Unit is critical to parties and attorneys who participate in environmental litigation. Leatherman proscribed the imposition of pleading requirements that are stricter than those ordinarily applied under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a). Such heightened pleading requirements compel plaintiffs to plead more facts, and courts can dismiss claims that fall short of the mark.

The Leatherman court considered civil rights actions alleging that municipalities are liable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.2 Although Leatherman might seem of limited relevance to environmental lawsuits, its holding and …

Environmental Litigation And Rule 11, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

The 1983 amendment to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11 has been the most controversial revision in the half-century history of the Federal Rules. Judges have applied amended Rule 11, which requires them to sanction lawyers and parties who do not conduct reasonable inquiries before filing papers, in over 1000 reported opinions, considerably more unreported determinations, and numerous informal contexts. The Rule has engendered much unnecessary satellite litigation and has been implemente4 inconsistently, while attorneys' fees remain the "sanction of choice" for violations. Rule 11 activity has especially disadvantaged civil rights plaintiffs and lawyers, whose lack of resources can make …

Civil Rights Conundrum, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

As a case study of the impediments imposed by the revised F.R.C.P. Rule 11 in civil rights litigation, Professor Tobias relates the story of the Robeson County, N.C. prosecution of Eddie Hatcher and Timothy Jacobs, their subsequent civil rights action, and the ensuing Rule 11 sanctions imposed upon their counsel, as reported in In re Kunstler, 914 F.2d 505 (4th Cir. 1990).