Law Commons^™

When (And Why) The Levee Breaks: A Suggested Causation Framework For Takings Claims That Arise From Government-Induced Flooding, Charles D. Wallace

William & Mary Law Review

In 1968, the United States Army Corps of Engineers finished constructing the seventy-six-mile Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet (MR-GO) navigational channel. Congress authorized the Army Corps of Engineers to begin construction to create a shipping route between New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico. However, the MRGO also caused significant erosion and other environmental detriments that greatly increased the risk of flooding around its vicinity. The Army Corps of Engineers learned about many of these detriments and risks through numerous studies it conducted between 1998 and 2005, but never fully addressed them.

Hurricane Katrina eventually showcased the MR-GO’s defects in violent fashion. …

Liability For Ai Decision-Making: Some Legal And Ethical Considerations, Iria Giuffrida

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Internet Of Bodies, Andrea M. Matwyshyn

William & Mary Law Review

This Article introduces the ongoing progression of the Internet of Things (IoT) into the Internet of Bodies (IoB)—a network of human bodies whose integrity and functionality rely at least in part on the Internet and related technologies, such as artificial intelligence. IoB devices will evidence the same categories of legacy security flaws that have plagued IoT devices. However, unlike most IoT, IoB technologies will directly, physically harm human bodies—a set of harms courts, legislators, and regulators will deem worthy of legal redress. As such, IoB will herald the arrival of (some forms of) corporate software liability and a new legal …

Compensation At The Crossroads: Autonomous Vehicles & Alternative Victim Compensation Schemes, Tracy Hresko Pearl

William & Mary Law Review

Fully autonomous vehicles will become available to consumers within the next five to seven years. Experts predict that these vehicles will be drastically safer than their human-driven counterparts and will save thousands of lives each year in the United States alone. However, crashes will still occur, and when they do, they will raise unique and troubling issues about liability and fault that both negligence and products liability jurisprudence are not yet wellsuited to handle.

Whether the civil justice system can adjudicate autonomous vehicle crash cases fairly and efficiently impacts (a) whether manufacturers can afford to produce these vehicles or whether …

The Plasticity Of The Body, The Injury, And The Claim: Personal Injury Claims In The Era Of Plastic Surgeries, Adi Youcht

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

The accelerated rise in the number of plastic surgeries has created an inflation of personal injury claims in connection with this cultural practice. This Article, on the one hand, aims to understand how the culture of plastic surgeries affects the tortious area of personal injury law (terms, concepts, goals, procedures, remedies, etc.), and on the other to understand how the significance of plastic surgery popular culture is designated by law. The Article suggests a new paradigm for defining personal injuries in order to face the legal challenges raised by plastic surgery culture and, in light of the culture’s re-designation by …

The Misuse Of Product Misuse: Victim Blaming At Its Worst, Robert A. Adler, Andrew F. Popper

William & Mary Business Law Review

This Paper addresses the legal consequences that surface when a consumer uses a product in a manner not specifically intended by that product’s designer or manufacturer. If a product is used in a reasonably foreseeable manner, the fact that the use is at odds with a manufacturer’s intention should not be a basis to deny tort liability or limit the regulatory options of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. If a product proves to be unsafe, defective, dangerous, or otherwise hazardous to users and consumers, use patterns should not be the primary determinant in assessing regulatory and common law sanctions or …