Law Commons^™

Makes Sense To Me: How Moderate, Targeted Federal Tort Reform Legislation Could Solve The Nation's Asbestos Litigation Crisis, Mark H. Reeves

Vanderbilt Law Review

During the three decades he spent working as a machinist for the United States Navy, Henry Plummer suffered continuous exposure to the asbestos used in the insulation, gaskets and pipe coverings of warships. In late 1999, a biopsy confirmed that he had developed mesothelioma, a gruesome type of cancer that kills all those who contract it and is caused only by asbestos. In an effort to combat his cancer, Mr. Plummer embarked on a long, painful course of treatments that included chemotherapy and the removal of his left lung in April 2000. In early 2001, however, Mr. Plummer's doctor informed …

Comparative Fault To The Limits, Ellen M. Bublick

Vanderbilt Law Review

Comparative-fault defenses rarely attract much public attention. However, a recent lawsuit highlighted the subject. In a suit filed against the archdiocese of Boston stemming from an ongoing sexual abuse scandal, Cardinal Bernard Law asserted that a boy who had been abused by a priest from the time that he was six years old to the time that he was thirteen years old was himself guilty of comparative fault. The defense became the subject of immediate public scrutiny. Commentators described the defense with adjectives ranging from "reprehensible," "appalling," and "not sensitive," to "legalese," "boilerplate," "standard," and even "necessary.'"

The Cardinal's defense, …

Corrective Justice In Contract Law: Is There A Case For Punitive Damages?, Curtis Bridgeman

Vanderbilt Law Review

Twentieth-century American legal theory has been dominated by utilitarian and economic approaches. As a result, scholarly analyses of contract and tort law have focused on the public effects of the resolution of private disputes. But in the last twenty years or so justice has undergone a renaissance as so-called corrective-justice theorists have tried to shift the discussion in private law back to the relationships between individual parties. Tort law has been a particularly fertile ground for corrective-justice theorists, and a lively debate has developed about what the best corrective-justice account of tort law would look like.

By contrast, comparatively little …