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Full-Text Articles in Law
No-Injury And Piggyback Class Actions: When Product-Defect Class Actions Do Not Benefit Consumers, Philip S. Goldberg, Andrew J. Trask
No-Injury And Piggyback Class Actions: When Product-Defect Class Actions Do Not Benefit Consumers, Philip S. Goldberg, Andrew J. Trask
University of Massachusetts Law Review
Class counsel are more frequently filing product-based class actions that, whether successful or not, offer few practical benefits to real consumers or class members. These no-benefit class actions cause the unnecessary expense of the courts’ time and resources, and they often fail to provide actual value to class members while still producing substantial attorneys’ fees. This article explores why strategic vagueness in plaintiffs’ filings and a lack of vigorous analysis by the courts have allowed no-benefit class actions to unnecessarily consume court resources. The article concludes by offering suggestions for how courts can alleviate some of this pressure, primarily by …
Blatant Discrimination Within Federal Law: A 14th Amendment Analysis Of Medicaid’S Imd Exclusion, J. Michael E. Gray, Madeline Easdale
Blatant Discrimination Within Federal Law: A 14th Amendment Analysis Of Medicaid’S Imd Exclusion, J. Michael E. Gray, Madeline Easdale
University of Massachusetts Law Review
A discriminatory piece of Medicaid law, the institution for mental diseases (IMD) exclusion, is denying people with serious mental illness equal levels of treatment as those with only primary healthcare needs. The IMD exclusion denies the use of federal funding in psychiatric hospitals for inpatient care. This article discusses the history and collateral implications of the IMD exclusion, then examines it through the lens of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, argues that people with severe mental illness constitute a quasi-suspect class, and that application of intermediate scrutiny would render the IMD exclusion unenforceable.
The Ebola Virus Prevention And Human Rights Implications, Florence Shu-Acquaye
The Ebola Virus Prevention And Human Rights Implications, Florence Shu-Acquaye
University of Massachusetts Law Review
The Ebola virus and its now infamous 2014 West African outbreak have constituted the deadliest and most terrifying epidemic of recent memory. Not only does the epidemic now carry an already ghastly backdrop in the public mind when discussions around it begin, but, like the AIDS epidemic, cultural practices have contributed to the entrenchment of Ebola in Africa, compounded by weak human rights laws and stigmatization, all of these factors having contributed to the multi-faceted and complex nature of addressing the problem of eliminating this disease in Africa. This article examines the African countries that have been plagued by the …
Services And Resources For People Living With Hiv/Aids In The Southcoast Of Massachusetts: “Can’T Get There From Here!”, Jason Potter Burda, Margaret B. Drew, Caitlin M. Stover
Services And Resources For People Living With Hiv/Aids In The Southcoast Of Massachusetts: “Can’T Get There From Here!”, Jason Potter Burda, Margaret B. Drew, Caitlin M. Stover
Faculty Publications
Fall River and New Bedford, two diverse and economically challenged cities in the Southcoast region of Massachusetts, are areas of substantial concern in the effort to reduce HIV incidence and to provide effective services for people living with HIV/AIDS in the Commonwealth. In these two communities, HIV disparately impacts marginalized populations, with particularly high infection and prevalence rates among men who have sex with men and injection drug users in comparison to other Massachusetts localities. This project used community engaged research principles to conduct a community assessment guided by the social determinants of health. The primary goal of this study …
Affirmative Confusion: A Proposed Paradigm Shift In Higher Education Disciplinary Proceedings, Kendal Poirier
Affirmative Confusion: A Proposed Paradigm Shift In Higher Education Disciplinary Proceedings, Kendal Poirier
University of Massachusetts Law Review
This Note examines the codification of affirmative consent statutes in New York and California as well as the language of Title IX of Education Amendments of 1972, with the ultimate goal of demonstrating that the two statutory constructions cannot co-exist without jeopardizing accused students’ due process rights. During the course of a college or university disciplinary proceeding in an affirmative consent jurisdiction, the potential exists for a burden shift onto the accused student to affirmatively prove consent was obtained. Such a shift directly conflicts with Title IX mandates for prompt and equitable treatment. This Note proposes that in order to …
Prep And Our Youth: Implications In Law And Policy, Jason Potter Burda
Prep And Our Youth: Implications In Law And Policy, Jason Potter Burda
Faculty Publications
Truvada®, an antiretroviral medication originally approved to treat HIV, is the first drug to receive FDA approval for use by HIV-negative individuals to actually prevent infection. The prophylactic use of an antiretroviral such as Truvada is a pharmacological prevention method called “HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis” (or “PrEP”). With an efficacy of over ninety percent when used as prescribed, Truvada as PrEP has been embraced by the public health community, and implementation is under way across the United States. Truvada as PrEP is currently indicated for adult use only, but it may also be prescribed off-label to at-risk youth. In this Article, …
Prosecuting The Material Support Of Terrorism: Federal Courts, Military Commissions, Or Both?, P. Scott Rufener
Prosecuting The Material Support Of Terrorism: Federal Courts, Military Commissions, Or Both?, P. Scott Rufener
University of Massachusetts Law Review
This note argues that given the recent changes in the 2009 MCA the overall scheme for prosecuting material support of terrorism offenses is satisfactory (i.e., material support crimes should remain under the jurisdiction of both forums), but that the jurisdiction of military commissions over material support offenses should be limited to those providing material support to further specific acts of terrorism (as opposed to generalized support) and to those giving aid to terrorists or foreign terrorist organizations (hereinafter ―FTOs) in active theaters of war.
Maria’S Law: Extending Insurance Coverage For Fertility Preservation To Cancer Patients In Massachusetts, Brittany Raposa
Maria’S Law: Extending Insurance Coverage For Fertility Preservation To Cancer Patients In Massachusetts, Brittany Raposa
University of Massachusetts Law Review
This Note addresses the issues related to fertility preservation treatments for cancer patients in the context of insurance coverage. As cancer survival rates improve, the ability to bear children after therapy is increasingly difficult and a concern for most patients. Currently, no states have laws requiring insurance coverage for fertility preservation treatments for cancer patients. Because it is not currently covered by either private or public insurance, only those who can pay for it on their own can use fertility preservation treatments. This note proposes that Massachusetts, as having one of the most inclusive infertility health insurance mandates, should expand …