Law Commons^™

Torts - White V. Samsung Electronics America, Inc.: The Wheels Of Justice Take An Unfortunate Turn, John F. Hyland, Ted C. Lindquist Iii

Golden Gate University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Torts - Cheh-Cheng Wang Ex Rel. The United States Of America V. Fmc Corp.: False Claims Act Bar May Be Overturned By Pending Legislation, Cem Kaner Ph.D.

Golden Gate University Law Review

In Wang ex rel. The United States v. FMC Corp. the Ninth Circuit held that a private individual (a qui tam plaintiff) cannot base a suit on behalf of the government under the False Claims Act on publicly known information unless she played a role in making the allegations public. In doing so, the court affirmed dismissal of a suit brought by an engineer who had direct and independent knowledge of the information underlying the allegations. The court stated that "[q]ui tam suits are meant to encourage insiders privy to a fraud on the government to blow the whistle on …

Torts - Newton V. National Broadcasting Co., Inc.: Evidence Of Actual Malice, The Editorial Process And The Mafia In Public Figure Defamation Law, Rod M. Fliegel

Golden Gate University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Tort Remedies For Incestuous Abuse, Margaret J. Allen

Golden Gate University Law Review

This Comment explores the problem of incestuous abuse between father and daughter, traditional tort theories available to the incest victim/survivor, defenses fathers might raise, and the availability of punitive damages to the incest victim/survivor.

Beyond The Dalkon Shield: Proving Causation Against Iud Manufacturers For Pid Related Injury, Leslie Ellen Tick

Golden Gate University Law Review

Intrauterine devices (IUDs)! have been linked to a wide variety of injuries to women, ranging from severe cramping, to spontaneous abortion, to sterility, to death. This Comment will focus on the problem of proving that scarring of the fallopian tubes, resulting in sterility or partial sterility, is causally linked to use of the IUD, and therefore, a provable element in a plaintiff's cause of action against a manufacturer for such injuries.

A Cause Of Action For "Wrongful Life" In California: Breech Birth Or Abortion?, Daniel Linchey

Golden Gate University Law Review

Medical advances during the last fifteen years in the fields of genetic testing and prenatal diagnosis of fetal defects have created a new plaintiff. This plaintiff's cause of action, termed "wrongful life," alleges that the defendant's negligence caused her birth and thereby made manifest the pain and suffering of her genetic defects.

After tracing the history of the major wrongful life cases in this country, this Note will assess the conflict between Turpin and Curlender and show why Curlender's unique reasoning conforms to modern tort law and compels recognition of a child's cause of action for wrongful life.

The New African Law: Beyond The Difference Between Common Law And Civil Law, Salvatore Mancuso

Annual Survey of International & Comparative Law

The current investments into African countries are limited as a result of the judicial and juridical insecurity. As such, there is a strong need to rebuild the respective legal systems in order to enhance investors' reliance and to further attract foreign investment. The idea of the unification of African laws has been considered as the only solution to eliminate obstacles to development amounting from the judicial differences among the varying African nations. Such a change would give the countries joining the process of regional integration the opportunity to assert their interests in a stronger and more confident manner within the …

Civil Suits For Sexual Assault: Compensating Rape Victims, Camille Legrand, Frances Leonard

Golden Gate University Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Lanterman-Petris-Short Act: A Review After Ten Years, Meredith Lenell

Golden Gate University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Tarasoff V. Regents Of The University Of California: Psychotherapists, Policemen And The Duty To Warn - An Unreasonable Extension Of The Common Law?, Robert B. Kaplan

Golden Gate University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Swoap V. Superior Court: Old Age Security And "Relative Responsibility" Laws, Joyce Harmon, Valerie Karpman

Golden Gate University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Dreisenstock V. Volkswagenwerk, A.G.: Manufacturer Liability For Second Collision Design Defects, Leonard D. Weiler, Marlys J. Huez

Golden Gate University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Uninsured Motorist Coverage: Can A Signed Waiver In Statutory Form Be Relied Upon In California, Duane Heffelbower

Golden Gate University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Tort Law

Golden Gate University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Justice Carter, Contributory Negligence And Wrongful Death: A Call To Get Rid Of A “Bad Law With Bad Results”, Michael A. Zamperini

Publications

No abstract provided.

Carter’S Dissent In Simpson V. City Of Los Angeles: A Precursor To The Animal Rights Movement, Janice E. Kosel

Publications

In Simpson v. City of Los Angeles, resident taxpayers who owned licensed dogs who had recently gone astray sought to restrain the enforcement of a city ordinance. Los Angeles Municipal Code section 53.11 (h) allowed the city to surrender for medical research dogs that had been impounded for a period of at least five days. Subsection (h) of the ordinance did not contain any provision for notice to the owner of the impounded dog. As a result, plaintiffs contended that the ordinance was invalid because it constituted an unlawful taking of private property.

Mapping Proportionality Review: Still A "Road To Nowhere", Rachel A. Van Cleave

Publications

This article examines how a majority of the Supreme Court went out of its way to vacate a punitive damages award in Philip Morris and further reinforced the inconsistency with which it applies the principle of proportionality. When it comes to punitive damages awards, a majority of Justices continue to convey distrust of juries and of trial and appellate court judges who review these awards. However, when it comes to terms of imprisonment, the Court has eschewed substantive review under the Eighth Amendment while insisting that the Sixth Amendment requires that all facts supporting an increase in a sentence be …

The Continuing Expansive Pressure To Hold Employers Strictly Liable For Supervisory Sexual Extortion: An Alternative Approach Based On Reasonableness, Heather S. Murr

Publications

This Article offers a normative framework for how the current employer liability standards should be applied to sexual extortion claims. It analyzes the realist-formalist dichotomy in the supervisory sexual extortion context and concludes that the formalist approach is more consistent with the current employer liability standards and related policy considerations. The Article then explains how certain courts have incorrectly applied the second prong of the affirmative defense and inappropriately denied liability by failing to consider the avoidable consequences doctrine and related harm-avoidance principles upon which the second prong is based. The Article concludes by offering a framework for how these …

Say You're Sorry: Court-Ordered Apologies As A Civil Rights Remedy, Brent T. White

Publications

This Article proposes that civil rights plaintiffs pursuing cases against governmental defendants should be entitled to receive court-ordered apologies as an equitable remedy. Part I discusses the importance of apology in American society and concludes that apology is culturally embedded as an essential component of everyday dispute resolution. Part II provides a brief overview of current legal scholarship in the area of apology, including the lack of such scholarship related to court-ordered apologies as a civil remedy. Part III argues that traditional forms of compensation fail to provide adequate relief to civil rights victims because they neglect psychological, emotional, and …

"Death Is Different" - Is Money Different? Criminal Punishments, Forfeitures, And Punitive Damages - Shifting Constitutional Paradigms For Assessing Proportionality, Rachel A. Van Cleave

Publications

Part I of this Article reviews the case law regarding judicial review of both terms of imprisonment and imposition of the death penalty. In this section, I argue for consistency within this area of the law. Some jurisprudence suggests that, because "death is different," proportionality review is appropriate only in the death penalty context, and is either not required or only applies in an extremely narrow example, such as life imprisonment for a parking ticket. Part II examines Supreme Court precedent that analyzes the question of proportionality of forfeitures and punitive damages awards. In the context of forfeitures, the debate …

Anti-Reproductive-Rights Crimes In California, 2003, California Department Of Justice

California Agencies

Senate Bill 780, effective January 1, 2002, enacted two new laws: the California Freedom of Access to Clinic and Church Entrances (or California FACE) Act, and the Reproductive Rights Law Enforcement Act. The Reproductive Rights Law Enforcement Act added sections 13775 through 13779 to the California Penal Code requiring the Attorney General to collect and analyze information relating to anti-reproductive-rights crimes and submit a report to the Legislature. This publication is the result of that mandate.

An "anti-reproductive-rights crime" is defined in section 13776 (a) of the California Penal Code as "a crime committed partly or wholly because the victim …

Advancing Tolerance And Equality Using State Constitutions: Are The Boy Scouts Prepared?, Rachel A. Van Cleave

Publications

The traditional United States Supreme Court analysis for determining whether a group may exclude people from membership on the basis of sexual orientation involves a series of either/or choices. For example, in the context of the exclusion of homosexuals by the Boy Scouts of America, one issue is whether the Boy Scouts is a "public accommodation.' Another issue is whether homosexuals constitute a protected class. This Article argues that independent state constitutional analysis of this issue provides an opportunity to avoid the narrowing effects of the traditional dichotomies, and that courts should directly consider the interests of the parties. In …

The Jury-Some Thoughts, Historical And Personal, Peter Keane

Publications

rich baggage of our heritage and origins as a communal people. It is both what we have been and what we are now. From the jury's first crude forms developed by our primitive ancestors in thick groves of forest clearings, to contemporary juries in modern courtrooms listening to testimony about DNA and E. Coli Bacteria, the institution has been adequate to the tasks we give it. A jury is a more representative societal mechanism of our culture than anything else in which we participate as citizens.

Hayward Lumber & Inv. Co. V. Biscailuz [Dissent], Jesse W. Carter

Jesse Carter Opinions

Sheriff was justified as matter of law in ordering release of funds from attachment pursuant to certificate of court clerk which appeared complete and regular on its face, and, appeared to an ordinarily intelligent and informed layman to be final.

Pacific Southwest Development Corp. V. Western P. R. Co. [Dissent], Jesse W. Carter

Jesse Carter Opinions

Procurement of an option agreement to purchase real property was a contract that aided in the purchase or sale of real property and came within the statute of frauds. Absent a written contract, there was no obligation to pay a commission.

Murray V. Superior Court Of San Francisco, Jesse W. Carter

Jesse Carter Opinions

The civil arrest of a debtor who planned to take a round-the-world trip and who had evaded a creditor was authorized because the evidence showed that the debtor was leaving the state to defraud the creditor.

Haggerty V. Associated Farmers Of California, Inc. [Dissent], Jesse W. Carter

Jesse Carter Opinions

Judgment in favor of the representative was improper because the county ordinance prohibiting the transmission of loud noise from any public highway was not unconstitutional upon its face.

Peterson V. Robison [Dissent], Jesse W. Carter

Jesse Carter Opinions

Judgment was reversed in wrongful imprisonment action and individual could not be liable because it was manifestly unfair to impose civil liability on private person for filing a citizen's arrest when the law declared it a misdemeanor if he refused.

Erickson V. Gospel Foundation Of California [Dissent], Jesse W. Carter

Jesse Carter Opinions

The court would not review the decision of a non-profit organization to annul the membership of one of its members for a violation of due process where the membership did not involve a property right.

Schwartz V. Slenderella Systems Of California, Inc. [Dissent], Jesse W. Carter

Jesse Carter Opinions

In an action for the alleged wrongful use of a trade name, an injunction was properly denied because the junior appropriator's use of the name was in good faith and without intent to capitalize upon the senior appropriator's use of the name.