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The Gap Between Informational Goals And The Duty To Gather Information: Challenging Piecemealed Review Under The Washington State Environmental Policy Act, Keith H. Hirokawa Jan 2001

The Gap Between Informational Goals And The Duty To Gather Information: Challenging Piecemealed Review Under The Washington State Environmental Policy Act, Keith H. Hirokawa

Seattle University Law Review

In 1971, Washington enacted the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA), which requires agencies to make a threshold determination of whether a project is likely to significantly affect the environment and, where such impacts are likely, to produce an environmental impact statement (EIS). One problem faced in implementing the goals of SEPA is the practice of "piecemealing." Part I of this Article introduces the piecemeal problem by describing three common piecemeal situations. The first situation occurs when a project proposal is divided into such small parts that the environmental impacts from each individual part appear insignificant and the impact from the …


Blind Faith And Reasonable Doubts: Investigating Beliefs In The Rule Of Law, Jessie Allen Jan 2001

Blind Faith And Reasonable Doubts: Investigating Beliefs In The Rule Of Law, Jessie Allen

Seattle University Law Review

The article explores the meaning of the rule of law within the American political and legal systems by analyzing the concept in the abstract and its application in President Clinton’s impeachment.


Maximum Vertical Price Fixing From Albrecht Through Brunswick To Khan: An Antitrust Odyssey, James M. Fesmire Jan 2001

Maximum Vertical Price Fixing From Albrecht Through Brunswick To Khan: An Antitrust Odyssey, James M. Fesmire

Seattle University Law Review

The article attempts to sort out some of this confusion caused by the legal journey from Albrecht to Khan by portraying that long road as a successful example of the antitrust injury doctrine's ability to bring substantive antitrust law into compliance with the goals of antitrust. First, the article examines how the existence of successive monopoly provides an incentive for maximum vertical price fixing and how maximum vertical price fixing leads to an increase in consumer welfare. Second, it examines manufacturer alternatives to vertical price restraints, finding them less attractive in terms of social welfare. Third, the article analyzes other …


To Allow To Sue, Or Not To Allow To Sue: Zimmerman V. Oregon Department Of Justice Decides Title Ii Of The Americans With Disabilities Act Does Not Apply To Employment Discrimination, Cabrelle Abel Jan 2001

To Allow To Sue, Or Not To Allow To Sue: Zimmerman V. Oregon Department Of Justice Decides Title Ii Of The Americans With Disabilities Act Does Not Apply To Employment Discrimination, Cabrelle Abel

Seattle University Law Review

The article analyzes Title II and explains why, in the interests of judicial economy, the Zimmerman court correctly held that Title II does not apply to employment discrimination. First, the article discusses the particular wording of the ADA, specifically comparing the language of Title I to the language of Title II. Next, the article briefly considers the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, because Title II should be interpreted consistently with that Act. Then, using the analysis announced by the Supreme Court in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. the article examines the Title II regulations promulgated by the Department of …


Washington's Vested Rights Doctrine: How We Have Muddled A Simple Concept And How We Can Reclaim It, Roger D. Wynne Jan 2001

Washington's Vested Rights Doctrine: How We Have Muddled A Simple Concept And How We Can Reclaim It, Roger D. Wynne

Seattle University Law Review

The article explores many of the problems with the details of the vested rights doctrine and outlines a statutory solution to them.' Part I examines the inconsistent rationales that underlie the various manifestations of the doctrine. The differences between the "mandamus" and "fairness/certainty" rationales help explain some of the confusion that has become a fixture of the doctrine. Part II discusses a host of issues that the doctrine fails to resolve adequately. It groups these issues into four fundamental questions, the divergent answers to which often form the key dispute in any vested rights case: (1) to which types of …


Direct Democracy Is Not Republican Government, Steven William Marlowe Jan 2001

Direct Democracy Is Not Republican Government, Steven William Marlowe

Seattle University Law Review

This Article will initially explain the examples of direct democracy in the states of Washington and Oregon. It will then analyze the United States Constitution's Guarantee Clause. Finally, this Article will argue that state initiative and referendum provisions are inconsistent with a republican form of government and that laws passed through the use of this process are unconstitutional.


Cybersmear Or Cyber-Slapp: Analyzing Defamation Suits Against Online John Does As Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, Joshua R. Furman Jan 2001

Cybersmear Or Cyber-Slapp: Analyzing Defamation Suits Against Online John Does As Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, Joshua R. Furman

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment will first survey the law of cybersmear, illustrating the paradigmatic issues and legal theories employed. Then, it will discuss the free speech issues and theoretical bases argued in court and legal journals, paying special attention to the shortcomings in current protection of defendant anonymity. Next, it will examine the value of online anonymity and the protections that the Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) theory offers. Finally, given the breakdown in the public and private space dichotomy, this Comment will argue for a new understanding of the SLAPP constitutional protections in cyberspace. This understanding will recognize the powerful …


"Merchants Of Discontent": An Exploration Of The Psychology Of Advertising, Addiction, And The Implications For Commercial Speech, Tamara R. Piety Jan 2001

"Merchants Of Discontent": An Exploration Of The Psychology Of Advertising, Addiction, And The Implications For Commercial Speech, Tamara R. Piety

Seattle University Law Review

In this paper, I attempt to draw parallels between the psychology of commercial advertising and marketing and the psychology of addiction. Both appear to be characterized by denial, escapism, narcissism, isolation, insatiability, impatience, and diminished sensitivity. Advertising appeals to these impulses and addiction is marked by them. In what follows, I explore these parallels in general and then explore the potential consequences or side effects in three specific contexts: the advertising of addictive products, advertising and children, and advertising and women. In these three areas, there is some evidence that advertising may be contributing to negative social phenomena in a …


Torts Teaching: From Basic Training To Legal-Process Theory: Dominick Vetri, Tort Law And Practice, Joseph A. Page Jan 2001

Torts Teaching: From Basic Training To Legal-Process Theory: Dominick Vetri, Tort Law And Practice, Joseph A. Page

Seattle University Law Review

It was in the course of my meanderings through the torts-casebook landscape that I came upon Professor Dominick Vetri's entry in the field. The quality that first attracted me was the way it fashioned a user-friendly introduction to the study of law, to the uniqueness of the common law, and to the centrality of process. The book demonstrated an unusual sensitivity to the bewilderment of beginners and made a special effort to anticipate their needs and concerns. Yet what made Vetri's approach particularly intriguing was that it managed to play not only to nervous neophytes, but also to students in …


Preserving Transportation Corridors For The Future: Another Look At Railroad Deeds In Washington State, Gregg H. Hirakawa Jan 2001

Preserving Transportation Corridors For The Future: Another Look At Railroad Deeds In Washington State, Gregg H. Hirakawa

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment will analyze the recent approach the Washington court has incorporated in settling trail development disputes across the State. In particular, the Comment will examine the court's use of common law deed interpretation principles in upholding property rights while preserving valuable public transportation corridors. Furthermore, the Comment will show how the Washington court's recent approach in interpreting railroad deeds has made recreational trail construction more appropriately a legislative matter, rather than a legal one. Section I of the Comment will begin with an historical overview of railroads in the United States, background on the public "Rails-to-Trails" movement, and an …


Lindsey V. Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department: Cipollone Revisited, Billboards, State Law Tort Damages Actions, Federal Preemption And The Federal Cigarette Labeling And Advertising Act, Harold C. Reeder Jan 2001

Lindsey V. Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department: Cipollone Revisited, Billboards, State Law Tort Damages Actions, Federal Preemption And The Federal Cigarette Labeling And Advertising Act, Harold C. Reeder

Seattle University Law Review

The Article evaluates Lindsey and other recent cases dealing with local regulations restricting tobacco advertising; it also examines their respective preemption analyses, suggesting that the use of the FCLAA's preemption provision against such regulations is unwarranted. The article argues that in Lindsey, the Ninth Circuit misconstrued the Supreme Court's discussion of the preemptive scope of the FCLAA by failing to read it in the proper contex and that the FCLAA's preemption provision was not intended to prevent the particular types of regulations involved in Lindsey and these other cases. It argues that the preemption provision was only meant to …


Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review Jan 2001

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

No abstract provided.


Schwenk And The Ambiguity In Federal "Sex" Discrimination Jurisprudence: Defining Sex Discrimination Dynamically Under Title Vii, Masako Kanazawa Jan 2001

Schwenk And The Ambiguity In Federal "Sex" Discrimination Jurisprudence: Defining Sex Discrimination Dynamically Under Title Vii, Masako Kanazawa

Seattle University Law Review

This Note examines a new development in federal Title VII sex discrimination jurisprudence specifically in the context of transsexual and homosexual plaintiffs, describing the courts' gradual shift away from formalism towards a more realistic approach in this area. Part II begins by examining the anatomical sex rule established by the three major pre-Schwenk decisions categorically rejecting transsexuals' Title VII claims. This section then considers the two subsequent Supreme Court decisions, Price Waterhouse and Oncale, and the Ninth Circuit's Schwenk opinion. Part II concludes that the Schwenk court correctly read Price Waterhouse and Oncale as mandating a departure from …


A New Approach To Statutory Interpretation In Washington, Philip A. Talmadge Jan 2001

A New Approach To Statutory Interpretation In Washington, Philip A. Talmadge

Seattle University Law Review

In this article, I will first explore Washington's existing law, both statutory and judicial, on statutory interpretation. I will then evaluate the mechanisms for construing statutes derived from common law and legislative sources. Finally, I will recommend a new paradigm for statutory construction so that legislative intent may be more accurately conveyed to the courts, abandoning many of the time-encrusted canons in favor of principles of interpretation adhering more specifically to the legislature's actual statutory language.


Teaching Torts By Integrating Ethical, Skills, Policy And Real-World Issues, And Using Varied Pedagogical Techniques: Reflections On Using The Henderson, Pearson And Siliciano Casebook, Lynn M. Daggett Jan 2001

Teaching Torts By Integrating Ethical, Skills, Policy And Real-World Issues, And Using Varied Pedagogical Techniques: Reflections On Using The Henderson, Pearson And Siliciano Casebook, Lynn M. Daggett

Seattle University Law Review

In brief, the Henderson, Pearson, and Siliciano casebook includes materials on ethics, problems and other skill-based activities, a diverse set of ideological perspectives presented in a non-preachy way, and addresses numerous real-world issues and concerns. The casebook also lends itself to the variety of teaching and active learning methods I employ in my Torts classes.


Initiative Process In Washington, Philip A. Talmadge Jan 2001

Initiative Process In Washington, Philip A. Talmadge

Seattle University Law Review

This is an introduction to the Seattle University Law Review's Symposium on the initiative process in Washington. In this Symposium, the authors address a variety of issues associated with the initiative process in our state. They examine the specific case of Initiative 695, the role of the courts in reviewing initiatives, the application of the Republican Government Clause in the United States Constitution to Washington's initiative process, and the larger question of whether the entire initiative process is unconstitutional. These articles are timely analyses of a pressing public issue. This Seattle University Law Review Symposium on initiatives will highlight difficult …


Public Health Versus Civil Liberties: Washington State Imposes Hiv Surveillance And Strikes The Proper Balance, Robin Sheridan Jan 2001

Public Health Versus Civil Liberties: Washington State Imposes Hiv Surveillance And Strikes The Proper Balance, Robin Sheridan

Seattle University Law Review

The article examines the controversy surrounding the Washington HIV surveillance system in light of a long-standing conflict between public health concerns and civil liberties. 7 Part I of the article briefly describes the inception of the AIDS epidemic. Part II focuses on AIDS legislation and the justifications for surveillance. Part III discusses the tension between public health and civil liberties. Part IV describes AIDS’s social stigmatization and deterrence. Part V addresses the nature of medical information and the potential for government misuse. Part VI describes the types of HIV surveillance available and the benefits and burdens which accompany both tracking …


Volume Index, Seattle University Law Review Jan 2001

Volume Index, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

No abstract provided.


Seller Beware: Tort Reform Is Missing In Action; Soproni, Falk, And The Entrenchment Of Strict Products Liability In Washington, Kenneth M. Roessler Jan 2001

Seller Beware: Tort Reform Is Missing In Action; Soproni, Falk, And The Entrenchment Of Strict Products Liability In Washington, Kenneth M. Roessler

Seattle University Law Review

This article evaluates Washington’s products liability laws and their application in ways involving strict liability through the lens of Soproni v. Polygon Apartment Partners. Part I will also closely examine the WPLA, beginning with a discussion of the tort reform context in which it was enacted and the underlying economic reasons for its passage in 1981. This section will discuss how the WPLA ostensibly supplanted Washington common law on product liability, as well as what a careful reading of the statute seems to dictate for litigating product liability claims. The article then examines how the Soproni majority construed the …


Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review Jan 2001

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

No abstract provided.


Initiatives—Enemy Of The Republic, Brewster C. Denny Jan 2001

Initiatives—Enemy Of The Republic, Brewster C. Denny

Seattle University Law Review

The Seattle University Law Review's Symposium on the initiative process in Washington State addresses an issue of both transcendent importance to the health of the Republic and immediate challenge to the welfare of the children of this state. This discussion could not be more timely, and not just locally. Here's why. Devolution, tax cuts for the rich and the super rich, welfare reform, and a more conservative, market-oriented philosophy of government lay on the states and low income parents and children the burden of meeting the most critical needs of children-from prenatal care through college. With twenty percent of our …


Courts As Watchdogs Of The Washington State Initiative Process, Kenneth P. Miller Jan 2001

Courts As Watchdogs Of The Washington State Initiative Process, Kenneth P. Miller

Seattle University Law Review

This Article describes the high rate at which courts have invali- dated Washington initiatives and then explores why this is so. The Article suggests that it is initiative lawmaking's Populist orientation—with respect to both its unfiltered majoritarian processes and its often—constitutionally suspect substance-that makes initiatives vulnerable to legal attack.


Applying The Market Participant Exception To Selective Purchasing Laws That Affect Foreign Commerce Relations: Reading Between The Lines Of National Foreign Trade Council V. Natsios, Michelle C. Sarruf Jan 2001

Applying The Market Participant Exception To Selective Purchasing Laws That Affect Foreign Commerce Relations: Reading Between The Lines Of National Foreign Trade Council V. Natsios, Michelle C. Sarruf

Seattle University Law Review

In this Note, I will examine the background of the situation in Burma as well as the federal and state legislation passed in response to the atrocities occurring within Burma's borders. I will then address the First Circuit's holding that the Massachusetts Burma Law is unconstitutional, focusing on the court's foreign Commerce Clause analysis and failure to apply the market participant exception. Finally, I will discuss the history of and the justifications for the market participant exception, exploring how the exception should be applied in the context of foreign commerce.


Issue 24:3 Errata, Seattle University Law Review Jan 2001

Issue 24:3 Errata, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

No abstract provided.


Affirmative Action, The Bell Curve, And Law School Admissions, Ryan Fortson Jan 2001

Affirmative Action, The Bell Curve, And Law School Admissions, Ryan Fortson

Seattle University Law Review

This Article will view the relationship between affirmative action and law school admissions through the lens of The Bell Curve, a book suggesting that a genetic link probably exists between race and intelligence. In The Bell Curve, Charles Murray and Richard J. Herrnstein conduct a statistical analysis on a variety of aptitude tests and other measures of intelligence, concluding that blacks and whites do differ on standardized tests of cognitive ability, even when controlling for such factors as motivation and socioeconomic status. Indeed, much of the book is geared toward discounting environmental explanations of intelligence scores. The relevancy …


In Praise Of The Treatise Writer: Law's Special Knowledge, Ellen M. Bublick Jan 2001

In Praise Of The Treatise Writer: Law's Special Knowledge, Ellen M. Bublick

Seattle University Law Review

Dobbs, the author of the foremost treatise on tort law, and Hayden, the author of a number of thought provoking articles, have written a book with a clear structure—one that carefully and methodically elucidates the doctrinal framework of state tort law. The book also addresses problems in tort theory and practice and outlines major supplements and alternatives to existing tort remedies.


The Wide World Of Torts: Reviewing Franklin & Rabin's Tort Law And Alternatives, Bernard W. Bell Jan 2001

The Wide World Of Torts: Reviewing Franklin & Rabin's Tort Law And Alternatives, Bernard W. Bell

Seattle University Law Review

In several respects, Franklin and Rabin's casebook provides a wonderful and effective vehicle for teaching torts, particularly to first-year students. The book develops important overarching themes while effectively presenting a wide variety of specific tort doctrines. The book also offers professors opportunities to sharpen students' legal abilities. In Part I of this review, I will discuss the first case in Franklin and Rabin's book and explain its usefulness in introducing several themes that both are critical to understanding tort law and assume a prominent place throughout the casebook. In Part II, I will focus on Franklin and Rabin's treatment of …


Epsteinian Torts: Richard A. Epstein, Cases And Materials On Torts, Allison H. Eid Jan 2001

Epsteinian Torts: Richard A. Epstein, Cases And Materials On Torts, Allison H. Eid

Seattle University Law Review

A fascinating aspect of Epstein's scholarly work is his exploration of the apparent tension between libertarian principles and utilitarian thought—an exploration that comes alive in his casebook. To Epstein, these two competing principles often coalesce to yield a single "correct" answer to a problem. In other words, the answer that arises from a desire to protect a pre-determined set of individual rights-for example, private property rights, or the right of personal autonomy often produces an outcome that is also beneficial to the overall common good. Some scholars have critiqued Epstein's work by suggesting that there is more disharmony than harmony …


When Torts Is More Than A Series Of Accidents: Epstein On Torts, Victor Flatt Jan 2001

When Torts Is More Than A Series Of Accidents: Epstein On Torts, Victor Flatt

Seattle University Law Review

By using the Epstein book, the students learn the basics of torts in a way that is not frustrating, but in which they are still challenged by legal theory and pushed to think. Coupled with the interest and entertainment that are behind the choice of cases, I find the Epstein book to be very appropriate for our students. Of course, no book will fit everyone's needs or styles of teaching. But if you can determine what it is you wish to emphasize, both substantively and doctrinally, you can use this information to assist in selection. If, like me, you want …


A Review Of Torts And Compensation: Personal Accountability And Social Responsibility For Injury, Susan M. Gilles Jan 2001

A Review Of Torts And Compensation: Personal Accountability And Social Responsibility For Injury, Susan M. Gilles

Seattle University Law Review

I will review my selection of Dobbs and Hayden's Torts And Compensation, Personal Accountability And Social Responsibility For Injury (hereinafter "the Dobbs casebook") for use in my year-long first-year torts class. My review will focus on the third edition and will note changes made in the fourth edition, which came out recently. My hope is to tell you a little about the Dobbs casebook and a little about why I thought it would suit my incoming first-year students and my style of teaching. When selecting a casebook I have four main concerns: What is the coverage? Does the casebook employ …