Law Commons^™

Foreign Citizens In Transnational Class Actions, Jay Tidmarsh, Linda Sandstrom Simard

Jay Tidmarsh

This Article addresses an increasingly important question: When, if ever, should foreign citizens be included as members of an American class action? The existing consensus holds that courts should exclude from class membership those foreign citizens whose country does not recognize an American class judgment. Our analysis begins by establishing that this consensus is flawed. Rather, to minimize the costs associated with relitigation in a foreign forum, we must distinguish between foreign claimants who are likely to commence a subsequent foreign proceeding from those who are unlikely to do so; distinguishing between those who come from recognizing and nonrecognizing countries …

Optimal Class Size, Opt-Out Rights, And "Indivisible" Remedies, Jay Tidmarsh, David Betson

Jay Tidmarsh

Prepared for a Symposium on the ALI’s Aggregate Litigation Project, this paper examines the ALI’s proposal to permit opt-out rights when remedies and “divisible,” but not to permit them when remedies are “indivisible.” Starting from the ground up, the paper employs economic analysis to determine what the optimal size of a class action should be. We demonstrate that, in some circumstances, the optimal size of a class is a class composed of all victims, while in other cases, the optimal size is smaller. We further argue that courts should consider optimal class size in determining whether to certify a class, …

Understanding Crime Under Capitalism: A Critique Of American Criminal Justice And Introduction To Marxist Jurisprudence, Steven E. Gilmore

Steven E Gilmore

3d Printing And Healthcare: Will Laws, Lawyers, And Companies Stand In The Way Of Patient Care?, Evan R. Youngstrom

Evan R. Youngstrom

Today, our society is on a precipice of significant advancement in healthcare because 3D printing will usher in the next generation of medicine. The next generation will be driven by customization, which will allow doctors to replace limbs and individualize drugs. However, the next generation will be without large pharmaceutical companies and their justifications for strong intellectual property rights. However, the current patent system (which is underpinned by a social tradeoff made from property incentives) is not flexible enough to cope with 3D printing’s rapid development. Very soon, the social tradeoff will no longer benefit society, so it must be …

¡Las Preferencias Dependen Del Punto De Referencia!: Un Desafío Al Análisis Económico –Y Coaseano– Del Derecho, Daniel A. Monroy

Daniel A Monroy C

The “coasean” theory of Law and the theory of Law & Economics (L&E) in general, implicitly assume the truthfulness of certain behavioral assumptions: the "preference exogeneity" and "reference independence". In this context, this paper points out some objections to these assumptions, and in this order, the paper shows multiple and deep inconsistencies with regard to: (i) how the L&E predicts individual behavior and the effects of legal rules, and (ii) –from a normative point of view– the way that economic theory recommends the lawmakers decisions. The paper also shows some L&E challenges associated with the behavioral assumption that people value …

Using Social Norms As A Substitute For Law, Bryan H. Druzin

Bryan H. Druzin