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Articles 1 - 30 of 37
Full-Text Articles in Law
Corporate Risk Analysis: A Reckless Act?, W. Kip Viscusi
Corporate Risk Analysis: A Reckless Act?, W. Kip Viscusi
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Balancing of risk and cost lies at the heart of standard negligence tests and policy analysis approaches to government regulation. Notwithstanding the desirability of using a benefit-cost approach to assess the merits of safety measures, in many court cases juries appear to penalize corporations for having done a risk analysis in instances in which the company decided not to make a safety improvement after the analysis indicated the improvement was unwarranted Automobile accident cases provide the most prominent examples of such juror sanctions. This paper tests the effect of corporate risk analyses experimentally by using a sample of almost 500 …
Framing Frivolous Litigation: A Psychological Theory, Chris Guthrie
Framing Frivolous Litigation: A Psychological Theory, Chris Guthrie
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
This Article uses an often-overlooked component of prospect theory to develop a positive theory of frivolous or low-probability litigation. The proposed Frivolous Framing Theory posits that the decision frame in frivolous litigation induces risk-seeking behavior in plaintiffs and risk averse behavior in defendants. Because plaintiffs in frivolous litigation have a greater tolerance for risk than the defendants they have sued, plaintiffs in frivolous litigation have "psychological leverage" in settlement negotiations, which is likely to lead to plaintiff-friendly settlements or bargaining impasse. This in turn, suggests that reformers concerned about frivolous litigation should target reform efforts at plaintiffs' decisionmaking in frivolous …
Using Bargaining For Advantage In Law School Negotiation Courses, Chris Guthrie
Using Bargaining For Advantage In Law School Negotiation Courses, Chris Guthrie
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Options, options, options ....The Negotiation literature-at least the "problem-solving" or "interestbased" or "principled" negotiation literature'repeats this mantra over and over and over. It seems self-evident that having lots of options is a good idea because more options means more to choose from. The more options there are to choose from, however, the more difficult choosing can be. Options, in short, may increase the likelihood that one will make an optimal decision, but they impose added "decision costs" on the decision maker. Law professors now face this happy dilemma when choosing materials for their Negotiation courses. Options abound-including the negotiation chapters …
Trust, Trustworthiness, And The Behavioral Foundations Of Corporate Law, Margaret M. Blair, Lynn A. Stout
Trust, Trustworthiness, And The Behavioral Foundations Of Corporate Law, Margaret M. Blair, Lynn A. Stout
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Conventional legal and economic analysis assumes that opportunistic behavior is discouraged and cooperation encouraged within firms primarily through the use of legal and market incentives. This presumption is embodied in the modern view that the corporation is best described as a "nexus of contracts," a collection of explicit and implicit agreements voluntarily negotiated among the selfishly rational parties who join in the corporate enterprise. In this article we take a different approach. We start from the observation that, in many circumstances, legal and market sanctions provide at best imperfect means of regulating behavior within the firm. We consider an alternate …
Risk Equity, W. Kip Viscusi
Risk Equity, W. Kip Viscusi
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Risk equity serves as the purported rationale for a wide range of inefficient policy practices, such as the concern that hypothetical individual risks not be too great. This paper proposes an alternative risk equity concept in terms of equitable tradeoffs rather than equity in risk levels. Equalizing the cost per life saved across policy contexts will save additional lives and will give fair treatment to risks arising in a variety of domains. Equitable tradeoffs will also benefit minorities who currently are disadvantaged by politically based inefficient policies.
The Value Of Life In Legal Contexts: Survey And Critique, W. Kip Viscusi
The Value Of Life In Legal Contexts: Survey And Critique, W. Kip Viscusi
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Value of life issues traditionally pertain to insurance of the losses of accident victims, for which replacement of the economic loss is often an appropriate concept. Deterrence measures of the value of life focus on risk-money tradeoffs involving small changes in risk. Using market data for risky jobs and product risk contexts often yields substantial estimates of the value of life in the range of $3 million to $9 million. These estimates are useful in providing guidance for regulatory policy and assessments of liability. However, use of these values to determine compensation, known as hedonic damages, leads to excessive insurance.
Commenting On Geier V. American Honda Motor Co., Edward K. Cheng
Commenting On Geier V. American Honda Motor Co., Edward K. Cheng
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Preemption is probably the most frequently used constitutional doctrine in practice. It is the doctrine by which Congress supersedes state law and establishes uniform federal regulatory schemes to ensure the smooth functioning of the national economy. The Supreme Court, in an effort to cabin this immense congressional power, has traditionally applied a "presumption against preemption" - a rule of statutory interpretation under which federal law does not preempt state police powers absent clear congressional intent. The presumption has recently fallen into some disfavor, however, and the Court has ignored it in some prominent preemption cases. It remains viable, but its …
Schechter Poultry At The Millennium: A Delegation Doctrine For The Administrative State, Lisa Schultz Bressman
Schechter Poultry At The Millennium: A Delegation Doctrine For The Administrative State, Lisa Schultz Bressman
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
The new delegation doctrine might seem perplexing to both sides of the current delegation debate. Either it is too intrusive on administrative prerogatives or it is not nearly intrusive enough. The new delegation doctrine is difficult to comprehend only because it evinces a different focus. While the debate concentrates primarily on the legitimacy of lawmaking by administrative agencies, the new doctrine speaks more to the goal of promoting the legitimacy of law made by administrative agencies. It might even be fair to say that, in this regard, the new doctrine moves beyond the academic debate. Moreover, the new doctrine neither …
An End To Insanity: Recasting The Role Of Mental Disability In Criminal Cases, Christopher Slobogin
An End To Insanity: Recasting The Role Of Mental Disability In Criminal Cases, Christopher Slobogin
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
This article argues that mental illness should no longer be the basis for a special defense of insanity. Instead, mental disorder should be considered in criminal cases only if relevant to other excuse doctrines, such as lack of mens rea, self-defense and duress, as those defenses have been defined under modern subjectively-oriented codes. With the advent of these subjectively defined doctrines (a development which, ironically, took place during the same period that insanity formulations expanded), the insanity defense has outlived its usefulness, normatively and practically. Modern official formulations of the defense are overbroad because, fairly construed, they exculpate the vast …
Foreword: Is Justice Just Us?, Christopher Slobogin
Foreword: Is Justice Just Us?, Christopher Slobogin
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
This is a review of JUSTICE, LIABILITY AND BLAME, by Paul Robinson and John Darley. The book is a summary of 18 studies which surveyed lay subjects about their attitudes toward various aspects of criminal law doctrine, including the act requirement for attempt, omission liability, accomplice liability, the felony-murder role, and the intoxication and insanity defenses. In virtually every study, the authors found that the subjects disagreed with the Model Penal Code's position, the common law's position, or both. The authors contend that results of surveys such as theirs should play a significant role in designing criminal doctrine, both because …
The Criminal Defense Lawyer's Fiduciary Duty To Clients With Mental Disability, Christopher Slobogin, Amy Mashburn
The Criminal Defense Lawyer's Fiduciary Duty To Clients With Mental Disability, Christopher Slobogin, Amy Mashburn
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
This Article has argued that the defense attorney has a multifaceted fiduciary duty toward the client with mental disability. That duty requires, first and foremost, respect for the autonomy of the client. The lawyer shows that respect not only by heeding the wishes of the competent client but by refusing to heed the wishes of the incompetent client. A coherent approach to the competency construct is therefore important. Following the lead of Professor Bonnie, this Article has broken competency into two components: assistance competency and decisional competency. It has defined the former concept in traditional terms, as an understanding of …
Implied Limits On The Legislative Power: The Intellectual Property Clause As An Absolute Constraint On Congress, Suzanna Sherry, Paul J. Heald
Implied Limits On The Legislative Power: The Intellectual Property Clause As An Absolute Constraint On Congress, Suzanna Sherry, Paul J. Heald
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Professors Heald and Sherry argue that the language of Article I, Section 8, Clause 8, the Intellectual Property Clause, absolutely constrains Congress's legislative power under certain circumstances. Their analysis begins by looking at other limits on the legislative power that the Court has found in the Bankruptcy Clause, the Eleventh Amendment, the Tenth Amendment, and Article III. Then by examining the history and structure of the Intellectual Property Clause and relevant precedent, they distill four principles of constitutional weight- the Suspect Grant Principle, the Quid Pro Quo Principle, the Authorship Principle, and the Public Domain Principle. These principles inform the …
The Law Professor As Schizophrenic, Suzanna Sherry
The Law Professor As Schizophrenic, Suzanna Sherry
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Neal Devins says that we don't put political science into our casebooks and Gerald Rosenberg levels the same charge at our scholarship. And so it has fallen to me to defend the ranks of law professors from these scurrilous accusations. Unfortunately, I can't do it: Rosenberg, at least, is largely right. Rosenberg's delightful little polemic has accurately diagnosed the problem. Law professors as a group are too arrogant, too disdainful of empirical information in favor of grand abstractions, and appallingly willing to write in disciplines of which they are woefully ignorant. There are many exceptions, of course: with or without …
The Zen Of Corporate Capital Structure Neutrality, Herwig J. Schlunk
The Zen Of Corporate Capital Structure Neutrality, Herwig J. Schlunk
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Given the current tax rate structure - where the marginal tax rate of some persons exceeds the corporate tax rate and the marginal tax rate of others is exceeded by it - corporations are generally well advised to employ both debt and equity in their capital structures. The former will be held by low tax rate taxpayers and will serve to lower the effective aggregate tax rate6 on the corporation's taxable income. The latter will be held by high tax rate taxpayers and will serve to keep low the effective aggregate tax rate on the corporation's unrecognized economic income (such …
Currencies And The Commodification Of Environmental Law, J.B. Ruhl, James Salzman
Currencies And The Commodification Of Environmental Law, J.B. Ruhl, James Salzman
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
The success of several environmental trading markets (ETMs) has led to proposals for broader use of ETMs in environmental and resource management policy. The successful ETMs all share a basic feature-they exchange units of trade that are fungible, such as tons of sulfur dioxide or kilos of fish. This feature of trading promotes resource allocation efficiency while advancing environmental protection. But most commodities exchanged in current and proposed ETMs, such as wetlands and endangered species habitat, exhibit nonfungibilities across the dimensions of type, time, and space. Using ETMs to trade these commodities is no longer trading "environmental apples for apples," …
Farms, Their Environmental Harms, And Environmental Laws, J.B. Ruhl
Farms, Their Environmental Harms, And Environmental Laws, J.B. Ruhl
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Farms are one of the last uncharted frontiers of environmental regulation in the United States. Despite the substantial environmental harms they cause-habitat loss and degradation, soil erosion and sedimentation, water resources depletion, soil and water salinization, agrochemical releases, animal wastes, nonpoint source water pollution, and air pollution-environmental law has given them a virtual license to do so. When combined, the active and passive safe harbors farms enjoy in most environmental laws amount to an anti-law that finds no rational basis given the magnitude of harms farms cause. This paper comprehensively documents the environmental harms farms cause and the safe harbors …
Doubts About Daubert: Psychiatric Anecdata As A Case Study, Christopher Slobogin
Doubts About Daubert: Psychiatric Anecdata As A Case Study, Christopher Slobogin
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
In Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc., the Supreme Court sensibly held that testimony purporting to be scientific is admissible only if it possesses sufficient indicia of scientific validity. In Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael, the Court more questionably held that opinion evidence based on "technical" and "specialized" knowledge must meet the same admissibility threshold as scientific testimony. This Article addresses the implications of these two decisions for opinion evidence presented by mental health professionals in criminal trials.
On The Nature Of Norms: Biology, Morality, And The Disruption Of Order, Owen D. Jones
On The Nature Of Norms: Biology, Morality, And The Disruption Of Order, Owen D. Jones
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
This essay discusses the legal implications of bio-behavioral underpinnings to norms, morality, and economic order. It first discusses the recent book "The Great Disruption: Human Nature and the Reconstitution of Social Order," in which Francis Fukuyama explores the importance of evolved human nature to the reconstruction of social order and a thriving economy. It then addresses the extent to which we can usefully view law-relevant norms as products of evolutionary - as well as economic - processes.
Law And The Biology Of Rape: Reflections On Transitions, Owen D. Jones
Law And The Biology Of Rape: Reflections On Transitions, Owen D. Jones
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
This Article serves is a sequel to a previous Article: Sex, Culture, and the Biology of Rape: Toward Explanation and Prevention, 87 Cal. L. Rev. 827 (1999). Part I briefly considers the threshold question: why consider the behavioral biology of sexual aggression at all? Part II proposes that the first step in transitioning to a more accurate and more useful model of rape behavior is to avoid a number of common definitional ambiguities that plague most rape discussions. Because those ambiguities are particularly likely to foster misunderstandings about biobehavioral perspectives, Part II also clarifies the scope of what biobehavioral theories …
The Determinants Of Shareholder Voting On Stock Option Plans, Randall S. Thomas, Kenneth J. Martin
The Determinants Of Shareholder Voting On Stock Option Plans, Randall S. Thomas, Kenneth J. Martin
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Over the past decade, executive compensation has become a controversial topic. Increasingly, corporate boards of directors are confronted by angry shareholder groups over the size and composition of executive pay packages. One of the most important focal points for these tensions arises when shareholders are asked by the board to approve the creation of new stock option plans, or the amendment of existing plans. This article seeks to identify the factors that lead shareholders to support or oppose stock option plans. We examine the justifications for the widespread use of stock options and identify several benefits from stock option plans …
All Or Nothing: Explaining The Size Of Supreme Court Majorities, Paul H. Edelman, Suzanna Sherry
All Or Nothing: Explaining The Size Of Supreme Court Majorities, Paul H. Edelman, Suzanna Sherry
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
In this Article, Professors Edelman and Sherry use a probabilistic model to explore the process of coalition formation on the United States Supreme Court. They identify coalition formation as a Markov process with absorbing states and examine voting patterns from twelve Court Terms. On the basis of their data, they conclude that Justices are reluctant to remain in small minorities. Surprisingly, however, they also find that a three-Justice minority coalition is less likely to suffer defections than a four-Justice minority coalition. This counterintuitive result suggests that while in general it is minority Justices rather than majority Justices who drive the …
Working Both (Positivist) Ends Toward A New (Pragmatist) Middle In Environmental Law, J.B. Ruhl
Working Both (Positivist) Ends Toward A New (Pragmatist) Middle In Environmental Law, J.B. Ruhl
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
This review of Daniel Farber's recent book Eco-pragmatism, in which he argues on behalf of taking more pragmatic approaches to the development of environmental policy, provides both the background necessary for appreciating Farber's union of ecosystem dynamics science and environmental pragmatism philosophy, and the basis for extending the new "eco-pragmatism" approach into natural resources conservation settings. Eco-pragmatism implies the intersection of two components-the eco, being the rich and developing field of ecosystem science and management, and the pragmatism, being the classical American pragmatist philosophy represented today in environmental settings through the emergence of environmental pragmatism philosophy. Unfortunately, Eco-pragmatism provides little …
Does The Solicitor General Advantage Thwart The Rule Of Law In The Administrative State?, Jim Rossi
Does The Solicitor General Advantage Thwart The Rule Of Law In The Administrative State?, Jim Rossi
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Linda Cohen and Matthew Spitzer's study, "The Government Litigant Advantage," sheds important light on how the Solicitor General's litigation behavior may impact the Supreme Court's decision making agenda and outcomes for regulatory and administrative law cases. By emphasizing how the Solicitor General affects cases that the Supreme Court decides, Cohen and Spitzer's findings confirm that administrative law's emphasis on lower appellate court decisions is not misplaced. Some say that D.C. Circuit cases carry equal-if not more-precedential weight than Supreme Court decisions in resolving administrative law issues. Cohen and Spitzer use positive political theory to provide a novel explanation for some …
Disentangling Deregulatory Takings, Jim Rossi, Susan Ackerman-Rose
Disentangling Deregulatory Takings, Jim Rossi, Susan Ackerman-Rose
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Constitutional takings protections, such as those in the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution, create a potential for state liability for changes in regulatory policy by governments. This Article critiques takings jurisprudence in the context of two infrastructure investment issues: the stranded cost problem facing United States utility industries, which has given rise to claims of compensation for deregulatory takings; and the development of standards to protect direct foreign investment in developing countries. In both contexts, traditional legal doctrines do not adequately provide for the type of remedy sought so courts are in need of standards to assist them …
The False Promise Of The "New" Nondelegation Doctrine, Jim Rossi, Mark Seidenfeld
The False Promise Of The "New" Nondelegation Doctrine, Jim Rossi, Mark Seidenfeld
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
This essay responds to claims that the "new" nondelegation doctrine, applied by D.C. Circuit Judge Stephen Williams in "American Trucking Association, Inc. v. EPA", 175 F.3d 1027 (D.C. Cir. 1999), advances the rule of law. The Supreme Court has generally favored ex post over ex ante mechanisms for control of administrative action. Currently, for instance, courts apply arbitrary and capricious review, as a way to control agency decision making ex post. But the rule of law benefits of the "new" nondelegation doctrine are no greater than those delivered by the current means of ex post controls. The rule of law …
Universal Service In Competitive Retail Electric Power Markets: Whither The Duty To Serve?, Jim Rossi
Universal Service In Competitive Retail Electric Power Markets: Whither The Duty To Serve?, Jim Rossi
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
This article addresses whether traditional service obligations can coexist with retail competition. A rationale often given for universal service obligations in the telecommunications industry is that universal service, by promoting interconnectivity, enhances network system benefits for all customers. While the network economies argument may have worked to sustain universal service in the face of telecommunications deregulation, it is tenuous when applied to the natural gas and electricity industries. Many reformers look askance at the duty to serve in competitive retail utility service markets, often pointing to conflict between retail competition in electricity and the duty to serve. This article argues, …
From Politics To Efficiency In Choice Of Law, Erin O'Connor
From Politics To Efficiency In Choice Of Law, Erin O'Connor
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
This article proposes a comprehensive system for choice of law that is designed to enhance social wealth by focusing on individual rather than governmental interests. To the extent practicable, parties should be able to choose their governing law. In the absence of an explicit agreement, courts should apply rules that facilitate party choice or that select the law the parties likely would have contracted for - that is, the law of the state with the comparative regulatory advantage. The system relies on clear rules that enable the parties to determine, at low cost and ex ante, what law applies to …
Apres Apprendi, Nancy J. King, Susan R. Klein
Apres Apprendi, Nancy J. King, Susan R. Klein
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
The Court in Apprendi v. New Jersey, ___ U.S. ___ (2000), held as a matter of due process that any fact, other than a prior conviction, that increases the penalty for an offense beyond the prescribed statutory maximum must be submitted to a jury and proven beyond a reasonable doubt. In a longer forthcoming article, we attempt to answer some of the profound questions raised by the case concerning constitutional oversight of legislative authority to define what is a "crime," questions that will ripen over the years as legislatures look for ways around the rule and litigants test these legislative …
The Wisconsin Diploma Privilege: Try It, You'll Like It, Beverly I. Moran
The Wisconsin Diploma Privilege: Try It, You'll Like It, Beverly I. Moran
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
The big question that the Wisconsin diploma privilege raises is whether waivers into practice upon graduation can work outside the Dairy State. Is Wisconsin simply so unique that its successful experience cannot be replicated elsewhere? My conclusion is that there are certain characteristics that make Wisconsin a good site for the diploma privilege but that those characteristics are shared by several other states. These characteristics include (1) a small state with a relatively small practicing bar; (2) a close relationship between the bar, the judiciary, the legislature, and the law schools within the state; and (3) great regard between the …
Deciphering Courts Of Appeals Decisions Using The U.S. Courts Of Appeals Data Base, Tracey E. George, Reginald S. Sheehan
Deciphering Courts Of Appeals Decisions Using The U.S. Courts Of Appeals Data Base, Tracey E. George, Reginald S. Sheehan
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Is one circuit significantly more conservative or liberal than the others? Do circuit courts consistently avoid deciding the substance of certain appeals by concluding that the plaintiffs lack standing? Have state governments been more successful than other parties when they appeal adverse district court rulings? Do appeals courts act in a majoritarian or countermajoritarian manner with regard to elected institutions and the general public? The United States Courts of Appeals Data Base, an extensive data set of courts of appeals decisions, can address these and other questions about the circuit courts. This article describes the background, scope, and content of …