Law Commons^™

Summary Of State V. Bennett, 119 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 63, Shane Jasmine Young

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appeal and cross-appeal from a district court order granting in part and denying in part Defendant’s post-conviction petition for a writ of habeas corpus in a capital case.

Summary Of Barry V. Lindner, 119 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 45, Matt Wagner

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

No abstract provided.

Summary Of Seres V. Lerner, 120 Nev. Adv. Op. 95, Sally L. Galati

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The sister of a manslaughter victim, on her mother’s behalf, brought an action against the felon, who wrote a book regarding the killing of the victim, seeking to recover the felon’s book proceeds under the Nevada “Son of Sam” law. The district court found the applicable Nevada statute to be unconstitutional and dismissed the plaintiff’s action. Plaintiff appealed.

Summary Of Smith V. State, 120 Nev. Adv. Op. 96, Sally L. Galati

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Defendant appealed from a judgment of conviction for one count of burglary following a jury verdict. Defendant’s primary contention was that the district court erred in refusing his proffered jury instruction on the lesser crime of trespass.

Summary Of Camacho V. State, 119 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 47, Hilary Barrett

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appeal from a judgment of conviction and sentence entered after a guilty plea.

Summary Of Dayside Inc. V. District Court, 119 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 48, Nevada Law Journal

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

General contractor’s petition for writ of mandamus or certiorari against partial summary judgment granted by the First Judicial District Court, State of Nevada, dismissing mechanic’s lien against property owner.

Summary Of Dayside Inc. V. District Court, 119 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 48, Nevada Law Journal

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

General contractor’s petition for writ of mandamus or certiorari against partial summary judgment granted by the First Judicial District Court, State of Nevada, dismissing mechanic’s lien against property owner.

Summary Of Maki V. Chong, 119 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 46, Hilary Barrett

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appeal from a district court order applying the statutory homestead exemption to a debtor’s real property.

Summary Of Evans V. Samuels, 119 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 42, Hilary Barrett

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appeal from a district court order granting summary judgment in a quiet title action.

Summary Of Keife V. Logan, 119 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 41, James Davis

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appeal from an order of the Second Judicial District Court, State of Nevada, finding that Defendant and underlying landowner was the rightful owner of a former railroad right-of-way under 43 U.S.C.S. §912, because the underlying landowner had purchased the underlying land and right-of-way from the railroad, which had been granted the right-of-way by the United States.

Summary Of Schneider V. County Of Elko, 119 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 43, Hilary Barrett

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appeal from a district court order dismissing a property owner’s complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.

Summary Of State V. Bayard, 119 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 29, Melanie Koep

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Expedited appeal from an order of the Second Judicial District Court, State of Nevada, granting a motion to suppress evidence of narcotics obtained by searching defendant after arrest for two minor traffic violations.-flas

Summary Of Buchanan V. State, Akke Levin

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appeal from a judgment by the Second Judicial District Court of Washoe County, convicting Denise Dianna Buchanan of two counts of first-degree murder.

Workers’ Compensation And Vocational Rehabilitation Benefits For Undocumented Workers: Reconciling The Purported Conflicts Between State Law, Federal Immigration Law, And Equal Protection To Prevent The Creation Of A Disposable Workforce, Robert I. Correales

Scholarly Works

This Article argues that sound public policy supports states providing vocational rehabilitation services to undocumented workers who have been injured in work-related accidents. Part I of the Article provides context by analyzing some of the complexities of undocumented immigrants’ lives in the United States. Part II discusses the history and economics of vocational rehabilitation programs established by workers’ compensation systems. Part III discusses ways in which immigration law and enforcement contribute to the formation of this shadow population. Part IV analyzes purported conflicts between vocational rehabilitation programs and the Immigration Reform Control Act of 1986 as they arose in Tarango …

Fundamentalism From The Perspective Of Liberal Tolerance, Leslie C. Griffin

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Salt On The Lsat, Society Of American Law Teachers

Statements

In 2003, Society of American Law Teachers issued a statement in which SALT expressed a concern with over-reliance on the LSAT and provided proposals for reform.

Malignant Democracy: Core Fallacies Underlying Election Of The Judiciary, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

There is no requirement of democratic theory that mandates that all public offices be filled by election. This is particularly true in modern democratic states, which are simply too large to justify the administrative burden of electing everyone who has significant responsibilities in our society.

Examples of this are everywhere in modern democracies, such as the United States and Europe. In England, for example, the Prime Minister is not directly elected by the people. Does this mean Great Britain has ceased to be a democracy? In most large, sophisticated nation-states, national cabinet officers have great power but are the political …

Traditional Equity And Contemporary Procedure, Thomas O. Main

Scholarly Works

This Article offers extensive background on the development and eventual merger of the regimes of law and equity, and suggests that the procedural infrastructure of a unified system must be sufficiently elastic to accommodate the traditional jurisdiction of equity. As the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure become increasingly more elaborate and technical, strict application of those procedural rules can generate mischievous results and hardship. This Article suggests that equity remains a source of authority for district judges to avoid the application of a procedural rule when technical compliance would produce an inequitable result. A separate system of equity provided a …

The Working Poor Are Paying For Government Benefits: Fixing The Hole In The Anti-Poverty Purse, Francine J. Lipman

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Symposium Introduction: Perspectives On Dispute Resolution In The Twenty-First Century, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Enron, Titanic, And The Perfect Storm, Nancy B. Rapoport

Scholarly Works

This article explores the contention of Jeffrey Skilling, former Enron CEO, that Enron's debacle was due to a perfect storm of events. It rejects his contention, arguing instead that Enron's downfall was more like Titanic's - hubris and an over-reliance on checks and balances led to Enron's downfall. The article then explores how character (especially of those at the top of an organization) can lead to Enron-like disasters, and discusses how cognitive dissonance can lead to very smart people making very stupid decisions. It ends with some musings about how lawyers can learn from Enron.

Of Child Welfare And Welfare Reform: The Implications For Children When Contradictory Policies Collide, Kay P. Kindred

Scholarly Works

On August 22, 1996, President Bill Clinton signed into law the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (hereinafter, “PRWORA” or the “welfare reform law”), which replaced the Aid to Families and Dependent Children Program (“AFDC”), the nation’s primary cash-assistance program, with the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families Program (“TANF”), funded by block grants to states. PRWORA represented a dramatic change in social welfare policy in the United States. Among the many changes effected by the law in the nation’s social welfare programs were: (1) the increased authority of the states over cash-assistance programs for needy families, giving …

Adr Is Here: Preliminary Reflections On Where It Fits In A System Of Justice, Jean R. Sternlight

Scholarly Works

Reviewing some of the anthropological and other literature regarding other societies' resolution of disputes, I saw that historically many societies have placed far greater emphasis on harmony and healing, and far less emphasis on individualistic adversarial approaches, than we do in the United States today. Just as settlements occur in the "shadow of the law," that is, that the possibility of a litigated solution is often what drives disputants to resolve the dispute through mediation or negotiation, so too does litigation take place in the shadow of settlement. Despite the entanglement of various forms of dispute resolution, significant choices must …

The Rise And Spread Of Mandatory Arbitration As A Substitute For The Jury Trial, Jean R. Sternlight

Scholarly Works

THE CIVIL JURY trial is fast disappearing from our legal landscape, and one important reason for its disappearance is the rapid growth of mandatory arbitration. Yet, the imposition of mandatory arbitration eliminates the civil jury, and often this elimination is not made through a knowing, voluntary, or intelligent waiver. As I have argued elsewhere in greater detail, unless federal courts are generally willing to abandon the Seventh Amendment "knowing/voluntary/intelligent" civil jury trial waiver standard, they need to significantly revise their approach to mandatory arbitration clauses. If a given state allows the civil jury trial right to be waived through a …

The Activist Insecurity And The Demise Of Civil Rights, John Valery White

Scholarly Works

Civil rights law is today moribund. An impressive edifice, built upon the ruins of Jim Crow, with the blood and sweat of the civil rights movement, and intended to both dismantle that system and ensure the civil liberties that Jim Crow illustrated were all too easily lost, civil rights law was to be the lasting monument of the civil rights struggle. Fortified by this legacy, civil rights law retains a symbolic value, implying that there are formidable forces working to protect citizens from abusive state action, to ensure a broad anti-discrimination ethic, and to fix the wrongs of Jim Crow. …

Ruminations On Terrorism & Anti-Terrorism In Law And Literature, Christopher L. Blakesley

Scholarly Works

Discussing terrorism in light of the September 11 atrocities is daunting. It requires one to wonder how to maintain an equilibrium in the face of a menace that wishes its own death as long as it flows from the slaughter of ‘the enemy.‘ How is it possible to combat this menace without falling into a trap of hatred or blind fear that leads to the use of terror to fight terrorism? The overarching issues relating to September 11, terrorism, and counter-terrorism include: whether oppression can provide any justification for that atrocity; similarly, whether that attack calls for or allows self-defense …

Transnationalism As A Social Movement Strategy: Institutions, Actors And International Labor Standards, Ruben J. Garcia

Scholarly Works

In the context of changing global realities, the UC Davis Journal of International Law & Policy (“JILP”) held its March 2003 Symposium, “Workers and International Economic Institutions: Challenges and Possibilities in a Global Economy.” The conference attracted a diverse array of academics, policymakers, and community activists. The participants examined the problems and possibilities that government, business, and nonprofits present for creating and maintaining labor standards in the global economy. In this introduction, the author will place each of the Symposium contributions into a framework of the choices that institutions and actors must make in deciding the best course for raising …

You Asked For It, You Got It … Toy Yoda: Practical Jokes, Prizes, And Contract Law, Keith A. Rowley

Scholarly Works

For what seemed to be a simple contract dispute, Berry v. Gulf Coast Wings Inc. garnered an unusual amount of attention in both the legal and popular press. Former Hooters waitress Jodee Berry sued her ex-employer for breaching its promise to award a new Toyota to the winner of an April 2001 sales contest. Berry alleged that her manager, Jared Blair, told the waitresses at the Hooters where she worked at the time that whoever sold the most beer at each participating location during April 2001 would be entered in a drawing, the winner of which would receive a new …

Nietzschean Critique And Philosophical Hermeneutics, Francis J. Mootz Iii

Scholarly Works

This article appears as part of a Symposium on "Nietzsche and Legal Theory" published by the Cardozo Law Review. It addresses connections between philosophical hermeneutics and Nietzschean critique, and the relevance that these connections might have for legal theory.

Legal practice inevitably is hermeneutical, with lawyers and judges interpreting governing legal texts and the social situations in which they must be applied. Hans-Georg Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics describes this practice well, but he treats the question of the possibility of a critical hermeneutics in an ambiguous and under-developed manner. Consequently, Gadamer is frequently (and unfairly) accused of conventionalism and quietism. At …

Holding Liability Insurers Accountable For Bad Faith Litigation Tactics With The Tort Of Abuse Of Process, Francis J. Mootz Iii

Scholarly Works

Liability insurers generally do not owe any common law duties to injured third-party claimants who sue their insureds. After establishing (as a conceptual backdrop) the important and recognized public policies favoring prompt and fair payments by liability insurers to injured third-party claimants, this article analyzes whether claimants can effectively use the tort of abuse of process to hold liability insurers accountable when they engage in bad faith litigation tactics. The article identifies the problems that claimants may face in alleging abuse of process in the liability insurance setting, but also indicates that recent trends in this area of law suggest …