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Full-Text Articles in Law
Class-Based Adjudication Of Title Vii Claims In The Age Of The Roberts Court, Michael C. Harper
Class-Based Adjudication Of Title Vii Claims In The Age Of The Roberts Court, Michael C. Harper
Faculty Scholarship
This article considers two barriers to class-based adjudication of Title VII claims erected by the Roberts Court: (1) the Court's interpretation of Rule 23, primarily in Wal-Mart v. Dukes; and (2) the Court's interpretation of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) in a series of decisions, both employment-related and not. The article contends that it is the latter group of decisions that are the more significant for Title VII private aggregate litigation as well as for other types of private litigation. The Wal-Mart Court predictably did not expand an employer's obligations to avert discrimination by its agents, and its predictable interpretations …
Shareholder Litigation Without Class Actions, David H. Webber
Shareholder Litigation Without Class Actions, David H. Webber
Faculty Scholarship
In this Article, I imagine a post-class action landscape for shareholder litigation. Assuming, for the sake of this exercise, an environment in which both securities-fraud and transactional class actions are hobbled by procedural or substantive reforms — most likely through the adoption of mandatory-arbitration provisions or fee-shifting provisions — I assess what shareholder litigation would disappear, what would remain, and what a post-class action landscape would look like. I argue that loss of the class action would remove a layer of legal insulation that prevents institutional investors from having to pursue positive value claims against companies. Currently, the class action …
The Plight Of The Individual Investor In Securities Class Actions, David H. Webber
The Plight Of The Individual Investor In Securities Class Actions, David H. Webber
Faculty Scholarship
Individual investors victimized by securities fraud have no voice in directing class actions brought on their behalf once institutional investors obtain lead plaintiff appointments. The same holds for state-level transactional class actions claiming breaches of fiduciary duty by boards of directors in connection with mergers and acquisitions. In theory, the interests of institutional and individual investors align, nullifying the need for a separate voice for individuals; one rationale for the lead plaintiff modifications of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 was that individuals would benefit from the sophistication of institutional investor lead plaintiffs. But in practice, individual investors’ …
Is 'Pay-To-Play' Driving Public Pension Fund Activism In Securities Class Actions? An Empirical Study, David H. Webber
Is 'Pay-To-Play' Driving Public Pension Fund Activism In Securities Class Actions? An Empirical Study, David H. Webber
Faculty Scholarship
The recent emergence of public pension funds as frequent lead plaintiffs in securities class actions has prompted speculation that the funds’ litigation activism is driven by “pay-to-play”. “Pay-to-play” posits that public pension funds are driven by politician board members to obtain lead plaintiff appointments in securities class actions because of campaign contributions made by plaintiffs’ lawyers to those board members. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the securities litigation activity of 111 such funds from the years 2003 through 2006. Three of the paper’s findings cast doubt on the “pay-to-play” theory, including that: (1) politicians and political control negatively …
Reflections On Remedies And Philip Morris V. Williams, Keith N. Hylton
Reflections On Remedies And Philip Morris V. Williams, Keith N. Hylton
Faculty Scholarship
This essay is a series of reflections on the implications of Philip Morris for the tort reform movement, a movement for which I share considerable sympathy. First, I offer an ideal approach to punitive damages-based on my amicus brief in Philip Morris-and apply that approach to the case. I make an effort to find a middle ground between the positions of the plaintiff and defendant because, in any case that reaches the Supreme Court, one will find persuasive arguments to be made on both sides. That middle ground involves largely returning to the Supreme Court's pre-Gore treatment of punitive …
Are Agreements To Keep Secret Information In Discovery Legal, Illegal Or Something In Between?, Susan P. Koniak
Are Agreements To Keep Secret Information In Discovery Legal, Illegal Or Something In Between?, Susan P. Koniak
Faculty Scholarship
For at least eight years before the public and government authorities learned of the apparently dangerous combination of Ford Explorer sport utility vehicles ("SUVs") and their Bridgestone/Firestone brand of tires, Firestone had been settling lawsuits involving injuries and deaths caused by their tires failing on Ford SUVs. These settlements included terms requiring the plaintiffs and their lawyers to keep quiet about the settlements and about information learned through discovery, including information that might have alerted the public or the government to just how unsafe the Explorer/Firestone combination actually was. In some cases, these secrecy provisions were reinforced by court protective …
In Hell There Will Be Lawyers Without Clients Or Law, Susan P. Koniak, George M. Cohen
In Hell There Will Be Lawyers Without Clients Or Law, Susan P. Koniak, George M. Cohen
Faculty Scholarship
More than twenty years ago, moral philosopher Richard Wasserstrom framed the debate in legal ethics by asking two questions. Does the lawyer's duty to zealously represent the client, constrained only by the bounds of the law, render the lawyer "at best systematically amoral and at worst more than occasionally immoral in ... her dealings with the rest of mankind[?]" And is the lawyer's relationship with the client likewise morally tainted in that it generally entails domination by the lawyer over the client rather than mutual respect? Wasserstrom answered both questions affirmatively. Though these questions have preoccupied legal ethics scholars ever …
Feasting While The Widow Weeps: Georgine V. Amchen Products, Susan P. Koniak
Feasting While The Widow Weeps: Georgine V. Amchen Products, Susan P. Koniak
Faculty Scholarship
This Article tells the story of Gerogine v. Amchem Products, Inc., a class action involving asbestos-related personal injury claims. Georgine was filed in federal district court on January 15, 1993. On the same day, class counsel and the lawyers for the defendants filed a proposed settlement with the court. The court authorized notice to the class, allowed a period for opt-outs, recognized objectors to the settlement, ordered discovery proceedings, held a fairness hearing, and, in August 1994, approved the settlement. The objectors to the settlement retained me to testify as an expert witness on the ethics of class counsel.