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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Supreme Court, The Gun Industry, And The Misguided Revival Of Strict Territorial Limits On The Reach Of State Law, Allen K. Rostron
The Supreme Court, The Gun Industry, And The Misguided Revival Of Strict Territorial Limits On The Reach Of State Law, Allen K. Rostron
Faculty Works
While tort lawsuits against gun manufacturers and sellers have captured much attention in recent years, there is an intriguing constitutional issue arising in the cases that has largely escaped notice. The gun companies build a defense from statements in a line of recent Supreme Court opinions indicating that the dormant Commerce Clause forbids application of a state statute to commerce occurring wholly outside the state's borders. The gun companies contend that it would be unconstitutional for them to be held liable under state tort law for the manufacture or sale of a gun that occurred outside the state. Several courts …
The Kindness Of Strangers: Interdisciplinary Foundations Of A Duty To Act, Nancy Levit
The Kindness Of Strangers: Interdisciplinary Foundations Of A Duty To Act, Nancy Levit
Faculty Works
In American tort law, one has historically been allowed to do nothing and not be held liable for injuries to others resulting from that inactivity. Viewed perhaps more charitably, tort law does not punish citizens for minding their own business. People generally have no affirmative duties to aid or protect others -- you can watch blind people walk into traffic and not be sued for failing to stop them. It's not nice, but it's not tortious. This essay examines the no duty to act rule in torts and the policy reasons typically offered in support of its enduring presence. It …
Ethereal Torts, Nancy Levit
Ethereal Torts, Nancy Levit
Faculty Works
Tort litigation has extended liability over time and space, through toxic tort cases as well as unknown and perhaps unknowable risks in products liability cases. Different types of mass tort litigation have spawned different permutations of claims and theories. The movement toward multiple causation and accountability encompasses complex notions of responsibility among multiple parties to an occurrence. Modern torts have particularized mental-state requirements, and there has been a refinement in the approach to mental state generally. Finally, the judiciary's development of common law liability has been accompanied by an upheaval in the theoretical bases for tort liability: commentators have explored …