Law Commons^™

New Concern For Transnational Corporations: Potential Liability For Tortious Acts Committed By Foreign Partners

San Diego Law Review

This Comment addresses these broad issues in three parts. First, it discusses past initiatives by various governing bodies and private groups to handle the problem of TNCs investing in countries that commit grave human rights violations. 14 More specifically, the efforts discussed are those of the United Nations, the U.S. Congress and the President, state and city governments, and private groups. 5 Because of the U.S. government's desire to promote free trade, none of these efforts has proved effective in regulating investment activity overseas.

Wrongful Death And Survival Actions For Torts In Violation Of International Law, Alastair J. Agcaoili

San Diego Law Review

This Article aims to make sense of this neglected area of ATS law. I contend that the salient issue in these deceased-victim cases is not whether the nonvictim plaintiffs have standing to sue but rather whether they have a viable cause of action in the first place. Standing and cause of action concepts have an uneasy relationship in law. Although the distinction between constitutional standing and cause of action inquiries is well established, the division is less clear where, as here, standing doctrine is used to define a plaintiff’s eligibility to bring suit. Indeed, reliance on standing terminology in this …

Parity At A Price: The Emerging Professional Liability Of Mental Health Providers, Thomas L. Hafemeister, Leah G. Mclaughlin, Jessica Smith

San Diego Law Review

This Article considers the issues associated with emerging professional liability claims against mental health care providers. Part II supplies background information regarding this liability, including the elements of these claims. Part III details the decreasing stigma associated with obtaining mental health services and its impact on professional liability, while Part IV summarizes advancements in mental health treatment that have enhanced the functional capacities of potential litigants. The remaining Parts explore changes in the delivery of mental health care where litigation may be focused, including the increasing use of psychotropic medications (Part V), the expanding role of primary care physicians and …

The Missing Normative Dimension In Brian Leiter's "Reconstructed" Legal Realism, Edmund Ursin

San Diego Law Review

Legal Realism has undergone a revitalization in academia. In a series of articles over the past decade and a half, and in a 2007 book, Brian Leiter has offered a "philosophical reconstruction" of Legal Realism... In the forthcoming Article, I will seek to clarify further the normative dimension of Legal Realism. I will suggest that it is a mistake to divide Legal Realists into quietist camps. This is because these terms refer to two distinct phenomena. Nonquetism in a view of the lawmaking role: judges are legislators-they make law and policy plays a role in their lawmaking. Quietism reflects a …

Tobacco Tort Litigation In California: A Better Understanding Of Civil Code Section 1714.45, Stephen D. Sugarman

San Diego Law Review

Before 1963, lawsuits in California by victims of product injuries were either handled under principles of negligence or they were cast as contract claims that drew on “implied warranty” principles.8 For example, if someone bought a loaf of bread from a local bakery, took a bite out of the loaf, and it turned out that a sharp pin hidden in the bread injured the person, the victim could sue the bakery (1) in tort, claiming that the bakery negligently allowed the pin to get into the bread, or (2) in contract, claiming that in providing this sort of bread the …

The Phantom Reliance Interest In Tort Damages, Michael B. Kelly

San Diego Law Review

The reliance interest has fascinated me for some time.' As a measure of damages for breach of contract, it seems theoretically unjustified and flawed in its implementation. In theory, it requires compensation for lost opportunities? In practice, such compensation is rarely provided'

unless one counts the expectation interest as a proxy for opportunities lost in reliance on a promise. In theory, it justifies recoveries that may exceed expectation. Yet, even its progenitors refused to endorse that implication. Why, then, does the reliance interest have continuing appeal

Remedies For Imperfect Transactions In Contracts And Torts, David W. Barnes

San Diego Law Review

The papers by Professors DeLong, Wonnell, and Kelly in this Symposium address different types of imperfect transactions. Promises that are the subject of section 90 of the Restatement (Second) of Contracts are imperfect in the sense that they lack consideration or are disclaimed in subsequent, formalized, written contracts.' Section 90 authorizes courts to find remedies for reasonable but fruitless expenditures induced by parties who make promises on which they should reasonably expect others to rely.2 Professor DeLong decries courts' formalist strategies for enforcing disclaimers that eliminate these promisors' potential liability for intentionally imperfect transactions.' Taking Professor DeLong's analysis of imperfect …

"Waive" Goodbye To Tort Liability: A Proposal To Remove Paternalism From Product Sales Transactions, Richard C. Ausness

San Diego Law Review

This Article argues that waivers of tort liability should be permitted in connection with product sales. Currently, sellers cannot limit their liability under tort law for personal injuries caused by defective products even though such waivers are allowed, albeit reluctantly, under principles of negligence and warranty law.

The Tort That Refuses To Go Away: The Subtle Reemergence Of Public Disclosure Of Private Facts

San Diego Law Review

This Comment focuses instead on the subtle reemergence of the private facts tort in factual scenarios Warren and Brandeis most likely could not foresee one hundred years ago. Part II of the Comment briefly describes the development of the private facts tort. Part III examines the inevitable conflict between the private facts tort and the First Amendment, and common law attempts to reconcile that conflict through variations of the "newsworthiness" defense. Part IV focuses on the resurrection of the private facts tort in recent case law, due to judicial limitation of the newsworthiness defense. Finally, after examining the problems associated …

Strict Liability For Abnormally Dangerous Activity: The Negligence Barrier, Gerald W. Boston

San Diego Law Review

My main thesis is that the doctrine of strict liability for abnormally dangerous activity (which I sometimes refer to by the acronym SLADA), memorialized in sections 519 and 520 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts,' has evolved to the point of near extinction because courts have concluded that the negligence system functions effectively to deter the serious risks posed by the activities involved. The Restatement (Second) provides that strict liability is inapplicable when the high degree of risk can be eliminated by the exercise of reasonable care.2 The evidence demonstrates that courts are increasingly making precisely that finding, usually without …

A Jurisprudence In Disarray: On Battery, Wrongful Living, And The Right To Bodily Integrity, Mark Strasser

San Diego Law Review

The right to bodily integrity is firmly entrenched in the right to privacy jurisprudence. An individual who has that right violated by being subjected to an unwanted touching can sue for damages. For example, an individual who receives medical treatment against her will can bring an action for battery, even if that treatment provides her a net benefit.' Yet, the determination of whether our current system provides either sufficient compensation for the victim of a nonconsensual physical invasion or a sufficient disincentive to possible tortfeasors to prevent such invasions is only possible after the potential damages for such invasions are …

An Index And Table Of Contents To The Ali Reporters' Study On Enterprise Responsibility For Personal Injury, Jeffrey O'Connell, Alexander S. Glovsky

San Diego Law Review

In 1986, the American Law Institute (ALI) published a report to analyze and appraise the state of the tort system and to recommend reform. This study lacked crucial aids that could make it more accessible: it was devoid of any index and the table of contents did not contain any subheadings. The authors of this Article created an index and a comprehensive table of contents, in order to make the report more "user friendly." This Article contains a brief description of the 1986 ALI Reporter's Study, followed by an expanded table of contents and an index.

An Ali Report Markets A Defective Product: Errors At Retail And Wholesale, Marshall S. Shapo

San Diego Law Review

This Article analyzes a chapter in the Reporters' Study on Enterprise Responsibility for Personal Injury, the chapter titled "Product Defects and Warnings." The author is highly critical of the Study, noting its lack of depth of historical focus, its failure to take existing doctrine with sufficient seriousness, and its deficiencies in both terminology and analysis. The author argues that the Study fails to give sufficient weight to competing points of view, and that it consistently fails to present specific and relevant applications. The author concludes that the Study itself is a defective product.

The American Law Institute's Reporters' Study On Enterprise Responsibility For Personal Injury: Perspectives On The Tort System And The Liability Crisis

San Diego Law Review

In 1986 a number of prominent legal scholars embarked upon a project commissioned by the American Law Institute to re-examine contemporary tort and personal injury law. Five years later, the results of this project came to fruition in a two-volume study entitled Reporters' Study on Enterprise Responsibility for Personal Injury. After a year's debate within the American Law Institute about the broad range of issues canvassed by the Study, the Institute's Executive Council endorsed the value of the Study for deliberations about tort reform going on in both legislative and judicial forums. This is the introductory chapter of each volume …

Hahn V. Superior Court: Failing To Take The Doctrine Of Strict Premises Liability To Its Logical Conclusion, Raquel Maria Prieguez

San Diego Law Review

This Casenote questions the holding in Hahn v. Superior Court, decided by the California Court of Appeals in 1991. In Hahn, the Court of Appeals refused to extend the doctrine of strict liability to the owner of a shopping mall based on a defective commercial establishment. The Casenote argues that the development of the doctrine of strict premises liability was arrested prematurely by the courts in California due to their effort to curb the tide of plaintiff compensation. The author argues that defective commercial establishments place the public in as much risk of harm as manufacturers of defective products. The …

Torts - Abuse Of Process - An Excessive Attachment Supports A Claim For Abuse Of Process Rather Than Malicious Prosecution And Such Claim May Be Brought In The Action In Which The Attachment Was Issued. White Lighting Company V. Wolfson (Cal. 1968), Edward D. Laplount

San Diego Law Review

This recent case discusses White Lighting Company v. Wolfson (Cal. 1968).

Torts - Mental Distress - Defendant Is Liable For Negligently Inflicted Emotional Distress Suffered By A Foreseeable Plaintiff Who Is Outside The Zone Of Danger. Dillon V. Legg (Cal. 1968), Richard Alan Berman

San Diego Law Review

This recent case discusses Dillon v. Legg (Cal. 1968).

Negligence - Architect's Liability-An Invitee May Seek Damages From An Architect For Injuries Due To A Construction Defect Patent To The Owner Of The Premises After The Owner Has Accepted The Work. Montijo V. Swift (Cal. App. 1963), Wesley H. Harris

San Diego Law Review

This recent case discusses Montijo v. Swift (Cal. App. 1963)

Products Liability - Strict Liability In Tort - Both The Manufacturer And The Retailer Are Strictly Liable In Tort For Personal Injuries Caused By A Defect In A Product Marketed With The Knowledge That It Is To Be Used Without Inspection For Defects. Vandermark V. Ford Motor Co. (Cal. 1964), Edward V. Brennan

San Diego Law Review

This recent case discusses Vandermark v. Ford Motor Co. (Cal. 1964)