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- Civil law; settlement; pretrial; litigation (2)
- Civil law; settlement; pretrial; procedure (2)
- Civil procedure; civil law (2)
- Civil; multidistrict litigation; closure provisions; settlement (2)
- Due process; legal culture; adversary system; judicial process; american culture (2)
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- Bankruptcy; bankruptcy code; debtors; creditors; discharge; class action; civil procedure; inherent conflict; arbitration; federal arbitratin act; FAA (1)
- Civil procedure; forum; forum non conveniens (1)
- Criminal law; criminal procedure; civil procedure; litigation; federal rules (1)
- Sanctions; law firms; civil law; federal courts; legislation; legal profession; lawyers; attorneys; nonattorneys; nonrepresentatives (1)
Articles 1 - 14 of 14
Full-Text Articles in Civil Procedure
Why Civil And Criminal Procedure Are So Different: A Forgotten History, Ion Meyn
Why Civil And Criminal Procedure Are So Different: A Forgotten History, Ion Meyn
Fordham Law Review
Much has been written about the origins of civil procedure. Yet little is known about the origins of criminal procedure, even though it governs how millions of cases in federal and state courts are litigated each year. This Article’s examination of criminal procedure’s origin story questions the prevailing notion that civil and criminal procedure require different treatment. The Article’s starting point is the first draft of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure—confidential in 1941 and since forgotten. The draft reveals that reformers of criminal procedure turned to the new rules of civil procedure for guidance. The contents of this draft …
Deference To The Plaintiff In Forum Non Conveniens Cases, Brett Workman
Deference To The Plaintiff In Forum Non Conveniens Cases, Brett Workman
Fordham Law Review
This Note analyzes several cases in an effort to understand why, based on each case’s unique circumstances, the plaintiff’s choice of forum received a particular level of deference. This Note then produces a synthesized list of factors that alter the level of deference a plaintiff’s choice of forum receives under forum non conveniens analysis. An understanding of these factors provides increased predictability as to when a plaintiff’s choice of forum might receive heightened deference under this common law doctrine.
Restoring Bankruptcy’S Fresh Start, Jonathan S. Hermann
Restoring Bankruptcy’S Fresh Start, Jonathan S. Hermann
Fordham Law Review
The discharge injunction, which allows former debtors to be free from any efforts to collect former debt, is a primary feature of bankruptcy law in the United States. When creditors have systemically violated debtors’ discharge injunctions, some debtors have attempted to challenge those creditors through a class action lawsuit in bankruptcy court. However, the pervasiveness of class-waiving arbitration clauses likely prevents those debtors from disputing discharge injunction violations outside of binding, individual arbitration. This Note first discusses areas of disagreement regarding how former debtors may enforce their discharge injunctions. Then, it examines the types of disputes that allow debtors to …
Affirming Firm Sanctions: The Authority To Sanction Law Firms Under 28 U.S.C. § 1927, Vincent J. Margiotta
Affirming Firm Sanctions: The Authority To Sanction Law Firms Under 28 U.S.C. § 1927, Vincent J. Margiotta
Fordham Law Review
A circuit split exists as to whether 28 U.S.C. § 1927 allows for an award of sanctions against nonattorneys or nonrepresentatives. Five federal courts of appeals—the Second, Third, Eighth, Eleventh, and the District of Columbia Circuits—hold that, to further the purpose of 28 U.S.C. § 1927, courts have the authority to sanction a law firm for the conduct of its attorneys, in addition to the authority to sanction individual officers of the court. The Sixth, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits disagree, concluding that the statute allows federal courts to sanction only individuals—“attorney[s] or other person[s] admitted to conduct cases in any …
Busting Up The Pretrial Industry, Andrew S. Pollis
Busting Up The Pretrial Industry, Andrew S. Pollis
Fordham Law Review
While some argue that “[r]eturning to a trial model would be a significant step toward fulfilling the traditional expectations for the federal courts,” that step backward is unlikely to occur. But I agree that fixes are in order, and I offer two. First, we should consider requiring at least some parties to engage in early settlement evaluation—ideally before extensive discovery gets underway—by submitting cases to summary jury trials and imposing consequences on parties who choose to disregard the results. Second, we should allocate a greater percentage of judicial resources to discovery management through the routine appointment of special masters to …
Restraining Lawyers: From “Cases” To “Tasks”, Morris A. Ratner
Restraining Lawyers: From “Cases” To “Tasks”, Morris A. Ratner
Fordham Law Review
These regulatory and market mechanisms for restraining lawyers share a common thread but differ in their purposes, efficacy, and fairness. Despite these differences, the growing intensity of their focus, and their possible amplification of each other, suggest the possibility of the emergence of new professional norms that call on litigators to think more deeply and inclusively about value from the perspective of court and client when making litigation choices.
Closure Provisions In Mdl Settlements, D. Theodore Rave
Closure Provisions In Mdl Settlements, D. Theodore Rave
Fordham Law Review
Closure has value in mass litigation. Defendants often insist on it as a condition of settlement, and plaintiffs who can deliver it may be able to command a premium. But in multidistrict litigation (MDL), which currently makes up over one-third of the federal docket, closure depends on individual claimants deciding to participate in a global settlement. Accordingly, MDL settlement designers often include terms designed to encourage claimants to opt in to the settlement and discourage them from continuing to litigate. Some of these terms have been criticized as unduly coercive and as benefiting the negotiating parties—the defendant and the lead …
Due Process Without Judicial Process?: Antiadversarialism In American Legal Culture, Norman W. Spaulding
Due Process Without Judicial Process?: Antiadversarialism In American Legal Culture, Norman W. Spaulding
Fordham Law Review
For decades now, American scholars of procedure and legal ethics have remarked upon the death of the jury trial. If jury trial is not in fact dead as an institution for the resolution of disputes, it is certainly “vanishing.” Even in complex litigation, courts tend to facilitate nonadjudicative resolutions—providing sites for aggregation, selection of counsel, fact gathering, and finality (via issue and claim preclusion)—rather than trial on the merits in any conventional sense of the term. In some high-stakes criminal cases and a fraction of civil cases, jury trial will surely continue well into the twenty-first century. Wall-to-wall media coverage …
Busting Up The Pretrial Industry, Andrew S. Pollis
Busting Up The Pretrial Industry, Andrew S. Pollis
Fordham Law Review
While some argue that “[r]eturning to a trial model would be a significant step toward fulfilling the traditional expectations for the federal courts,” that step backward is unlikely to occur. But I agree that fixes are in order, and I offer two. First, we should consider requiring at least some parties to engage in early settlement evaluation—ideally before extensive discovery gets underway—by submitting cases to summary jury trials and imposing consequences on parties who choose to disregard the results. Second, we should allocate a greater percentage of judicial resources to discovery management through the routine appointment of special masters to …
Restraining Lawyers: From “Cases” To “Tasks”, Morris A. Ratner
Restraining Lawyers: From “Cases” To “Tasks”, Morris A. Ratner
Fordham Law Review
These regulatory and market mechanisms for restraining lawyers share a common thread but differ in their purposes, efficacy, and fairness. Despite these differences, the growing intensity of their focus, and their possible amplification of each other, suggest the possibility of the emergence of new professional norms that call on litigators to think more deeply and inclusively about value from the perspective of court and client when making litigation choices.
Erie Step Zero, Alexander A. Reinert
Erie Step Zero, Alexander A. Reinert
Fordham Law Review
Courts and commentators have assumed that the Erie doctrine, while originating in diversity cases, applies in all cases whatever the basis for federal jurisdiction. Thus, when a federal court asserts jurisdiction over pendent state law claims through the exercise of supplemental jurisdiction in a federal question case, courts regularly apply the Erie doctrine to resolve conflict between federal and state law. This Article shows why this common wisdom is wrong. To understand why, it is necessary to return to Erie’s goals, elaborated over time by the U.S. Supreme Court. Erie and its progeny are steeped in diversity-driven policy concerns: …
Erie Step Zero, Alexander A. Reinert
Erie Step Zero, Alexander A. Reinert
Fordham Law Review
Courts and commentators have assumed that the Erie doctrine, while originating in diversity cases, applies in all cases whatever the basis for federal jurisdiction. Thus, when a federal court asserts jurisdiction over pendent state law claims through the exercise of supplemental jurisdiction in a federal question case, courts regularly apply the Erie doctrine to resolve conflict between federal and state law. This Article shows why this common wisdom is wrong. To understand why, it is necessary to return to Erie’s goals, elaborated over time by the U.S. Supreme Court. Erie and its progeny are steeped in diversity-driven policy concerns: …
Closure Provisions In Mdl Settlements, D. Theodore Rave
Closure Provisions In Mdl Settlements, D. Theodore Rave
Fordham Law Review
Closure has value in mass litigation. Defendants often insist on it as a condition of settlement, and plaintiffs who can deliver it may be able to command a premium. But in multidistrict litigation (MDL), which currently makes up over one-third of the federal docket, closure depends on individual claimants deciding to participate in a global settlement. Accordingly, MDL settlement designers often include terms designed to encourage claimants to opt in to the settlement and discourage them from continuing to litigate. Some of these terms have been criticized as unduly coercive and as benefiting the negotiating parties—the defendant and the lead …
Due Process Without Judicial Process?: Antiadversarialism In American Legal Culture, Norman W. Spaulding
Due Process Without Judicial Process?: Antiadversarialism In American Legal Culture, Norman W. Spaulding
Fordham Law Review
For decades now, American scholars of procedure and legal ethics have remarked upon the death of the jury trial. If jury trial is not in fact dead as an institution for the resolution of disputes, it is certainly “vanishing.” Even in complex litigation, courts tend to facilitate nonadjudicative resolutions—providing sites for aggregation, selection of counsel, fact gathering, and finality (via issue and claim preclusion)—rather than trial on the merits in any conventional sense of the term. In some high-stakes criminal cases and a fraction of civil cases, jury trial will surely continue well into the twenty-first century. Wall-to-wall media coverage …