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Disaster Law Commons

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2013

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Articles 1 - 11 of 11

Full-Text Articles in Disaster Law

Toward Comprehensive Reform Of America's Emergency Law Regime, Patrick A. Thronson Jan 2013

Toward Comprehensive Reform Of America's Emergency Law Regime, Patrick A. Thronson

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Unbenownst to most Americans, the United States is presently under thirty presidentially declared states of emergency. They confer vast powers on the Executive Branch, including the ability to financially incapacitate any person or organization in the United States, seize control of the nation's communications infrastructure, mobilize military forces, expand the permissible size of the military without congressional authorization, and extend tours of duty without consent from service personnel. Declared states of emergency may also activate Presidential Emergency Action Documents and other continuity-of-government procedures, which confer powers on the President-such as the unilateral suspension of habeas corpus-that appear fundamentally opposed to …


What To Do With America's Nuclear Defense Waste: The Hanford Effect, Joseph A. Cohen Jan 2013

What To Do With America's Nuclear Defense Waste: The Hanford Effect, Joseph A. Cohen

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.


Disaster Tradeoffs: The Doubtful Case For Public Necessity, Susan S. Kuo Jan 2013

Disaster Tradeoffs: The Doubtful Case For Public Necessity, Susan S. Kuo

Faculty Publications

When government takes private property for a public purpose, the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires just compensation. Courts, however, have long recognized an exception to takings law for the destruction of private property when necessary to prevent a public disaster. In those circumstances, unless the state accepts an obligation to pay damages, individuals must bear their own losses. This Article contends that the public necessity defense should be rejected. First, the tight time frame and limited options typical in a disaster response threaten to obscure the crucial role of government in planning for disasters and mitigating vulnerability. Second, …


Enhancing Communication Between Scientists, Government Officials, And The Lay Public: Advancing Science And Protecting The Public's Welfare Through Better Multi-Stakeholder Interfacing, Clark J. Lee, Patrick P. Rose, Earl Stoddard Iii Jan 2013

Enhancing Communication Between Scientists, Government Officials, And The Lay Public: Advancing Science And Protecting The Public's Welfare Through Better Multi-Stakeholder Interfacing, Clark J. Lee, Patrick P. Rose, Earl Stoddard Iii

Homeland Security Publications

No abstract provided.


Reconceptualizing States Of Emergency Under International Human Rights Law: Theory, Legal Doctrine, And Politics, Scott P. Sheeran Jan 2013

Reconceptualizing States Of Emergency Under International Human Rights Law: Theory, Legal Doctrine, And Politics, Scott P. Sheeran

Michigan Journal of International Law

States of emergency are today one of the most serious challenges to the implementation of international human rights law (IHRL). They have become common practice and are associated with severe human rights violations as evidenced by the Arab Spring. The international jurisprudence on states of emergency is inconsistent and divergent, and what now constitutes a public emergency is ubiquitous. This trend is underpinned by excessive judicial deference and abdication of the legal review of states' often dubious claims of a state of emergency. The legal regime, as positively expressed in international human rights treaties, does not adequately reflect the underlying …


The Compromised Cargo Container: Terror In A Box, Taylor Simpson-Wood Jan 2013

The Compromised Cargo Container: Terror In A Box, Taylor Simpson-Wood

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


Unique Coverage Issues In Flood Losses, Wayne D. Taylor, Arthur J. Park, Sean O'Brien Jan 2013

Unique Coverage Issues In Flood Losses, Wayne D. Taylor, Arthur J. Park, Sean O'Brien

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.


Small Business Disaster Assistance, Peggy Maisel, Natalie Roman Jan 2013

Small Business Disaster Assistance, Peggy Maisel, Natalie Roman

Faculty Scholarship

When a disaster hits, it affects the entire community. A small business is especially vulnerable because it does not necessarily have the resources to respond to a disaster or to catastrophic damage. In fact, it is reported that approximately 25 percent of small businesses that close due to a disaster never reopen, and 40 percent of small businesses hit directly by a serious natural disaster do not recover. This is true regardless of what kind of disaster is involved, from a hurricane, a tornado, an earthquake, flooding, winter storms, or even civil unrest or terrorism.

Small businesses experience a number …


Climate Change Adaptation And Land Use: Exploring The Federal Role, 47 J. Marshall L. Rev. 509 (2013), Alice Kaswan Jan 2013

Climate Change Adaptation And Land Use: Exploring The Federal Role, 47 J. Marshall L. Rev. 509 (2013), Alice Kaswan

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.


Deferred Prosecution And Non-Prosecution Agreements And The Erosion Of Corporate Criminal Liability, David M. Uhlmann Jan 2013

Deferred Prosecution And Non-Prosecution Agreements And The Erosion Of Corporate Criminal Liability, David M. Uhlmann

Articles

On April 5, 2010, a massive explosion killed twenty-nine miners at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine near Montcoal, West Virginia. Following the explosion, President Barack Obama vowed that the U.S. Department of Labor would conduct "the most thorough and comprehensive investigation possible" and work with the U.S. Department of Justice ("Justice Department" or the "Department") to address any criminal violations. Later in the month, the President and Vice President flew to West Virginia to eulogize the victims and comfort their families. It was the nation's worst coal mining disaster in forty years. The tragic loss of life at the …


Disaggregating Disasters, Lisa Grow Sun, Ronnell Andersen Jones Jan 2013

Disaggregating Disasters, Lisa Grow Sun, Ronnell Andersen Jones

Faculty Scholarship

In the years since the September 11 attacks, scholars and commentators have criticized the emergence of both legal developments and policy rhetoric that blur the lines between war and terrorism. Unrecognized, but equally as damaging to democratic ideals—and potentially more devastating in practical effect—is the expansion of this trend beyond the context of terrorism to a much wider field of nonwar emergencies. Indeed, in recent years, war and national security rhetoric has come to permeate the legal and policy conversations on a wide variety of natural and technological disasters. This melding of disaster and war for purposes of justifying exceptions …