Disaster Law Commons^™

Mainstreaming Children's Rights In Post-Disaster Settings, Jonathan Todres

Jonathan Todres

In recent years, major natural disasters — ranging from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami to the 2010 Haiti earthquake — have challenged the global community to ensure the survival and well-being of millions of individuals under the most difficult circumstances. Each of these natural disasters has created crisis spots with huge numbers of displaced individuals, including many children. The international community has struggled to deliver the resources needed to ensure a prompt and full recovery. In these settings, the challenges confronting children are particularly acute. Yet frequently children are marginalized and underserved by disaster response and reconstruction efforts. This symposium …

Valuing Lives: Allocating Scarce Medical Resources During A Public Health Emergency And The Americans With Disabilities Act, Leslie Wolf, Wendy Hensel

Wendy F. Hensel

Public health emergencies from natural disasters, infection, and man-made threats can present ethically or legally challenging questions about who will receive scarce resources. Federal and state governments have offered little guidance on how to prioritize distribution of limited resources. Several allocation proposals have appeared in the medical literature, but components of the proposed approaches violate federal antidiscrimination laws and ethical principles about fair treatment. Further planning efforts are needed to develop practical allocation guidelines that comport with antidiscrimination laws and the moral commitment to equal access reflected in those laws.

Snapshots From New Orleans' Long-Term Recovery-- Katrina At 9, John T. Marshall

Faculty Publications By Year

No abstract provided.

Law Matters, Even To The Executive, Julian Davis Mortenson

Michigan Law Review

In both constitutional and international law, many legal rules cannot be implemented without what most people would describe as the voluntary compliance of their target. Is that really “law”? Or is rule compliance in such circumstances just an expression of “interests”? Forget jurisprudence for the moment. As a practical matter, what does it mean to work as a lawyer in a field where the rules are not coercively enforced against private parties by an independent judiciary whose orders are implemented by a cooperative executive? This question has particularly high stakes for national security policy, where we find judicial deference at …

Government Liability For Regulatory Failure In The Fukushima Disaster: A Common Law Comparison, Joel Rheuben

Washington International Law Journal

This article considers the Japanese government’s response to the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power disaster, in assisting Tokyo Electric Power Company (“TEPCO”) with handling claims for compensation. It argues that in setting guidelines for claims, establishing a government alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) body to deal with disputes, and creating a convoluted funding structure that has led to the effective nationalization of TEPCO, the government has intervened significantly in what are essentially private disputes governed by the Nuclear Compensation Law. This is contrasted with the less interventionist response of the New South Wales government in Australia to mass tort claims for asbestos …

The Uncertain Trumpet: Disaster Communications And The Law, Russell V. Randle, Jeffery Reinhardt

Seattle University Law Review SUpra

Planning for the next disaster is not just a task for first responders. A catastrophic disaster can affect a wide range of industries, such as banking, telecommunications, education, and zoning; and lawyers play a critical role in reducing loss and minimizing liability. By drawing from lessons learned during previous disasters, including terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and environmental catastrophes, Randle and Reinhardt explain the steps lawyers should take to help organizations anticipate problems and create plans to minimize damages.

This Article illustrates how lawyers can help organizations remain in control by maintaining critical communications through multiple system modalities; using those systems …