Torts Commons^™

Duty In The Litigation-Investment Agreement: The Choice Between Tort And Contract Norms When The Deal Breaks Down, Anthony J. Sebok, W. Bradley Wendel

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Litigation investment, which is also known as “litigation finance” or “third party litigation finance,” has grown in importance in many common law and civilian legal systems and has come to the United States as well. While many questions remain about both legality and social desirability of litigation finance, this paper starts with the assumption that the practice will become widespread in the US and explores the obligations of the parties to the litigation finance contract.

The first part of the article uses an example to illustrate the risks imposed by one of the other party on the other which should …

Nonmaterial Misrepresentation: Damages, Rescission, And The Possibility Of Efficient Fraud, Emily Sherwin

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Buried in the details of legal doctrine governing misrepresentation is a remedial anomaly that raises some interesting questions about how law should deal with moral wrongs such as fraud. We tend to think of deliberate deception--fraud--as a grave moral wrong. At least, we think of deception as gravely wrong when the deceiver's objective is not to avert harm or spare feelings, but to obtain someone's money or goods. Deception denies the autonomy of the person deceived and undermines the foundation of trust in human interaction. The law, however, does not penalize every instance of fraud. Moreover, the standards governing when …

The Case Of The Unwary Home Buyer: The Housing Merchant Did It, E. F. Roberts

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The author points up the decline of caveat emptor as a viable doctrine governing the sale of new homes and analyzes the emergence of implied warranty as a remedy for both structural deficiencies and personal injuries. He argues that the concept of implied warranty tends to obfuscate real distinctions between the builder-vendor’s responsibility for the material integrity of a new home and for personal injuries occasioned by defects therein, concluding that legislation is needed to reestablish a system of order in the law.