Torts Commons^™

Insurance Law And Asbestosis—When Is Coverage Of A Progressive Diease Triggered?—Keene Corporation V. Insurance Company Of North America, 667 F.2d 1034 (D.C. Cir. 1981), Cert. Denied, 102 S. Ct. 1644 (1982), Rebecca Cochran Earnest

Washington Law Review

In Keene Corp. v. Insurance Co. of North America, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia integrated those approaches, holding that insurance coverage is triggered both by exposure to asbestos and by development and manifestation of a related disease. Each insurer covering any period during this process is liable for indemnification of the manufacturer and for defense costs. This liability is limited, however, to policy coverage, and many be reduced by the policy's other-insurance clause. The court also held that the manufacturer is not proportionately liable for the periods during which it was uninsured. Thus, the …

The Taming Of A Duty--The Tort Liability Of Landlords, Olin L. Browder

Michigan Law Review

For one inclined to reform the first-year curriculum in law schools the most simple and comprehensive solution is to expand the treatment of the law on landlord and tenant, and only then break up into the traditional basic subjects to deal with matters not previously covered. Thereby one could embrace all the traditional first-year subjects except Criminal Law, and a good deal more as well.

The other side of this conceit is that one who approaches the modem law of landlord and tenant from traditional property perspectives encounters particular problems that arise from the margins, or along the frontal thrust, …

Admiralty Tort Jurisdiction—Traditional Maritime Activity Explained: Commercial Use Of Vessel Unnecessary To Invoke Jurisdiction, La Quita Kenner Saunders

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Affirmative Duty And Constitutional Tort, Michael Wells, Thomas A. Eaton

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article argues that the Bowers principle is wrong. It examines the issues of doctrine and policy that bear on the affirmative duty question in constitutional tort and contends that affirmative duties may be imposed even though constitutional rights are generally negative in character, as a matter of federal constitutional common law. It ·develops a foundation in doctrine and policy, so far lacking in the opinions, to support these duties and to place proper limits upon them.

Part I identifies issues of tort policy that arise in affirmative duty cases, while Part II addresses the distinctive problems that come up …

Torts—Wrongful Birth—Public Policy Forbids Award Of Damages For Expense Of Raising A Healthy, But Unwanted Child, Joel Taylor

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Affirmative Duty And Constitutional Tort, Michael L. Wells, Thomas A. Eaton

Scholarly Works

The Constitution ordinarily places only negative restrictions on government and does not require affirmative acts to assist individuals. The statutory vehicle for most constitutional tort litigation, 42 U.S.C. section 1983, echoes this constitutional principle. It extends liability to "[e]very person who ... [under color of state law] subjects, or causes to be subjected, any ... person" to the deprivation of federal rights, and makes no provision for a duty on governmental defendants to stop others from harming the plaintiff.

For some courts this principle disposes of affirmative duty claims forthwith. A noteworthy example is the recent seventh circuit case Bowers …

Public Figures And The Passage Of Time

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Strict Liability And Warranty In Consumer Protection: The Broader Protection Of The Ucc In Cases Involving Economic Loss, Used Goods, And Nondangerous Defective Goods

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Res Ipsa Loquitur And Medical Malpractice In Georgia: A Reassessment, Thomas A. Eaton

Scholarly Works

Part II of this Article addresses the threshold issue of when a court may consider a medical accident as one that ordinarily does not occur in the absence of negligence. This part criticizes the blanket rejection of res ipsa loquitur in Georgia malpractice opinions. Judicial hostility toward res ipsa loquitur in these cases is based in large part on a misunderstanding of the so-called presumption of due care. This part then explains how an inference of negligence may be harmonized with traditional fault-based malpractice doctrine. Finally, this part addresses judicial concerns about the sufficiency of evidence. It is argued that …

Controlling Acid Rain: The Clean Air Act And Federal Common Law Nuisance, Debra G. Archer

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Washington's Useful Safe Life: Snipping Off The Long Tail Of Product Liability?, Bruce L. Schroeder

Washington Law Review

This Comment reviews the general law applicable to product liability claims. Next it analyzes the changes made by section. The Comment argues that it is doubtful whether section 7 will be able to achieve the legislature's desired goal of added certainty in product liability actions. The limited number of older claims, the limited spread of the law, and the use of a preponderance of the evidence test to overcome the twelve-year presumption stand as obstacles to achieving this end. Furthermore, this Comment argues that even if section 7 is successful in achieving its goal, the goal itself may be undesirable. …

Contribution Among Tort-Feasors In Washington: The 1981 Tort Reform Act, Scott I. Anderson

Washington Law Review

Contribution is the right of a tort-feasor who has paid an injured plaintiff to obtain partial reimbursement from others responsible for the injury. Until 1981 this right was not available to tort-feasors in Washington. With the 1981 Tort Reform Act, Washington joined forty-one other states in allowing contribution. This Comment analyzes the legislation creating and regulating contribution in Washington. It examines the nature and scope of the right to contribution and discusses the procedural aspects of the Act. The Comment closes with an analysis of the interaction of contribution rights and settlements, and concludes that the settlement provisions of the …

Seizing The Middle Ground Between Rules And Standards In Design Defect Litigation: Advancing Directed Verdict Practice In The Law Of Tort, Aaron Twerski

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Process Constraints In Tort, James A. Henderson Jr.

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Agent Orange And The Government Contract Defense: Are Military Manufacturers Immune From Products Liability?, William J. Blechman

University of Miami Law Review

Courts are unwilling to impose products liability on government contractors, particularly during wartime. If a contractor nonnegligently performs a government contract according to specifications provided by the government, then it will be absolved from liability to third parties. This Comment discusses the elements of, and prudential justifications for, this "government contract defense." After examining the relationship between the government contract defense and the doctrine of sovereign immunity, the Comment concludes that the defense is necessary to preserve the government's discretionary authority over military procurement.

Statutory And Common Law Considerations In Defining The Tort Liability Of Public Employee Unions To Private Citizens For Damages Inflicted By Illegal Strikes, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that in the absence of any clear indication that the legislature intended to bar such suits, courts should uphold private actions whenever plaintiffs can establish the elements of a common-law tort. Part I briefly outlines the various theories supporting the view that public sector collective bargaining statutes preempt private actions. The analysis is necessarily general, but Part I concludes that in most cases neither the language and structure of the applicable statute nor an analogy to federal labor law will resolve the preemption question. Part II, therefore, looks to the policies that animate no-strike provisions and argues …

Utah Allows Contribution Against Cotortfeasor Despite Immunity From Direct Suit: Bishop V. Nielsen, David H. Little

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Torts—Negligence—Contributory Negligence Of One Parent Is Imputed To The Other To Diminish The Latter's Recovery For The Death Of A Minor Child, Reid Harrod

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Ramey V. Fassoulas, 414 So. 2d 198 (Fla. 3d Dist. Ct. App. 1982), Pamela S. Leslie

Florida State University Law Review

Torts-PARENTS IN WRONGFUL BIRTH ACTION ARE ENTITLED TO RECOVER THE EXTRAORDINARY EXPENSES OF RAISING A DEFECTIVE CHILD TO AGE OF MAJORITY BUT ARE NOT ENTITLED TO RECOVER ORDINARY EXPENSES OF REARING A NORMAL OR DEFECTIVE CHILD

Defamation In Georgia Local Government Law: A Brief History, R. Perry Sentell Jr.

Scholarly Works

Whether it be contact between local government officers themselves, or between officer and citizen, or between officer and news media, or between media and government itself, the potential for defamatory publications is awesome. Historically, therefore, in the defamation law of any state, a considerable number of the cases typically arise out of the local government process. Indeed, no less a case than New York Times v. Sullivan itself is but modern confirmation of a traditional setting for defamation controversy. Georgia local government law likewise contains its share of defamation disagreements. At an early date, many of the state's common law …

News-Source Privilege In Libel Cases: A Critical Analysis, David Joseph Smith

Washington Law Review

This comment first examines the recent cases in which a libel plaintiff was impeded by the use of a qualified privilege from obtaining the identity of news sources behind an allegedly defamatory story. It next discusses the historical development of the constitutional news-source privilege and concludes that neither traditional first amendment press clause doctrine nor the United States Supreme Court's decision in Branzburg v. Hayes is authority for such a privilege. This comment then points out that courts which nonetheless recognize a constitutional news-source privilege in civil cases have given the same protection to all sources, regardless of the publication's …

The Scope Of The Judicially Implied Private Right Of Action Under Rule 10b-5: Shores V. Sklar, E. Douglas Clark

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

An Act Of Faith, Jerry J. Phillips

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Modern Products Liability Law by Rocjard A. Epstein

Lawsuit, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Lawsuit by Stuart M. Speiser

Causation In Constitutional Torts, Thomas A. Eaton

Scholarly Works

The issue of causation is fundamental to every constitutional tort action. Money damages are not recoverable unless the defendant is found to have caused the plaintiff to be deprived of a constitutional right and that deprivation is the cause of some harm. In several recent decisions the Supreme Court has seized upon the language of causation as a means of restricting constitutional tort liability. In Monell v. Department of Social Services, for example, the Court based its rejection of respondeat superior on the implicit meaning of the term "causes." The concept of causation in a constitutional tort context thus requires …

Apportionment Of Liability And The Intentional Torts: The Time Is Right For Change, Brian C. Crocker

Dalhousie Law Journal

In a tort action based solely on the Defendant's wrongful intentional conduct, both parties have been, until recently, at a decided disadvantage. There could be no apportionment of liability between the Plaintiff and Defendant. Fault concepts were seen in absolute terms. Either the Defendant was totally liable for the damages or he was not liable at all. Principles of apportionment of liability generally were not seen as applicable to the intentional torts. Thus, a Plaintiff's contributory fault was irrelevant in determining the Defendant's liability. Likewise, provocation was not a 'defence' and did not, in all jurisdictions, always reduce compensatory damages. …

Product Liability After Woodill V. Park Davis:The Failure To Warn As A Basis For Recovery, Sherly Ann Marcouiller

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Tort Law - Merchant's Duty To Protect Invitees From Third-Party Criminal Acts, John W. Watson Jr.

Campbell Law Review

The Supreme Court of North Carolina's decision in Foster v. Winston-Salem Joint Venture joins a limited number of decisions in which courts have allowed liability for injuries sustained through third party criminal activity because of the foreseeable nature of this activity. While applying existing caselaw, the Supreme Court of North Carolina adopted the position of the Restatement (Second) of Torts, § 344. The Court held that where an invitee alleges that he was on business premises for the purpose of doing business, and that while there he sustained injuries caused by the the criminal acts of third parties, that these …

The Boundary Problems Of Enterprise Liability, James A. Henderson Jr.

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Tort Law: Expanding The Scope Of Recovery Without Loss Of Jury Control, David A. Fischer

Faculty Publications

This article will analyze the types of changes that are taking place by examining three expanding areas of tort law: liability for negligently inflicted mental distress, negligently inflicted pure pecuniary loss, and harm caused by defective products. This examination will demonstrate that the scope of liability can be increased in at least two ways. One is by formally expanding the scope of existing causes of action, e.g., relaxing arbitrary barriers to liability or expanding the type of damages which may be recovered. A second method is by relaxing judicial control over the jury. This relaxation of control can take place …