Torts Commons^™

Tobacco Suits Today: Are Cigarette Plaintiffs Just Blowing Smoke?, Milby Amott Mccarthy

University of Richmond Law Review

The Surgeon General has stated that cigarette smoking is the "chief, single, avoidable cause of death in our society and the most important public health issue of our time." Over 200,000 people die each year in the United States as a result of cigarette smoking. Consequently, numerous products liability suits have been filed against tobacco companies. However, until the 1988 decision in CipoIlone v. Liggett Group, Inc., no plaintiff had won a products liability suit against a tobacco company.

Property Damage Claims Against The Customs Service: Are There Adequate Remedies?, Ronald L. Cornell Jr.

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Note explores the availability of adequate property damage remedies following the United States Supreme Court's decision in Kosak v.United States, denying property owners the right to recover under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA)." The Note also proposes several alternative remedies, including judicial adjustments to claims brought under the Tucker Act' and fifth amendment "takings" clause,, tort claims against individual customs officials, and legislative adjustments to the administrative settlement process under the Small Claims Act." Part II of this Note traces the judicial treatment of property damage claims brought against the United States Government under the FTCA, as well …

The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act And Act Of State, Malvina Halberstam

Articles

No abstract provided.

Application Of The Discovery Rule To The Ohio Wrongful Death Statute, Edward J. Leonard

Journal of Law and Health

The focus of this note will be on the statute of limitations applicable to the Ohio wrongful death statute. This statute requires that any claim for wrongful death be brought within two years of the date of death. Application of the discovery rule to the wrongful death statute would allow an action to be brought within two years of discovering that the death was the result of a wrongful act.

Resolving The Medical Malpractice Crisis: Alternatives To Litigation, Allen K. Hutkin

Journal of Law and Health

This article will review the societal and individual costs of the present medical malpractice system, analyze current efforts to reform the system, and propose several alternatives for consideration. These alternatives include expanding the use of alternative dispute resolution, reformulating the doctor/patient relationship, expanding the scope of conventional hospital risk management and modifying the manner in which medical malpractice insurance is presently provided.

Recovery Of Limited Damages In Wrongful Pregnancy Action: Johnson V. University Hospitals Of Cleveland, Liza F. Cohen

Journal of Law and Health

The birth of a healthy, normal child in American society is generally considered a "blessed event." This is not always so when the pregnancy is unwanted or unplanned. Joy is not always followed by the birth of a child whose mother's pregnancy resulted from a failed sterilization or a failed abortion because of a physician's negligent act. The abortion or sterilization may have been sought because of the fear that a pregnancy would result in a child who might threaten the mother's physical wellbeing or would put a financial strain on the family. Such negligence on the part of a …

The Legal Community And The Transformation Of Disputes: The Settlement Of Injunction Actions, James B. Atleson

Journal Articles

Lawyers in cases involving injunctions against picketing represent clients in situations of great immediacy. A significant number of injunction actions are settled with reductions in picketing despite a seemingly restrictive statute and a highly organized workforce. This study of legal culture examines the role of lawyers in striving to create predictability, especially in regard to judges and the police, and in transforming conflicts of value into disputes over interests that can be resolved without resort to formal adjudication.

The Discretionary Function Exception Of The Federal Tort Claims Act: Time For Reconsideration, Osborne M. Reynolds Jr.

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Presumption Of Due Care And The Law Of Comparative Negligence, Michael A. Pellini

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.

To Be Or Not To Be: The Pennsylvania General Assembly Eliminates Wrongful Birth And Life Actions, John Lyons

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.

Hostile Environment Claims Of Sexual Harassment: The Continuing Expansion Of Sexual Harassment Law, Jill W. Henken

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Break In The Silence: Including Women's Issues In A Torts Course, Lucinda M. Finley

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Hiring Ruled Contractual, Bill Gore, Douglas A. Kahn, Stan Shields

Articles

On December 29, 1988, the California Supreme Court decided Foley vs. Interactive Data Corp., perhaps the most eagerly awaited state supreme court decision in years. The Foley ruling, which immediately was hailed as a tremendous victory for California employers, eliminated punitive damage awards for many wrongfully terminated employees. That was good news for the employers. The decision, however, also provided employers with sobering news. Most significantly, the court ruled that employment relationships essentially are contracts, with terms created by the reasonable expectation of the parties. Thus, the majority of California employees now have a right to sue for breach …

Man Bites Dog With Ohio's Vicious Dog Statute, Diane K. Hale

Cleveland State Law Review

This article discusses Ohio’s vicious dog statute, ORC 955.11, signed into law in July 1987. Section II provides background information on pit bulls and their general reputation in society. Section III explains how dogs and dog ownership were regulated under the old law, and then Section IV delves into how the new law operates to regulate dogs. Section V moves into issues of Constitutionality, and Sections VI and VII discuss alternative options and proposes changes to the new law.

Punishment: The Civil Perspective Of Punitive Damages, Bailey Kuklin

Cleveland State Law Review

Punitive, or exemplary damages, have been recognized in the Anglo-American common law systems for two centuries. This Article explores the consequences of treating punitive damages as a private means of punishment. Light is shed on the controversies surrounding, first, the attempt to adopt a standard of punishment, private or public, and second, to apply such a standard. The concentration on punitive damages for this exploratory undertaking, instead of criminal sanctions, avoids the need to account for additional imputed public penal purposes, such as rehabilitation and isolation. As a preliminary matter, the emphasis of this Article should be made clear. The …

The Qualified Immunity Doctrine In The Supreme Court: Judicial Activism And The Restriction Of Constitutional Rights, David Rudovsky

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Punitive Damages: A Cat's Clavicle In Modern Civil Law, 22 J. Marshall L. Rev. 657 (1989), Kurt M. Zitzer

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Continental Insurance Companies V. Northeastern Pharmaceutical & (And) Chemical Company: Cleanup Costs Are Not Damages Under A Standard Liability Policy, 22 J. Marshall L. Rev. 703 (1989), Michael J. Holt

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Lovgren V. Citizens First National Bank: Illinois Recognizes The False Light Invasion Of Privacy Tort, 22 J. Marshall L. Rev. 943 (1989), F. John Steffen

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Comments On Why Punitive Damages Don't Deter Corporate Misconduct Effectively, Michael Wells

Scholarly Works

Professor Elliott begins his Article by proclaiming that “a fundamental revolution has reshaped the intellectual underpinnings of tort law.”

State Constitutional Remedy Provisions And Article I, Section 10 Of The Washington State Constitution: The Possibility Of Greater Judicial Protection Of Established Tort Causes Of Action And Remedies, Janice Sue Wang

Washington Law Review

Several state courts interpret their states' constitutional remedy provisions as justifying heightened judicial scrutiny of legislative alterations in tort law. This confers greater protection of tort causes of action and remedies established at the time of the state constitution's adoption. This Comment considers whether article I, section 10 of the Washington constitution can support such an interpretation. Additionally, the author discusses the existing interpretations of other states' remedy provisions and suggests a heightened scrutiny model that best balances the interest in retaining already recognized tort remedies against the interest in fostering positive change.

Section 1983 And Constitutional Torts, Charles F. Abernathy

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

We have long recognized that the resurrection of section 1983 converted the fourteenth amendment from a shield into a sword by providing a civil action for vindication of constitutional rights and, to the extent that damages have gradually become the authorized remedy for section 1983 violations, we have easily come to think of such actions as constitutional torts-civil damage remedies for violations of constitutionally defined rights. There is, however, a subtler and greater reality to what has transpired, for the mere procedural vehicle of constitutional enforcement has, in retrospect, changed the substance of constitutional law itself. Section 1983 has not …

Torts: Boyle V. United Technologies Corp.: The United States Supreme Court Accepts The Government Contractor Defense, Brian Shipp

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Torts: Oklahoma's Tool For Expanding Tort Liability: O'Toole V. Carlsbad Service Station, Eric D. Janzen

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Torts: The Fault-Free Plaintiff And The Governmental Tortfeasor: Several Liability In Oklahoma Under Fuller V. Odom, Tim Rhodes

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Statutory Damage Caps Are An Incomplete Reform: A Proposal For Attorney Fee Shifting In Tort Actions, Gregory A. Hicks

Articles

The premise of this article is that the currently unsettled status of noneconomic damage awards offers an opportunity to reexamine the function of such awards, and to move tort law in the direction of more stable and rational remedies, something that could not be achieved either under recently adopted damage cap statutes or through the reinstatement of unrestricted compensation of noneconomic losses.

This article has two parts. In the first part, the ambiguous role of noneconomic damages, that is, their function as makeweight compensation for noncompensable litigation expenses and as compensation for real intangible injuries, is described. This ambiguity has …

Public Accountability And Medical Device Regulation, Robert B. Leflar

Robert B Leflar

In enacting the Medical Device Amendments of 1976, Congress instituted a flexible system of regulatory controls over a vast array of health care products. Analyzing the complex statute and its legislative history, Professor Leflar finds at the law's core a structure designed to ensure the Food and Drug Administration's accountability to the public for its regulatory actions. Reviewing the history of FDA's implementation of the medical device law, however, the author demonstrates that FDA has strayed widely and, he contends, illegally from the congressionally mandated structure of public accountability. In particular, in its review of new-model medical devices in the …

Allocating Liability Among Multiple Responsible Causes: A Principled Defense Of Joint And Several Liability For Actual Harm And Risk Exposure, Richard W. Wright

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Causation, Responsibility, Risk, Probability, Naked Statistics, And Proof: Pruning The Bramble Bush By Clarifying The Concepts, Richard W. Wright

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Absolute Immunity For State-Law Torts Under Westfall V. Erwin: How Much Discretion Is Enough?, Karl R. Rábago

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The plaintiff who seeks to maintain an action in tort against a federal employee has basically two choices. First, after complying with various procedural requirements, the plaintiff may initiate suit under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) against the United States. The act is a waiver of sovereign immunity and, in spite of the existence of exceptions to its coverage, has generally been interpreted broadly.

The other alternative available to the plaintiff is a suit against the employee in his individual capacity based upon either state-law or constitutional tort. One of the employee's first lines of defense against such actions …