Agency Commons^™

Work Made For Hire – Analyzing The Multifactor Balancing Test, Ryan G. Vacca

Ryan G. Vacca

Authorship, and hence, initial ownership of copyrighted works is oftentimes controlled by the 1976 Copyright Act’s work made for hire doctrine. This doctrine states that works created by employees within the scope of their employment result in the employer owning the copyright. One key determination in this analysis is whether the hired party is an employee or independent contractor. In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court, in CCNV v. Reid, answered the question of how employees are distinguished from independent contractors by setting forth a list of factors courts should consider. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court did not give further ...

'Easy In, Easy Out': A Future For U.S. Workplace Representation, Samuel Estreicher

New York University Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

This paper proposes an amendment to our basic labor laws that I call “easy in, easy out.” Essentially, representation elections — secret-ballot votes to decide whether employees want union representation and whether they want to be represented by the particular petitioning labor organization(s) — in relatively broad units, would, over time, become automatic. Every two years (unless the union achieved a collective bargaining agreement, in which case every three years) the employees in the unit, after an initial minimal required showing of interest, would have an opportunity to vote in a secret ballot whether they wish to continue the union’s ...

'Easy In, Easy Out': A Future For U.S. Workplace Representation, Samuel Estreicher

New York University Law and Economics Working Papers

This paper proposes an amendment to our basic labor laws that I call “easy in, easy out.” Essentially, representation elections — secret-ballot votes to decide whether employees want union representation and whether they want to be represented by the particular petitioning labor organization(s) — in relatively broad units, would, over time, become automatic. Every two years (unless the union achieved a collective bargaining agreement, in which case every three years) the employees in the unit, after an initial minimal required showing of interest, would have an opportunity to vote in a secret ballot whether they wish to continue the union’s ...

Protecting The Innocent With A Premium For Child Safety Regulations, Jacob P. Byl

University of Massachusetts Law Review

Federal agencies regulate many products and activities that impact the safety of children. Agencies should put a premium on saving the lives of children when analyzing the costs and benefits of proposed regulations. This note uses original evidence from the infant car seat market to determine that a child-specific benefit measure should be one and a half to two times that of an adult. A child premium will encourage more regulations that protect the safety of our society's most precious and innocent members.

Whether A Standard Legislated Framework Should Govern Public-Private Partnerships For Finance And Maintenance Of Public Infrastructure In The Modern Economy?, Anika Guevara

Anika Guevara

No abstract provided.

The "Legal" Marijuana Industry's Challenge For Business Entity Law, Luke M. Scheuer

Luke M Scheuer

In recent years many states have legalized the use and sale of marijuana for medical or even recreational purposes. This has led to the booming growth of a “legal” marijuana industry. Businesses openly growing and selling marijuana products to the consuming public are faced with some unusual legal hurdles. Significantly, although the sale of marijuana may be legal at the state level, it is still illegal under federal law. This article explores the conflict between state and federal marijuana laws from a business entity law perspective. For example, managers owe a fiduciary duty of good faith to their businesses and ...

Abuso Del Diritto Nel Recesso Del Preponente Dal Contratto Di Agenzia, Valerio Sangiovanni

Valerio Sangiovanni

No abstract provided.

Hierarchically Variable Deference To Agency Interpretations, Aaron-Andrew P. Bruhl

Notre Dame Law Review

When courts review agency action, they typically accord agency decisions a degree of deference. As many courts and commentators have recognized, the law in this area is complicated because it features numerous standards of review, including several distinct regimes for evaluating agencies’ legal interpretations. There is, however, at least one important respect in which uniformity rather than variety prevails: the applicable standards of review do not vary depending on which court is reviewing the agency. Whichever standard governs a particular case—Chevron, Skidmore, or something else—all courts in the judicial hierarchy are supposed to apply that same standard.

This ...

Why Should We Care About An Agency’S Special Insight?, Stephen M. Degenaro

Notre Dame Law Review

This Note offers some additional thoughts on the outer limits of Seminole Rock deference. Part I discusses the three concerns associated with unchecked Seminole Rock deference that comprise the self-delegation problem—violation of constitutional norms, exploitation of a statutory loophole, and perverse incentives. It explores the potential for abuse they create and recommends what the limitations should look like in order to avoid this potential. Part II explains the two rationales for Seminole Rock deference: the pragmatic and originalist rationales. It describes how the two rationales relate to each other, explains how courts use pragmatic and originalist arguments in their ...

The Fiduciary Character Of Agency And The Interpretation Of Instructions, Deborah A. Demott

Faculty Scholarship

This chapter in a forthcoming book justifies the conventional characterization of common-law agency as a fiduciary relationship. An agent serves as the principal’s representative in dealings with third parties and facts about the world, situating the agent as an extension of the principal for legally-salient purposes. A principal’s power to furnish instructions to the agent is the fundamental mechanism through which the principal exercises control over the agent, a requisite for an agency relationship. The agent’s fiduciary duty to the principal provides a benchmark for the agent’s interpretation of those instructions. The chapter draws on philosophical ...

New Powers- New Vulnerabilities? A Critical Analysis Of Market Inquiries Performed By Competition Authorities, Tamar Indig, Michal Gal

Michal Gal

In the past two decades the number of jurisdictions which have empowered their Competition Authorities to engage in market inquiries (MIs) has grown substantially. Although jurisdictions differ in the scope and procedure adopted for such studies, they all share an important common trait: attempting to allocate the roots of limited competition in the studied market. Market studies differ from traditional competition law tools in their triggers, range, object, and the level of pro-activity of the Competition Authority. They are not triggered by a suspicion of anti-competitive conduct of specific firm(s), but rather allow the Authority to use a broad ...

Restatements And Non-State Codifications Of Private Law, Deborah A. Demott

Faculty Scholarship

This paper offers a vantage point through which to assess the phenomenon of projects codifying private law that are undertaken by private persons or institutions, distinct from legislatures and state-sponsored codification and law-revision projects. The private institution on which this paper focuses is the American Law Institute (ALI). ALI works in statutory form—most notably the Uniform Commercial Code and the Model Penal Code—as well as through projects that generate “Principles” to guide legal development within their specific fields and “Restatements” that authoritatively cover the law in a field.

The history of the Restatements sketched in this essay fits ...

Empowering The Consumer: A Discussion On Minnesota's Dual Agency Statute And A Proposed Solution That Puts The Consumer First, Micheal Fleming

Student Scholarship

Many Americans across this county strive to achieve the dream of home ownership. The obstacles that stand in the way of achieving that dream can be staggering and unique to the persons pursuing home ownership. To a certain extent, it is expected that there be some proverbial hoops of fire to jump through before finally turning that key to a new home. What the consumer does not expect is to find a statutory scheme that creates unnecessary obstacles, such as a broker with a divided loyalty and information barriers, at the expense of the public. This statutory scheme is enshrined ...

Stuck Between A Rock And A Hard Place: Are Public Accounting Firms Subject To Diverging Standards Of Conduct Between Federal Courts And The Pcaob In Securities Fraud Claims?, Pierre Ciric

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

Corporate Opportunities And The Third Party “Refusal To Deal” Defense: Policy And Practice Lessons From Illinois, , 47 J Marshall L. Rev 1 (2014), William Schaller

The John Marshall Law Review

No abstract provided.

War Is Governance: Explaining The Logic Of The Laws Of War From A Principal-Agent Perspective, Eyal Benvenisti, Amichai Cohen

Michigan Law Review

What is the purpose of the international law on armed conflict, and why would opponents bent on destroying each other’s capabilities commit to and obey rules designed to limit their choice of targets, weapons, and tactics? Traditionally, answers to this question have been offered on the one hand by moralists who regard the law as being inspired by morality and on the other by realists who explain this branch of law on the basis of reciprocity. Neither side’s answers withstand close scrutiny. In this Article, we develop an alternative explanation that is based on the principal–agent model ...

The Intracorporate Conspiracy Trap (Formerly "Perverse Incentives And Corporate Conspiracy: Why We Are Asking The Wrong Basic Question In Assessing Liability For Corporations And Their Agents"), Josephine Sandler Nelson

J.S. Nelson

In the recent case of Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Lynn, Pennsylvania prosecuted a Roman Catholic priest who had not abused children himself but who, to protect the archdiocese that employed him, covered up information about priests who had abused children and reassigned the priests to new parishes. This case was the first of its kind to bring criminal charges against an official of the Church solely for how he supervised the careers of priests to protect his employer.

Because the intracorporate conspiracy doctrine prohibits it, the state—as is now typical of both state and federal jurisdictions around the country ...

Introduction: Speaking Up For Justice, Suffering Injustice: Whistleblower Protection And The Need For Reform, Dana L. Gold

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Freedom Of Contracts, Hanoch Dagan, Michael Heller

Tel Aviv University Law Faculty Papers

“Freedom of contracts” has two components: (1) the familiar freedom to bargain for terms within a contract and (2) the long-neglected freedom to choose from among contract types. Theories built on the first freedom have reached an impasse; attention to the second points toward a long-elusive goal, a liberal and general theory of contract law. This theory is liberal because it develops an appealing conception of contractual autonomy grounded in the actual diversity of contract types. It is general because it explains how contract values – utility, community, and autonomy – properly relate to each other across contract types. Finally, it is ...

Moving Money: International Financial Flows, Taxes, Money Laundering & Transparency, Richard Gordon, Andrew P. Morriss

Andrew P Morriss

Recent publicity over enormous estimates of “missing” wealth and the use of sophisticated tax strategies by companies like Apple, Google, and Starbucks have produced a demand that the wealthy pay a “fair” amount of tax regardless of their compliance with the letter of tax laws. In particular, the Tax Justice Network’s claim that $21-$32 trillion of “hidden” wealth remains untaxed has garnered considerable attention. In this paper we argue that these claims rest on poor data and analysis and mistakes about how financial transactions work. We further argue that the disputes are about fundamentally conflicting visions of how ...