Common Law Commons^™

The False Claims Act Creates A 'Zone Of Protection' That Bars Suits Against Employees Who Report Fraud Against The Government, Joel D. Hesch

Joel D. Hesch

May employees copy internal company documents and turn them over to the U.S. Department of Justice as part of applying for a whistleblower reward for reporting fraud against the Government? This is one of the most hotly contested issues facing whistleblowers and employers, and the answer will affect the future of the Government’s primary whistleblower reward program.

Each year, companies are cheating the military and Medicare by billions of dollars. To combat fraud, Congress enacted the federal False Claims Act (FCA), which is the primary anti-fraud tool used by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the fastest growing ...

Apportioning Liability In Maryland Tort Cases: Time To End Contributory Negligence And Joint And Several Liability, Donald G. Gifford, Christopher J. Robinette

Faculty Scholarship

The Article presents a comprehensive proposal for assigning liability in tort cases according to the parties’ respective degrees of fault. The authors criticize the Court of Appeals of Maryland’s recent decision in Coleman v. Soccer Association of Columbia declining to abrogate contributory negligence, particularly the court’s notion that it should not act because of the legislature’s repeated failure to do so. The Article provides a comprehensive analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of comparative fault, including its effect on administrative costs, claims frequency, claims severity, insurance premiums, and economic performance. The authors propose the legislative enactment of ...

Check Fraud And The Common Law: At The Intersection Of Negligence And The Uniform Commercial Code, Melissa Waite

Boston College Law Review

Common law negligence claims persist in check fraud cases despite the Uniform Commercial Code’s loss allocation provisions in Articles 3 and 4. Absent an explicit preemption provision, courts disagree as to whether, when, and to what extent the Code preempts these common law claims. As a result, the courts’ varying analytical approaches to common law negligence claims often create seemingly conflicting results. This Note reviews the current loss allocation rules in check fraud scenarios and examines recent preemption case law. It argues in favor of the comprehensive rights and remedies analysis used by the majority of courts to determine ...

The Evolution Of The Common Law And Efficiency, Nuno Garoupa, Carlos I. Gómez Ligüerre

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Saving The Trees One Constitutional Provision At A Time: Judicial Activism And Deforestation In India, Lennon Banks Haas

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

An All Of The Above Theory Of Legal Development, Larry A. Dimatteo

Larry A DiMatteo

This paper reviews different theories of legal development in order to highlight their similarities and differences. In the end, as in contract theories, no monist view of legal development possesses the explanatory power needed to understand how law has come to be and where it may take us in the future. What we do have is a foundation built on at least two millennia of legal history. The intellectual starting point for this project is Nathan Isaacs’ unfinished work on a cycle theory of legal development. His view of legal development takes issue with Henry Sumner Maine’s thesis that ...

Illegitimate Children And Constitutional Review, Clayton W. Plotkin, John Vodonick

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Unwritten Law And Its Writers, Frederick J. Moreau

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Is The Rule Of Necessity Really Necessary In State Administrative Law: The Central Panel Solution, Arnold Rochvarg

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

The rule of necessity is a judicial doctrine that permits a judge or agency decision maker to decide a case even if he or she would ordinarily be disqualified due to bias or prejudice . The rationale of the doctrine is that if there is no other person who can make the decision, let the biased person decide the case rather than have no decision made at all. The rule of necessity has been used in state administrative proceedings liberally despite the fact that it is widely recognized as unfair. This article analyzes current approaches to the doctrine, and after concluding ...

Certainty Of Title: Perspectives After The Mortgage Foreclosure Crisis On The Essential Function Of Effective Recording Systems, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

Recording systems for property play a pivotal, market-facilitating role for the players engaged in any transaction, the judiciary that must resolve disputes between the players, and others members of the general public by informing each about the true nature of ownership of the real property things in the world. This symposium article explores the essential character of such systems in providing certainty of title, and takes a tour through the mortgage foreclosure crisis to see where adherence to and respect for these systems’ roles broke down.

Leading up to the crisis, as securitization became vogue and the housing boom blurred ...

A Decade Of Registered And Unregistered Design Rights Decisions In The Uk: What Conclusions Can We Draw For The Future Of Both Types Of Rights?, Estelle Derclaye

IP Theory

No abstract provided.

Rubin And New Cap: Foreign Judgments And Insolvency, Adrian Briggs

Jones Day Professorship of Commercial Law Lecture

The decisions of the UK Supreme Court in 2012 in Rubin and New Cap, and of the Singapore High Court in 2013 in Beluga Chartering, raise in acute form the question of how far the common law of international insolvency and of the recognition of foreign judgments can go when a local court is asked by a court in another country to render particular forms of assistance in relation to an insolvency administration which is taking place there. It asks how the instinct to give assistance for the ultimate benefit of creditors needs to be balanced by the caution which ...

Legal Rhetoric And Social Science: A Hypothesis For Why Doctrine Matters In Judicial Decisionmaking, Brett Waldron

Pace International Law Review Online Companion

In the realm of American jurisprudence, little draws more excitement or controversy than investigating the role of federal judges in our constitutional order. Yet, at the same time, the scholarly literature has not settled upon a singular descriptive device to explain how federal judges actually carry out this role. In broad strokes, current academic commentary appears to be divided on the issue of whether fidelity to the law or fidelity to political ideology largely determines how judges decide cases. This division, however interesting it may be, should not be afforded the luxury of being examined on a level playing field ...

Forgiving The Unforgivable: Reinvigorating The Use Of Executive Clemency In Capital Cases, Molly Clayton

Boston College Law Review

Clemency, the power to reduce the sentence of a convicted criminal, has existed since ancient times. Yet, the use of this power in the United States has significantly declined in recent decades. The U.S. Supreme Court has called executive clemency “the fail safe” of the criminal justice system, and has determined that some minimal procedural safeguards apply in clemency proceedings. Lower courts, however, have failed to require any significant procedural safeguards in the clemency process. Because clemency plays a crucial function in the criminal justice system, this Note argues that states should enact both procedural requirements and substantive guidelines ...

Mind The Gap: The Equality Bill And Sharia Arbitration In The United Kingdom, Rebecca E. Maret

Boston College International and Comparative Law Review

The observance of Sharia principles in Islamic arbitration tribunals operating in the United Kingdom has been heralded for its ability to provide Muslim communities with internal, community-based fora for dispute resolution. Although the judgments issued by these faith-based arbitration tribunals lack binding legal authority, British lawmakers ex-press concerns centered on threats to the existing national legal system and to England’s deeply rooted social policy of equality and non-discrimination. Introduced to address these concerns in 2011, the Equality Bill proposes a legislative solution to further maintain the principle of equality within alternative dispute resolution channels. This Note argues that, despite ...

Hubbard V. Boelt: The Fireman's Rule Extended , Marty K. Deniston

Pepperdine Law Review

The California Supreme Court, in Hubbard v. Boelt, extended the reach of the fireman's rule to bar a suit brought by a policeman who was injured by the willful and wanton conduct of a speeding motor is while pursuing that motorist. This is an important development in tort law because, traditionally, the fireman's rule had only been applied to bar suits by firemen and policemen who were injured by the negligent conduct of another which was the cause of their presence at the scene. This author suggests that the majority's rationale underlying this extension was flawed because ...

Nlra Preemption Of State Common Law Wrongful Discharge Claims: The Bhopal Brigade Goes Home , Joseph R. Weeks

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Duty To Rescue: The Good, The Bad And The Indifferent—The Bystander's Dilemma, Claire Elaine Radcliffe

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Restatement (Second): Its Misleading Quality And A Proposal For Its Amelioration, W. Noel Keyes

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Restatement (Second): A Tribute To Its Increasingly Advantageous Quality, And An Encouragement To Continue The Trend, John W. Wade

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.