Law Commons^™

Broad Shareholder Value And The Inevitable Role Of Conscience, Paul D. Weitzel, Zachariah J. Rodgers

Paul D. Weitzel

This article proposes an integrative solution to the modern debate on corporate purpose, the question of whether directors and officers must solely maximize profits or whether they may consider the effects on employees, the environment or the community. Many find pure profit maximization unseemly and suggest alternative theories, typically arguing that corporations owe a duty to a broader range of stakeholders. This position is inconsistent with the case law and unnecessary to allow conscience in the board room. We resolve the issue more simply by acknowledging that the purpose of a corporation is to promote the shareholders’ interests, which includes …

What Remains Of Vicarious Jurisdiction For Establishing General Jurisdiction Over Corporate Defendants After Daimlerag V. Bauman, Keri M. Martin

Keri M. Martin

When, if ever, should a corporation be subject to a court’s jurisdiction based solely on the activities of another entity? Commonly, injured plaintiffs pursue foreign corporations to recover for injuries inflicted upon them by some activity of that corporation or its subsidiary. Where plaintiffs are unable to establish personal jurisdiction over the foreign corporation directly, plaintiffs may attempt to establish jurisdiction over the corporation indirectly by imputing to it the in-forum activities of a closely related subsidiary. This form of jurisdictional blame shifting has been termed “vicarious jurisdiction,” and it stems from the understanding that more than one entity may …

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 financial transactions …

Regulating For The Public Health: Perchlorate Regulation Under The Safe Drinking Water Act Exceeds Statutory Authority, Mary Jones

Mary Jones

This paper recommends rethinking the statutory framework of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) to provide a more robust rubric, to include a scientific and objective focus, for proper regulation. The SDWA is evaluated through the lens of upcoming perchlorate regulation due in February 2013.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates acceptable contaminant levels and decontamination processes for all public water systems, pursuant to statutory authority granted by the SDWA. Where the policy at work is admirable, the execution falls short.

Perchlorate occurs naturally, but also as a by-product to rocket fuel, firework, and other explosive constructions. Scientific …

A Negative Externality By Any Other Name: Using Emissions Caps As Models For Constraining Dead-Weight Costs Of Regulation, Scott A. Shepard

Scott A. Shepard

Emissions caps work on a simple and compelling premise. Regulated entities, in the process of creating something desirable, like energy, create and expel some problematic by-product, such as carbon. They do this because they particularly reap a significant set of benefits (e.g., profits, market share, job security) from their efforts, while only diffusely and incidentally, along with the rest of society, suffering the harms caused by their emissions. These emissions, paid for primarily by the rest of society, are called negative externalities. Emissions-cap regimes are designed to make regulated entities more directly accountable for the costs of their emissions and …