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The Preemption Pentad: Federal Preemption Of Products Liability Claims After Medtronic [V. Lohr], Robert B. Leflar, Robert S. Adler Dec 1996

The Preemption Pentad: Federal Preemption Of Products Liability Claims After Medtronic [V. Lohr], Robert B. Leflar, Robert S. Adler

Robert B Leflar

Taking the language of the federal consumer protection statutes out of historical context and inattentive to those laws' original purposes, judges dissatisfied with the expansion of state products liability law have in recent years read preemption provisions of these federal statutes to bar a wide range of claims that would otherwise be viable under state law. In Medtronic v. Lohr, the Supreme Court (per Justice Stevens) severely constrained the scope of the federal preemption defense in the context of the federal medical device law. But the implications of the Medtronic decision for cases involving products in other regulatory categories remain …


The Non-Adversarial, Extra-Judicial Search For Legality And Truth: Foreign Notarial Transactions As An Inexpensive And Reliable Model For A Market-Driven System Of Informed Contracting And Fact-Determination, Pedro A. Malavet Dec 1996

The Non-Adversarial, Extra-Judicial Search For Legality And Truth: Foreign Notarial Transactions As An Inexpensive And Reliable Model For A Market-Driven System Of Informed Contracting And Fact-Determination, Pedro A. Malavet

Pedro A. Malavet

Notarial transactions are specialized contracts, which in most of the world are written and certified by a legal professional known as a notary, who obviously is not the U.S. notary public. These, in effect, lawyers, practice a liberal profession so endowed of the public trust that they are expressly made alternatives to judicial proceedings. Hence, the notarial form is an extra-judicial certification of legality and truth, often comparable to our court judgments. This system guarantees honesty and legality while avoiding or resolving disputes, at a very low cost, when compared to American law practice and certainly when compared to litigation.


Summary Judgment In Pennsylvania: Time For Another Look At Credibility Issues, J. Palmer Lockard Ii Dec 1996

Summary Judgment In Pennsylvania: Time For Another Look At Credibility Issues, J. Palmer Lockard Ii

J. Palmer Lockard II

Many Iawsuits are characterized by either minor or non-existent disputes over relevant facts, and such cases may be appropriately resolved by a more summary process than a full-blovvn jury trial. In recognition of this phenomenon, courts and administrators have attempted, since at least the eighteenth century, to fashion procedures that expedite civil litigation. Default judgments, judgments on the pleadings, summary judgments and directed verdicts allow courts to enter judgments at various points during the course of the proceedings prior to submitting the case to the jury. The most recent of these procedural devices to achieve trans-substantive application is summary judgment.