Law Commons^™

Enhancing Cybersecurity In The Private Sector By Means Of Civil Liability Lawsuits - The Connie Francis Effect, Jeffrey F. Addicott

Faculty Articles

The purpose of this article is to explore the threats posed by cybersecurity breaches, outline the steps taken by the government to address those threats in the private sector economy, and call attention to the ultimate solution, which will most certainly spur private businesses to create a more secure cyber environment for the American people-a Connie Francis-styled cyber civil action lawsuit.

Resolving Civil Forfeiture Disputes, Rishi Batra

Faculty Articles

Under a legal process known as civil asset forfeiture, state and federal laws allow law enforcement officials and the government to seize assets from individuals who are not charged with a crime if the property is suspected of being involved in criminal activity. This is true even if the owner of the property is not charged with the underlying crime. Indeed, in 2014, The Washington Post analyzed 400 cases in seventeen states that were examples of civil forfeiture during traffic stops. Police stopped motorists under the pretext of a minor traffic infraction, analyzed the intentions of motorists by assessing nervousness, …

What's Coming For Class Actions,, Zoe Niesel

Faculty Articles

A trio of cases before the Supreme Court in its current term has the potential to dramatically impact the ability of plaintiffs to bring class actions. By taking up Tyson Foods v. Bouaphakeo, Spokeo v. Robins, and Campbell-Ewald v. Gomez, the Court could be signaling that a shift against class actions is underway which could have significant consequences for plaintiffs seeking class certification.

Recently, in Wal-Mart v. Dukes, Comcast v. Behrend, and AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, the Court handed down decisions that increased the burden on plaintiffs' attorneys to show issues and damages common to all plaintiffs in the proposed …

Reasoned Awards In International Commercial Arbitration: Embracing And Exceeding The Common Law-Civil Law Dichotomy, S. I. Strong

Faculty Articles

The primary focus of this Article is to analyze various process-oriented and structural issues relating to reasoned awards in international commercial arbitration so as to improve the practical and theoretical understanding of international awards. That discussion, which is found in Section IV, considers various factors from both the common law and civil law perspectives so as to take into account the blended nature of international commercial arbitration.

Of course, to be fully comprehensible, the detailed analysis in Section IV must first be put into context. Therefore, Section II describes the difficulties associated with defining a reasoned award in international commercial …

Developing Environmental Law For All Citizens, Patricia W. Moore, Eliana S. Pereira, Gillian Duggin

Faculty Articles

On 20 May 2002, Timor-Leste became a country. Its Constitution, which came into force on 20 May 2002, is based on civil law, with many similarities to Portugal's legal system. The Constitution also laid the foundation for environmental law, which the government has been developing ever since. This overview of the development of environmental law in Timor-Leste describes the constitutional provisions that are the source of environmental law in the country; presents the policy basis for environmental law; reviews the legal instruments governing the environment that the government has adopted since 2002; introduces draft laws under consideration at the end …

This Is Your Sword: Does Plaintiff Prior Conviction Evidence Affect Civil Trial Outcomes, Deirdre Bowen, Kathryn Stanchi

Faculty Articles

The conventional wisdom in law is that a prior conviction is one of the most powerful and damaging pieces of evidence that can be offered against a witness or party. In legal lore, prior convictions seriously undercut the credibility of the witness and can derail the outcome of a trial. This article suggests that may not always be true. This article details the results of an empirical study of juror decision-making that challenges the conventional wisdom about prior convictions. In our study, the prior conviction evidence did not have a direct impact on the outcome of the civil trial or …

Does Shari’A Play A Role In Turkey?, Russell Powell

Faculty Articles

This essay explores the relationship of religious law with contemporaryTurkey. The essay discusses certain civil law supporting the adoption of Sharia in Turkey, the role of religious people in providing protection to religious freedom in Turkey, and the role of traditional Kemalist secularism laiklik in distinguishing Turkey.

Prison Is Prison, Brooke Coleman

Faculty Articles

Two indigent men stand before two separate judges. Both will be sent to prison if they lose their cases. One receives appointed counsel, but the other does not. This discrepancy seems terribly unjust, yet the Supreme Court has no problem with it. It recently affirmed in Turner v. Rogers, that where an indigent individual is subject to criminal charges that can result in incarceration, he has a right to appointed counsel, but where an indigent individual is subject to civil proceedings where incarceration is a consequence, he does not. In other words, criminal and civil proceedings have different rules, and …

Debt And Discipline: Neoliberal Political Economy And The Working Classes, Tayyab Mahmud

Faculty Articles

Over the last three decades, neoliberal restructuring of the economy created a symbiosis of debt and discipline. New legal regimes and strategic use of monetary policy displaced Keynesian welfare, facilitated financialization of the economy, broke the power of organized labor, and expanded debt to sustain aggregate demand. Public laws and policies created a field of possibility within which financial markets extended their reach and brought ever-increasing sections of the working classes and the marginalized within the ambit of the credit economy. Reordered public policies and new norms of personal responsibility demarcated the horizon within which the economically vulnerable pursued strategies …

Search Engine Liability For Autocomplete Defamation: Combating The Power Of Suggestion, Michael L. Smith

Faculty Articles

In September 2012, Bettina Wulff, a former first lady of Germany, sued Google for defamation. Mrs. Wulff's complaint arose from Google's autocomplete function: when Mrs. Wulff's name was entered into the search engine, the search engine automatically suggested terms such as "prostitute" and "red light district." Rumors that Mrs. Wulff was a former prostitute dated back to 2006 when she first met Christian Wulff, her eventual husband and president of Germany from 2010 until his resignation in February 2012. Mrs. Wulff denied the truth of these rumors.

Mrs. Wulff contended that these autocomplete results were defamatory and that they caused …

Recovering Access: Rethinking The Structure Of Federal Civil Rulemaking, Brooke Coleman

Faculty Articles

Access to the justice system, which is broadly defined in the article as the opportunity to resolve the merits of a legal claim, is declining. One source of this decline is the Civil Rules. This article examines how the institutional failings of the civil rulemaking process have allowed for the production of rules that diminish access. Rule 1 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that the Civil Rules should facilitate the "just, speedy, and inexpensive resolution" of legal claims. While the Civil Rules Committee considers this timeworn mandate when drafting the rules, there is no agreement about how …

A Gift Worth Dying For?: Debating The Volitional Nature Of Suicide In The Law Of Personal Property, Adam J. Macleod

Faculty Articles

Suicide poses difficult and foundational problems for the law. Those who most highly value personal autonomy, those who believe in the inviolability of human life, and those who remain uncommitted on end-of-life issues, all must settle challenging questions about suicide before advancing upon the more complex terrain of physician-assisted suicide, euthanasia, and infanticide. And the way in which a society fashions legal responses to suicidal choices reveals much about the society's cultural commitments and legal assumptions.

The bodies of insurance law, tort, and health care law are also among those areas of the law in which lawmakers reserve special exceptions …

Summary Judgment In Florida: The Road Less Traveled, Leonard Pertnoy

Faculty Articles

This article will first explore the origins of summary judgment in the Florida courts. Next, the Holl v. Talcot standard (the "Holl standard") shall be discussed. The discussion then turns to arguments in favor of maintaining the Holl standard, including the great costs which arise by the application of the standard, and ultimately, a discussion debunking those arguments. Finally, partial summary judgment shall be discussed, introducing its potential to assist the practitioner in achieving, in part, progress towards a more predictable and useful summary judgment process.

Civil Gideon: A Human Right Elsewhere In The World, Raven Lidman

Faculty Articles

The right to free counsel in civil cases is widely accepted around the world but not in the United States. In England the right originated over five hundred years ago. Twelve European countries provided the poor with free lawyers even before 1979, when the Council of Europe required its members to do so as a matter of international human rights law. The standards for eligibility and scope of legal services vary, and means and merit tests are common.

Deterrence And Origin Of Legal System: Evidence From 1950-1999, Michael L. Smith

Faculty Articles

This article offers evidence on legal systems' deterrence of acts that may cause harm, which extends law—and finance—literature comparing common law and civil code systems. Fatality rates from two causes are used to gauge deterrence: (1) motor vehicle accidents and (2) accidents other than motor vehicle. Both vary significantly across countries classified by origin of legal system. The data cover 50 years, offering evidence on evolution of differences over time. Findings for accidents other than motor vehicle are evidence on legal system flexibility, as the diffuse set of causes increases the difficulty of specifying harmful actions ex ante.

Bajakajian: New Hope For Escaping Excessive Fines Under The Civil False Claims Act, Melissa Ballengee Alexander

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

An Attorney's Right To Retain Fees Derived From A Fraudulent Law Suit, Leonard Pertnoy

Faculty Articles

The remedy of restitution, used to prevent unjust enrichment, is a fundamental right firmly entrenched in the common law. This is especially true in cases where a victim seeks equitable relief to require the return of money or property obtained as a result of fraud. However, should the defrauded person always be entitled to be made whole? Similarly, the remedy of forfeiture is also a deeply rooted legal concept, finding its beginnings in early English common law. Originally, forfeiture was a punishment annexed by law to some illegal act. However, the concept of deodand now not only includes forfeiture of …

Sexual Harassment Cases And The Law Of Evidence: A Proposed Rule, Catherine O'Neill

Faculty Articles

Federal Rule of Evidence 412 eliminates from the jury's consideration during a criminal rape trial evidence of the victim's past sexual experiences in all but a few narrowly drawn circumstances. In enacting Rule 412, Congress' primary purpose was to spare victims of rape the degrading and unwarranted intrusions into intimate details of their private lives that had formerly been common practice in the federal courts. Part I of this comment discusses the background, structure and rationale of Federal Rule of Evidence 412. Part II argues that the justifications for the enactment of Rule 412 in the context of rape also …