Law Commons^™

Mapping Proportionality Review: Still A "Road To Nowhere", Rachel A. Van Cleave

Publications

This article examines how a majority of the Supreme Court went out of its way to vacate a punitive damages award in Philip Morris and further reinforced the inconsistency with which it applies the principle of proportionality. When it comes to punitive damages awards, a majority of Justices continue to convey distrust of juries and of trial and appellate court judges who review these awards. However, when it comes to terms of imprisonment, the Court has eschewed substantive review under the Eighth Amendment while insisting that the Sixth Amendment requires that all facts supporting an increase in a sentence be …

El Contrato Con Efectos Oponibles Erga Omnes: Su Incidencia En El Sistema De Transferencia De La Propiedad Inmueble Y En El Sistema De Oponibilidad De Derechos, Jimmy J. Ronquillo Pascual

Jimmy J. Ronquillo Pascual

En este artículo, el autor analiza el tema de la incidencia del contrato con efectos erga omnes en los sistemas de transferencia de la propiedad inmobiliaria y de oponibilidad de derechos. Concretamente, fija posición respecto de dos debates recurrentes en la doctrina civil peruana: el contrato con efectos reales y el sistema de transferencia de la propiedad inmueble al cual se adhiere nuestro ordenamiento. Finalmente, aborda el sistema de oponibilidad de derechos que recoge el Código Civil en su artículo 2022, poniendo especial énfasis en el segundo párrafo del citado artículo, referente al conflicto entre un derecho real y un …

The Monumental Ally: Chief Justice John Marshall And The Protection Of The United States Constitution, Mattea C. Carver

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The culmination of this particular research intends to analyze U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall's judicial opinions with historical perspectives. Special emphasis is placed upon Marshall's motives for promoting the interests of the national government over the interests of the individual states and their respective governments and the interests ofthe federal judiciary over its fellow branches. Overall, it can be successfully argued that Marshall's influence was not to promote the individual branch of the federal judiciary, but rather promote the necessity of a strong national government. The research utilizes primary and secondary sources including Marshall's judicial opinions, his personal …

Review: Voices Of American Law: Us Supreme Court Cases Meet The 21st Century, Lauren M. Collins

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Review of documentary series Voices of American Law (Thomas B. Metzloff & Sarah Wood, producers)

What Do We Talk About When We Talk About Mass Torts?, Anthony J. Sebok

Michigan Law Review

Twenty years ago, Deborah Hensler and a team of scholars at the RAND Corporation's Institute for Civil Justice issued a report entitled Trends in Tort Litigation: The Story Behind the Statistics. Pressure had been mounting both in the business community and the Republican Party to "reform" tort law throughout the 1980s. There was concern that Americans "egged on by avaricious lawyers, sue[d] too readily, and irresponsible juries and activist judges wayla[id] blameless businesses at enormous cost to social and economic well-being." The RAND report argued that the real risk of a torts "explosion" came from the world of mass …

The Verdict On Juries, Valerie P. Hans, Neil Vidmar

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

In reviewing debates and research evidence about jury trials for our book, American Juries: The Verdict (Prometheus Books, 2007), we have had the chance to reflect on the status of the jury system in the United States. High profile jury trials put the spotlight on the American practice of using its citizens as decision makers. When jury verdicts are at odds with public opinion, criticisms of the institution are common. The civil jury has been a lightning rod for those who want tort reform. This article draws together some of our reflections about the health of the jury system …

The Importance Of E-Discovery, Scott Dodson

Faculty Publications

This short essay explores the increasing importance of e-discovery to litigants in both federal and state courts in Arkansas.

Summary Of Torrealba V. Kesmetis, 124 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 10, Barbara Mcdonald

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appeal from a district court summary judgment in a tort action.

Plausibility Pleading, A. Benjamin Spencer

Faculty Publications

Last Term, in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, the U.S. Supreme Court dramatically reinterpreted Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a) (2), which requires a "short and plain" statement of a plaintiffs claim. The Court was unabashed about this change of course: it explicitly abrogated a core element of its 1957 decision in Conley v. Gibson, which until recently was the bedrock case undergirding the idea that ours is a system of notice pleading in which detailed facts need not be pleaded. Departing from this principle, the Court in Twombly required the pleading of facts that demonstrate the plausibility of the …

Will The Real Real Party In Interest Please Stand Up?: Applying The Capacity To Sue Rule In Diversity Cases, Benjamin J. Conley

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Copyright Infringement Litigation And The Exercise Of Personal Jurisdiction Within Due Process Limits: Judicial Application Of Purposeful Availment, Purposeful Direction, Or Purposeful Effects Requirements To Finding That A Plaintiff Has Established A Defendant's Minimum Contacts Within The Forum State, Daniel E. Wanat

Mercer Law Review

An action for an infringement of a copyright secured under the United States Copyright Act may raise issues of copyright ownership, a defendant's access to a plaintiff's work, and substantial similarities between a plaintiff's work and a defendant's work. When raised, the issues bear on the merits of a plaintiff's copyright claim against a defendant.

Suppose, however, that a copyright owner brought suit in the forum state against a nonresident defendant. The defendant's first defense may be based on the state's lack of personal jurisdiction. This defense implicates issues under the forum state's law and the Due Process Clause of …

Are An Empty Head And A Pure Heart Enough? Mens Rea Standards For Judge-Imposed Rule 11 Sanctions And Their Effect On Attorney Action, Sybil L. Dunlop

Vanderbilt Law Review

"In her wildest dreams, Barbie could not have imagined herself in the middle of Rule 11 proceedings."' However, in 2002, Mattel's Barbie Doll found herself in the center of "acrimonious litigation." Attorney James Hicks brought suit on behalf of Harry Christian, claiming that the Cool Blue Barbie infringed on the Christian Claudene Doll's copyright. Hicks, however, had failed to discover that Mattel designed Cool Blue Barbie six years before Christian's Claudine Doll. In light of this egregious error, the Ninth Circuit held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in finding Hicks' complaint frivolous under Rule 11. Barbie …

Summary Of Loomis V. Whitehead, 124 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 7, Charles R. Peterson

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appeal from an order granting partial summary judgment in a contract action. Summary judgment was based on NRS 602.070, barring persons who fail to file a fictitious name certificate from suing on any contract or agreement made under the fictitious name. Nevada Supreme Court (the “Court”) reversed and remanded.

Addressing Default Trends In Patent-Based Section 337 Proceedings In The United States International Trade Commission, John C. Evans

Michigan Law Review

Section 337 of the Tarif Act of 1930 empowers the United States International Trade Commission to investigate imports to ensure imports do not infringe on U.S. trademarks. The Commission permits patent, copyright, and trademark owners to notify the Commission of possibly infringing imports and to obtain exclusion orders that prevent importation of products that infringe their intellectual property. The total number of investigations increased from 1996 to 2005, yet the proportion of respondent defaults rose as well. The increase in defaults suggests there is some systemic difficulty in ensuring full participation. This Note argues that the res judicata effects of …

Federal Preemption Hits Below The Belt, Stopping Common-Law Products Liability Claims For Pre- Market Approved Medical Devices, Dylan O. Malagrino

Dylan Malagrinò

Summary Of Dancer V. Golden Coin, Ltd., 124 Nev. Adv. Op. No.2, Tyler Ure

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appeal from Eighth Judicial District Court’s order dismissing claims and counterclaims in a labor law dispute.

Summary Of Lioce V. Cohen, 124 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 1, Nevada Law Journal

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

This is an en banc rehearing of Lioce v. Cohen.1 This case involves the consolidated appeals of four district court orders, two granting new trials because of attorney misconduct and two denying new trials because of attorney misconduct.

Special Solicitude For States In The Standing Analysis: A New Type Of Federalism, Matthew R. Cody

McGeorge Law Review

No abstract provided.

The E.U. Leniency Program And U.S. Civil Discovery Rules: A Fraternal Fight?, Roberto Grasso

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Note provides a European perspective on the issues raised by In re Rubber Chemicals Antitrust Litigation (Rubber Chemicals), and expresses concern regarding the inconsistent approach taken by U.S. courts to the discoverability of the Leniency submissions. This Note also warns that this inconsistency may have a chilling effect on participation in the E.U. Leniency Program and may thus impede enforcement of European anti-cartel law.

Is Transnational Litigation A Distinct Field? The Persistence Of American Exceptionalism In Procedural Law, Paul R. Dubinsky

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Jurisdiction, Merits, And Procedure: Thoughts On A Trichotomy, Howard M. Wasserman

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Forum Shopping And The Infrastructure Of Federalism., James E. Pfander

Faculty Working Papers

The recent effort of environmentalists and others to secure progressive social change at the state level enacts a familiar ritual in the history of American federalism. Political actors who have found their initiatives blunted at the national level have often turned to the states. With the ebb and flow of political power between two parties over time, arguments about the relative authority of federal and state governments display far more expediency than principle, far more mutability than predictability. States may be more or less progressive than the national government, depending in good measure on the temper of the times and …

Chinese And Western Worldviews: Implications For Law, Policy,, Jeffrey C. Tuomala

Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

The Bible And American Law: A Response To Dean Herbert W. Titus, Jeffrey C. Tuomala

Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

When The Bell Can't Be Unrung: Document Leaks And Protective Orders In Mass Tort Litigation, William G. Childs

Faculty Scholarship

This Article focuses on the proper balance for the tort system to strike between its role as a means for resolving disputes and its potential role as a means for obtaining information about the conduct of the parties, especially as that conduct affects public health.

The Author states that most protective orders in mass torts have been appropriate, and most documents presently designated as confidential have been properly designated, at least under the policies that have been established to date. The Author starts with the notion that protective orders have value and that there are reasons to try to prevent …

National Juries For National Cases: Preserving Citizen Participation In Large-Scale Litigation, Laura G. Dooley

Law Faculty Publications

Procedural evolution in complex litigation seems to have left the civil jury behind. Reliance on aggregating devices, such as multidistrict litigation and class actions, as well as settlement pressure created by “bellwether” cases, has resulted in cases of national scope being tried by local juries. Local juries thus have the potential to impose their values on the rest of the country. This trend motivates parties to forum-shop, and some commentators suggest eliminating jury trials in complex cases altogether. Yet the jury is at the heart of our uniquely American understanding of civil justice, and the Seventh Amendment mandates its use …

Bellwether Trials, Alexandra Lahav

Faculty Articles and Papers

At the core of the controversy over mass torts lies a fundamental question: what justifies collective litigation? Scholars considering this question make one of two arguments. They either argue that collective justice must be limited by a process-based right to participation based on autonomy values, or they argue that collective justice is justified by utilitarian values and dismiss participation altogether. This Article presents a third alternative: that the democratic nature of the jury trial validates group typical justice, a subset of collective justice. The Article re-envisions the trial as a democratic enterprise, rather than solely an atomistic one. An innovative …

Alternative State Remedies In Constitutional Torts, John F. Preis

John F. Preis

In recent years, a subtle shift in constitutional tort doctrine has quietly begun to take root. In Bivens actions, the Supreme Court has recently implied that constitutional tort plaintiffs must seek relief under state law when it is available, rather than invoke their federal constitutional rights. This marks a dramatic change from past practices. For much of the twentieth century, a central premise in the constitutional tort field has been that the federal remedy is “supplementary” to the state remedy; constitutional tort plaintiffs have therefore been permitted to seek a remedy under federal law without regard to the availability of …

Legal Process, Sandra Ruffin

Sandra Ruffin

No abstract provided.

The Paradox Of Social Instability In China And The Role Of The Xinfang System, Matthew Adam Bruckner

Matthew Adam Bruckner

No abstract provided.