Law Commons^™

Silencing State Courts, Jeffrey Steven Gordon

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

In state courts across the Nation, an absolutist conception of the First Amendment is preempting common law speech torts. From intentional infliction of emotional distress and intrusion upon seclusion, to intentional interference with contractual relations and negligent infliction of emotional distress, state courts are dismissing speech tort claims on the pleadings because of the broad First Amendment defense recognized by Snyder v. Phelps in 2011. This Article argues, contrary to the scholarly consensus, that Snyder was a categorical departure from the methodology adopted by New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, the landmark 1964 case that first applied the First …

Constitution Day Lecture: Constitutional Law And Tort Law: Injury, Race, Gender, And Equal Protection, Jennifer B. Wriggins

Maine Law Review

The focus of today’s annual Constitution Day lecture at the University of Maine School of Law is on the Fourteenth Amendment and specifically how the Equal Protection Clause relates to tort law. First, I will talk about the Equal Protection Clause in general—what it says, and some of what it has been held to mean—particularly where government makes distinctions based on race and gender. Second, I will discuss two historical tort cases that violate equal protection on the basis of race. In doing so, I uncover the racial history of tort law that has been hidden in plain sight. I …

Attorney’S Fees, Nominal Damages, And Section 1983 Litigation, Thomas A. Eaton, Michael L. Wells

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Can plaintiffs recover attorney’s fees under 42 U.S.C. § 1988 when they establish constitutional violations but recover only nominal damages or low compensatory damages? Some federal appellate courts have concluded that no fee, or a severely reduced fee, should be awarded in such circumstances. This position, which we call the “low award, low fee” approach, rests primarily on the Supreme Court’s 1992 opinion in Farrar v. Hobby.

We argue that a “low award, low fee” approach is misguided for two main reasons. First, the majority opinion in Farrar is fragmented, and the factual record is opaque regarding what and how …

The Common Law Foundations Of The Takings Clause: The Disconnect Between Public And Private Law, Richard A. Epstein

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Qualified Immunity For “Private” § 1983 Defendants After Filarsky V. Delia, Andrew W. Weis

Georgia State University Law Review

In 2012, the Supreme Court addressed private party qualified immunity in the case of Filarsky v. Delia. There, the Court found that both the historical and policy bases for immunity under § 1983 supported extending qualified immunity to outside counsel retained by a municipality. The Court noted that full-time government employees can always seek qualified immunity, so not extending it to individuals employed on some other basis would create “significant line-drawing problems . . . [which could] deprive state actors of the ability to ‘reasonably anticipate when their conduct may give rise to liability . . . .’”

This …

Specificity Or Dismissal: The Improper Extension Of Rule 9(B) To Negligent Misrepresentation As A Deprivation Of Plaintiffs’ Procedural Due Process Rights, Julie A. Cook

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Intramilitary Tort Immunity: A Constitutional Justification , Kevin M. Fillo

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Split-Recovery: A Constitutional Answer To The Punitive Damage Dilemma, Clay R. Stevens

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Congress's Power To Preempt The States, Stephen Gardbaum

Pepperdine Law Review

In this Article, part of a symposium on federal preemption of state tort law, I build upon my earlier work on the nature of preemption to try and deepen the conceptual and constitutional foundations of the subject. I argue that this neglected dimension must be moved to center stage if preemption doctrine is to have a coherent and principled framework. In particular, the key issues are the nature, source, and limits of Congress's power to preempt the states. The result is that preemption should be understood as a discretionary power of Congress the source of which lies in the Necessary …

Not Your Mother's Remedy: A Civil Action Response To The Westboro Baptist Church's Military Funeral Demonstrations, Chelsea Brown

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Small Hope Floats: How The Lower Courts Have Sunk The Right Of Privacy, Stephanie D. Taylor

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

"For Our Own Good:" Federal Preemption Of State Tort Law - Risk, Regulation, And The Goals Of Environmental Protection, John Robertson

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Law: Guinn V. Collinsville Church Of Christ: Balancing An Individual's Right To Tort Compensation And The First Amendment's Religion Clauses, David K. Ratcliff

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Law - Preemption Of State Common Law Actions Against Cigarette Manufacturers By The Federal Cigarette Labeling And Advertising Act: Have Smokers Taken Their Last Puff To Hold Tobacco Companies Liable Under A State Tort Claim? - Palmer V. Liggett Group, Inc., Lora B. Greene

Campbell Law Review

This Note will examine the Act and the scope of its preemption provision. In addition, this Note will illustrate how the Palmer court analyzed prior cases to elevate the immunity of cigarette manufacturers and will also review the status of the law prior to and after Palmer. The main thrust of this Note is how the Palmer decision, by driving another nail in the preemption coffin for state common law claims against cigarette manufacturers, effectively slammed the lid on these cigarette manufacturer liability suits and requires dismissal of future suits based on inadequate warning labels.

Tort Claims Against Churches And Ecclesiastical Officers: The First Amendment Considerations, Carl H. Esbeck

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

"Deprogramming": From The Defense Counsel's Perspective, Albert R. Vermeire

West Virginia Law Review

We begin with the proposition that the right of freedom of thought protected by the First Amendment against State action includes both the right to speak freely and the right to refrain from speaking at all. A system which secures the right to proselytize religious, political and ideological causes must also guarantee the concomitant right to decline to foster such concepts. The right to speak and the right to refrain from speaking are complementary components of the broader concept of 'individual freedom of mind.' Anguished parents and sympathetic judges; concerned attorneys and psychologists; reality-inducing therapists, police officers and adult or …

Remedies And Damages For Violation Of Constitutional Rights, Frank M. Mcclellan, Phoebe Haddon Northcross

Duquesne Law Review

No abstract provided.

Recent Cases, John P. Kelly, G. David Dodd

Vanderbilt Law Review

The principle that the government must not only refrain from providing special preference to a particular religion, but, that it also must stand apart from religion in general is abridged once the government seeks to provide sustenance to religious interests. Government neutrality is preserved, however, when the government merely provides fertile ground on which religious interests can thrive independently. Because state-imposed employment accommodation of religious precepts creates proselytizing opportunities" upon which religious interests flourish and because there is no overriding government interest in requiring such accommodation, Title VII's Randolph Amendment transgresses establishment clause prohibitions.

John P. Kelly

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The court …

Martin V. Security Services, Inc., 314 So.2d 765 (Fla. 1975), Nancy Ann Daniels

Florida State University Law Review

Torts- WRONGFUL DEATH- FLORIDA'S WRONGFUL DEATH ACT IS CONSTITUTIONAL AND PERMITS PUNITIVE DAMAGES.

Section 1983 And The "Background" Of Tort Liability, Sheldon H. Nahmod

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Conflict of Laws--Torts--Lex Loci Delicti Is Proper Law When Parties Are Domiciled in Different Jurisdictions Unless Displacing That Law Advances Forum State's Substantive Law Purposes Without Impeding Interstate Relations or Predictability of Result

Plaintiff, an Ontario domiciliary, brought an action in New York for the wrongful death of her husband, also a domiciliary of Ontario,who was killed in a collision in that province' while a passenger in an automobile driven by defendant's intestate, a New York domiciliary. Defendant pleaded as an affirmative defense the Ontario guest statute, which restricts a guest's recovery to damages for injuries sustained only as a …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Antitrust--Treble Damage Actions--Private Litigant Whose Injury Was Reasonably Foreseeable Has Standing To Sue

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Constitutional Law--Free Exercise of Religion--First Amendment Violated by Compulsory Education Statute that Prevents a Parent from Raising His Children According to His Religious Beliefs

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Constitutional Law--Immunity Statutes-Section 201 of Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, Which Provides Only Use and Fruits Immunity, Violates Fifth Amendment

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Constitutional Law-Search and Seizure--AFDC Caseworker's Visit to Home of Nonconsenting Welfare Recipient Not Prohibited by Fourth Amendment

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Consumer Protection Law-Standing -United States Has Standing To Seek Injunction Against Practice of Obtaining Default Judgments Through False Affidavits Certifying Service …

Constitutional Law--Torts--Equal Protection Of Illegitimate Children, David L. Core

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Conflict of Laws--Significant Interest Doctrine Extended to Marital Property Litigation

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Constitutional Law-Search and Seizure--Fourth Amendment Restrictions Apply to Electronic Eavesdropping When Conversations Are Private--Physical Trespass Test Discarded

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Constitutional Law-Section 5(a) (1) (D) Prohibiting Members of Communist-Action Organizations from Employment in Defense Facilities Held Unconstitutional Infringement Upon Freedom of Association

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Criminal Law--Evidence-Unauthorized Juror View Violates Sixth Amendment Right to Confrontation

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Domestic Relations--Intentional False Representation of Pregnancy Grounds for Annulment

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Income Tax--Corporations--Attorneys' and Accountants' Fees Incurred in Sale of Assets Pursuant to a Section 337 Liquidation Are Not Deductible

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Interest--Usury--Charging Debtor with Statutory Maximum Loan Fees …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Advertising--Undisclosed Use of Simulations In Television Commercials--a Deceptive Practice

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Antitrust Law--News Service Package Contract, a Tying Arrangement under Section I of the Sherman Act

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Antitrust--Union-Employer Agreements as to Labor Demands To Be Sought From Other Employers

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Constitutional Law--Laws Prohibiting the Use of Contraceptives by Married Couples for the Prevention of Conception Are Unconstitutional

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Constitutional Law--Rights of Addressee To Receive "Communist Political Propaganda" Protected Under First Amendment

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Federal Courts--Erie Doctrine Not the Test for Applicability of Federal Rules of Civil Procedure

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Constitutional Law--Televising of Criminal Trials Held Violative of the Right to a Fair Trial …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Antitrust Law--Violation of Section 7 of the Clayton Act by Joint Venture

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Civil Rights--Anti-discrimination Law as a Vehicle for a Private Civil Action

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Condemnation--Landowner Cannot Recover From Federal Government for Damages Caused Before Date of Taking Where Government Did Not Previously Contemplate, Condemning Property

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Constitutional Law--Loss of Nationality--Foreign Residency Statute Held Violative of Due Process

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Constitutional Law--Reapportionment--Both Houses of a State Legislature Must Be Based as Nearly as Is Practicable on Population

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Constitutional Law--Twenty-first Amendment--Scope of State Power Over Intoxicants Moving Within Its Borders

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Evidence--Statutory Presumptions--Reasonableness Is Implicit in Test of Rational Connection

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Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Administration of Justice-Federal Rules of Civil Procedure--District Court Has No Power To Penalize Counsel for Delay Which Violates Standing Orders of Court

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Carriers--Routes-Action for Reparation Available Under Motor Carrier Act for Unreasonable Routing Defendant motor carrier transported shipments for plaintiff shipper

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Constitutional Law--Full Faith and Credit--Collateral Attack on Errors of Court of Prior Forum

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Restraint of Trade--Labor Law-Where Defendants Stipulated They Were Independent Contractors and Joined Union To Fix Prices, Having No Other Legitimate Union Interest, Membership May Be Terminated Under Sherman Act

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Domestic Relations--Annulment--Female Impotence Is Made Curable by the Surgical Creation of a Functional …

Abstracts Of Recent Cases, Charles Henry Rudolph Jr.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Constitutional Law--Freedom of Speech--Prior Restraint on Motion Picture Exhibition

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Criminal Law--Murder--Year and a Day Rule Rejected in Pennsylvania

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Real Property--Restraints on Alienation--Conveyance Giving Housing Cooperative First Option to Buy and Right to Redeem is not an Invalid Restraint on Alienation

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Taxation--Income Tax--Uncompensated Casualty Loss Due to Drought Allowed as Section 165 Deduction

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Torts--Negligence--Fireman in Performance of Duties Allowed Recovery as Invitee

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Recent Cases

Conflict of Laws--Implied Warranties Governed by Law of the State Most Closely Associated with the Contract

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Constitutional Law--Due Process--Absolute Statutory Prohibition of the Use of Contraceptives Not a Violation of Rights Secured by Fourteenth Amendment

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Constitutional Law--Freedoms of Speech and Press--Ordinance Prohibiting Distribution of Handbills Without Identification of Author Violates Fourteenth Amendment

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Contracts--Termination--Employment for Indefinite Duration not Terminable for Refusal of Employee to Commit Perjury

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Evidence--Federal Courts--Evidence Obtained by State Officers Through Unreasonable Search and Seizure Inadmissible in Federal Courts

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Judgments--Limitation of Overruling Decision to Parties Before the Court and to Causes of …