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Full-Text Articles in Law

No Need To Reinvent The Wheel: Why Existing Liability Law Does Not Need To Be Preemptively Altered To Cope With The Debut Of The Driverless Car, Jeremy Levy Jun 2016

No Need To Reinvent The Wheel: Why Existing Liability Law Does Not Need To Be Preemptively Altered To Cope With The Debut Of The Driverless Car, Jeremy Levy

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

First, in part I, this article seeks to explore the background of driverless vehicles, including their history, the technology involved, and general issues and potential problems that may arise from these vehicles entering the market. In part II, the article will discuss existing regulations already in place for autonomous driverless vehicles in both state and federal law. Part III will examine two proposals, those for additional laws, or for the adaptation of existing laws to create new liability schemes, and how most of these proposals are either inadequate or overbroad. Part IV will examine liability waiver for accidents, strict liability …


Strict Products Liability At 50: Four Histories, Kyle Graham Jan 2014

Strict Products Liability At 50: Four Histories, Kyle Graham

Marquette Law Review

This Article offers four different perspectives on the strict products- liability “revolution” of a half-century ago. One of these narratives relates the predominant assessment of how this movement coalesced and spread across the states. The three alternative histories introduced by this Article view the shift toward strict products liability through populist, practical, and contingent lenses, respectively. The first of these narratives considers the contributions that plaintiffs and their counsel made toward this change in the law. The second focuses upon how a formerly common, but now moribund, type of products-liability lawsuit framed the argument for strict liability as a superior …


Tort Arbitrage, Robert J. Rhee Jul 2009

Tort Arbitrage, Robert J. Rhee

Robert Rhee

The economic models of bargaining and tort law have not been integrated into a coherent theory that reflects the operational realities of the dispute resolution process and the negligence standard. Applying a theory of bargaining based on asset pricing principles of financial economics, this Article argues that there is systematic devaluation of tort claims in the civil litigation system. This results because in essence the parties value different tort transactions, even when they are tied together in a common dispute and view the facts and laws similarly. For the party that can mitigate the risk exposure, the discount to value …


Tort Arbitrage, Robert J. Rhee Jan 2008

Tort Arbitrage, Robert J. Rhee

Faculty Scholarship

The economic models of bargaining and tort law have not been integrated into a coherent theory that reflects the operational realities of the dispute resolution process and the negligence standard. Applying a theory of bargaining based on asset pricing principles of financial economics, this Article argues that there is systematic devaluation of tort claims in the civil litigation system. This results because in essence the parties value different tort transactions, even when they are tied together in a common dispute and view the facts and laws similarly. For the party that can mitigate the risk exposure, the discount to value …


A Theory Of Insurance Policy Interpretation, Kenneth S. Abraham Dec 1996

A Theory Of Insurance Policy Interpretation, Kenneth S. Abraham

Michigan Law Review

The first principle of insurance law is captured by the maxim contra proferentem, which directs that ambiguities in a contract be interpreted "against the drafter," who is almost always the insurer. Yet given the modern recognition that language is an inherently imperfect instrument for communicating meaning, insurance policy provisions are in a sense always ambiguous. Moreover, in addition to contra proferentem, policyholders may invoke such allied doctrines as waiver, estoppel, and the rule that the reasonable expectations of the insured should be honored even if those expectations are unambiguously contradicted by fine-print provisions in the policy. Contra proferentem and these …


Pharmaceutical Product Liability May Be Hazardous To Your Health: A No-Fault Alternative To Concurrent Regulation, Gregory C. Jackson Jan 1992

Pharmaceutical Product Liability May Be Hazardous To Your Health: A No-Fault Alternative To Concurrent Regulation, Gregory C. Jackson

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.


The Tort Crisis: Causes, Solutions, And The Constitution, Wallace M. Rudolph Jan 1988

The Tort Crisis: Causes, Solutions, And The Constitution, Wallace M. Rudolph

Seattle University Law Review

The thesis of the Article is that the expansion of tort liability based on strict liability or enterprise liability without regard to the proper measurement of damages in such cases is at the root of the insurance crisis rather than the awarding of excessive damages in ordinary fault cases. Stated another way, the expansion of tort liability was based upon the appropriateness of internalizing the cost of economic activity by spreading the risk among the beneficiaries of such activity, but the damages were measured under full compensation theories rather than a more appropriate insurance approach. This divergence between basing liability …


Automotive "Crashworthiness:" An Untenable Doctrine, Stephen J. Werber Jan 1971

Automotive "Crashworthiness:" An Untenable Doctrine, Stephen J. Werber

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

It is the purpose of this article to review the decisional law of automobile crashworthiness and to place it in the context of important policy considerations which justify such judicial determinations. It will be shown that the great majority of these decisions are entirely consistent with the doctine of "strict tort liability" as enunciated in section 402A of the Restatement of Torts, Second; that the questions sought to be submitted to juries in these cases are properly the subject of highly technical and complex legislative and administrative action on both a state and federal level; and that the few decisions …


Financial Statement Insurance: A New Approach To Ivestor Protection, Stephen Z. Surridge Apr 1969

Financial Statement Insurance: A New Approach To Ivestor Protection, Stephen Z. Surridge

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The accounting profession rapidly is moving toward a crisis in liability. Members of the investing public are suing accountants with mounting frequency and success. This article will analyze briefly the origin and present dimensions of the crisis, and then propose a plan for replacing court-imposed liability with insured liability through the offering of financial statement insurance. The essentials of the plan can be simply stated. Insurance would be offered by accountants to investors on a voluntary basis in conjunction with purchases and sales of corporate stock and securities. Individual investors would be able to purchase from the auditors of a …