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Articles 1 - 25 of 25
Full-Text Articles in Law
Fiduciaries In Priest's Clothing: Clergy Sexual Abuse And Fiduciary Duty, Sebastian Richardson
Fiduciaries In Priest's Clothing: Clergy Sexual Abuse And Fiduciary Duty, Sebastian Richardson
Northwestern University Law Review
This Note argues that clergypersons who offer religious guidance are fiduciaries in some limited circumstances and therefore liable for sexual contact that occurs between them and congregants. This Note will argue that clergypersons are most properly deemed fiduciaries through a fact-based definitional approach. As such, this Note departs from previous arguments that clergypersons are fiduciaries because they provide services analogous to secular counselors. Prospective fiduciary relationships involving clergy should be analyzed using a distinct conceptual account of fiduciary relationships rather than an analogical analysis based on apparent similarities between a clergyperson and other fiduciaries. Such an approach is preferable to …
Incentivized Torts: An Empirical Analysis, J. Shahar Dillbary, Cherie Metcalf, Brock Stoddard
Incentivized Torts: An Empirical Analysis, J. Shahar Dillbary, Cherie Metcalf, Brock Stoddard
Northwestern University Law Review
Courts and scholars assume that group causation theories deter wrongdoers. This Article empirically tests, and rejects, this assumption, using a series of incentivized laboratory experiments. Contrary to common belief and theory, data from over 200 subjects show that group liability can encourage tortious behavior and incentivize individuals to act with as many tortfeasors as possible. We find that subjects can be just as likely to commit a tort under a liability regime as they would be when facing no tort liability. Group liability can also incentivize a tort by making subjects perceive it as fairer to victims and society. These …
Chasing The Fruits Of Misery: Confronting The Historical Relationships Between Opioid Revenues, Offshore Financial Centers, And International Regulatory Networks, Stephen C. Wilks
Chasing The Fruits Of Misery: Confronting The Historical Relationships Between Opioid Revenues, Offshore Financial Centers, And International Regulatory Networks, Stephen C. Wilks
Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business
As the opioid crisis continues to claim lives throughout the U.S., tort litigants have faced challenges pursuing Purdue Pharma – one of the drug makers responsible for aggressively promoting OxyContin while downplaying the drug’s addictive effects. Much of this litigation posture sought to recover billions in public health costs incurred responding to the crisis at federal, state and local levels. As the plaintiff class grew, Purdue Pharma petitioned for bankruptcy protection, at which point auditors discovered the entity’s beneficial owners had caused it to wire billions in opioid profits into offshore accounts – placing them beyond the reach of litigants. …
Abolishing The Suicide Rule, Alex B. Long
Abolishing The Suicide Rule, Alex B. Long
Northwestern University Law Review
Suicide is increasingly recognized as a public health issue. There are over 40,000 suicides a year in the U.S., making suicide the tenth-leading cause of death in the country. But societal attitudes on the subject remain decidedly mixed. Suicide is often closely linked to mental illness, a condition that continues to involve stigma and often triggers irrational fears and misunderstanding. For many, suicide remains an immoral act that flies in the face of strongly held religious principles. In some ways, tort law’s treatment of suicide mirrors the conflicting societal views regarding suicide. Tort law has long been reluctant to permit …
Not Fully Discretionary: Incorporating A Factor-Based Standard Into The Ftca's Discretionary Function Exception, Daniel Cohen
Not Fully Discretionary: Incorporating A Factor-Based Standard Into The Ftca's Discretionary Function Exception, Daniel Cohen
Northwestern University Law Review
The Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) pulls back the curtain of sovereign immunity and allows private citizens to directly sue the federal government for damages resulting from negligence. Passed in 1946 and never amended, the statute carries no limit on potential damages, only prohibiting punitive damages and jury trials. Other than those procedural limitations, the potential liability of the government is unlimited—except for one single exception: the discretionary function exception. The discretionary function exception shields the government from liability for “the failure to exercise or perform a discretionary function or duty.” Congress failed to elaborate on the definition and scope …
Amoral Machines, Or: How Roboticists Can Learn To Stop Worrying And Love The Law, Bryan Casey
Amoral Machines, Or: How Roboticists Can Learn To Stop Worrying And Love The Law, Bryan Casey
Northwestern University Law Review
The media and academic dialogue surrounding high-stakes decisionmaking by robotics applications has been dominated by a focus on morality. But the tendency to do so while overlooking the role that legal incentives play in shaping the behavior of profit-maximizing firms risks marginalizing the field of robotics and rendering many of the deepest challenges facing today’s engineers utterly intractable. This Essay attempts to both halt this trend and offer a course correction. Invoking Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes’s canonical analogy of the “bad man . . . who cares nothing for . . . ethical rules,” it demonstrates why philosophical abstractions like …
The Myth Of A Value-Free Injury Law: Constitutive Injury Law As A Cultural Battleground, Michael L. Rustad
The Myth Of A Value-Free Injury Law: Constitutive Injury Law As A Cultural Battleground, Michael L. Rustad
Northwestern University Law Review
No abstract provided.
The Long-Term Tort: In Search Of A New Causation Framework For Natural Resource Damages, Sanne H. Knudsen
The Long-Term Tort: In Search Of A New Causation Framework For Natural Resource Damages, Sanne H. Knudsen
Northwestern University Law Review
No abstract provided.
Of Bitcoins, Independently Wealthy Software, And The Zero-Member Llc, Shawn Bayern
Of Bitcoins, Independently Wealthy Software, And The Zero-Member Llc, Shawn Bayern
NULR Online
No abstract provided.
The Dignity, Rights, And Responsibilities Of The Jury: On The Structure Of Normative Argument, Robert P. Burns
The Dignity, Rights, And Responsibilities Of The Jury: On The Structure Of Normative Argument, Robert P. Burns
Faculty Working Papers
Many theorists follow an inevitably circular method in evaluating legal institutions and practices. "Considered judgments of justice" embedded in practices and institutions in which we have a high level of confidence can serve as partial evidence for the principles with which they are consistent, principles that can then have broader implications. Conversely, principles that we have good reason to embrace can serve as partial justification for institutions and practices with which they are consistent. This is the heart of Rawls' notion of "reflective equilibrium," where we "work at both ends" to justify institutions, practices, and principles. This method is applicable …
An Essay On Torts: States Of Argument, Marshall S. Shapo
An Essay On Torts: States Of Argument, Marshall S. Shapo
Faculty Working Papers
This essay summarizes high points in torts scholarship and case law over a period of two generations, highlighting the "states of argument" that have characterized tort law over that period. It intertwines doctrine and policy. Its doctrinal features include the tradtional spectrum of tort liability, the duty question, problems of proof, and the relative incoherency of damages rules. Noting the cross-doctrinal role of tort as a solver of functional problems, it focuses on major issues in products liability and medical malpractice. The essay discusses such elements of policy as the role of power in tort law, the tension between communitarianism …
Three Obstacles To The Promotion Of Corporate Social Responsibility By Means Of The Alien Tort Claims Act: The Sosa Court's Incoherent Conception Of The Law Of Nations, The "Purposive" Action Requirement For Aiding And Abetting, And The State Action Requirement For Primary Liability, David A. Dana, Michael Barsa
Faculty Working Papers
The ATCA could be a powerful tool to promote corporate CSR, especially in developing countries where local legal restraints are weak. But despite the good normative reasons why the ATCA should be used in this way, serious obstacles remain. The Supreme Court's ahistorical and incoherent formulation of the "law of nations" fails to promote the development of the ATCA in ways that would cover even serious environmental harm. Also, the federal courts' confused jurisprudence concerning aiding and abetting and state action creates too many loopholes through which egregious corporate behavior may slip unpunished. In order to overcome these obstacles, we …
"Controlling" Securities Fraud: Proposed Liability Standards For Controlling Persons Under The 1933 And 1934 Securities Acts, Nancy Staudt
"Controlling" Securities Fraud: Proposed Liability Standards For Controlling Persons Under The 1933 And 1934 Securities Acts, Nancy Staudt
Faculty Working Papers
This Student Note investigates the history and intent underlying the controlling person liability provisions of the 1933 and 1934 Securities Act. It notes that courts have adopted a ranges of standards for holding controlling persons liability, but whichever standard is chosen--that standard is applied to both Acts. This note argues that courts should impose unique liability standards for each statute in order to fully realize Congress' purpose in adopting the laws.
The "Bad Samaritan" Paradigm, Anthony D'Amato
The "Bad Samaritan" Paradigm, Anthony D'Amato
Faculty Working Papers
This essay will attempt to show that the disparity between the rule of law and the dictates of morality is itself a product of the paradigmatic way in which the "Bad Samaritan" cases are analyzed. If we examine the cases in an entirely different way, many of the standard problems will dissolve and new alternatives will become apparent. The essay will also show that the "Bad Samaritan" paradigm is part of a larger paradigm linking the law of torts with the criminal law, which also needs to be reexamined. Finally a recommendation for dealing with the "Bad Samaritan" problem legislatively …
Consumer Harm Acts? An Economic Analysis Of Private Actions Under State Consumer Protection Acts, Henry N. Butler, Jason S. Johnston
Consumer Harm Acts? An Economic Analysis Of Private Actions Under State Consumer Protection Acts, Henry N. Butler, Jason S. Johnston
Faculty Working Papers
State Consumer Protection Acts (CPAs) were adopted in the 1960s and 1970s to protect consumers from unfair and deceptive practices that would not be redressed but for the existence of the acts. In this sense, CPAs were designed to fill existing gaps in market, legal and regulatory protections of consumers. CPAs were designed to solve two simple economic problems: 1) individual consumers often do not have the incentive or means to pursue individual claims against mass marketers who engage in unfair and deceptive practices; and, 2) because of the difficulty of establishing elements of either common law fraud or breach …
When Less Liability May Mean More Precaution: The Case Of Nanotechnology, David A. Dana
When Less Liability May Mean More Precaution: The Case Of Nanotechnology, David A. Dana
Faculty Working Papers
The heart of the Article is an exploration of the possible role of common law tort liability in both encouraging and deterring voluntary, precautionary study of new products generally and nanotechnology products in particular. A key variable in considering liability's role as an incentive or deterrent to testing is the manufacturer's subjective assessment of the probability that any injuries from its product would be detected by the injured parties and successfully attributed to the product absent research by the manufacturer itself on the adverse effects of the product. Another key variable is the legal standard for tort liability, and specifically …
The Contextual Rationality Of The Precautionary Principle, David A. Dana
The Contextual Rationality Of The Precautionary Principle, David A. Dana
Faculty Working Papers
This article defines the precautionary principle (PP) primarily based on what it is not: it is not quantitative cost-benefit analysis (CBA) or cost-cost analysis of the sort we associate with the Office of Management and Budget in the United States and U.S. policymaking and policy discourse generally. In this definition, the PP is a form of analysis in which the costs of a possible environmental or health risk are not quantified, or if they are, any quantification is likely to be inadequate to capture the full extent of the costs of not taking regulatory measures to mitigate or avoid the …
The Case For Field Preemption Of State Laws In Drug Cases, Richard A. Epstein
The Case For Field Preemption Of State Laws In Drug Cases, Richard A. Epstein
NULR Online
No abstract provided.
What Riegel Portends For Fda Preemption Of State Law Products Liability Claims (Part Ii), Catherine M. Sharkey
What Riegel Portends For Fda Preemption Of State Law Products Liability Claims (Part Ii), Catherine M. Sharkey
NULR Online
No abstract provided.
What Riegel Portends For Fda Preemption Of State Law Products Liability Claims, Catherine M. Sharkey
What Riegel Portends For Fda Preemption Of State Law Products Liability Claims, Catherine M. Sharkey
NULR Online
No abstract provided.
Why Tobacco Litigation Has Not Been Successful In The United Kingdom: A Comparative Analysis Of Tobacco Litigation In The United States And The United Kingdom, Andrei Sirabionian
Why Tobacco Litigation Has Not Been Successful In The United Kingdom: A Comparative Analysis Of Tobacco Litigation In The United States And The United Kingdom, Andrei Sirabionian
Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business
Litigation against tobacco companies, about smoking-related diseases, is novel outside of the United States. While in the past two decades U.S. courts have handed down costly verdicts against tobacco companies, European courts have not been as willing to rule against the tobacco industry. European courts have been much more reluctant to award damages to individuals with smoking related diseases or their families. As a result, courts outside the United States have not handed down major decisions against tobacco companies.
Which Chance Was Lost?, Jonathan Koehler
Which Chance Was Lost?, Jonathan Koehler
Faculty Working Papers
The loss of chance doctrine in medical malpractice cases holds that when a doctor is responsible for reducing a patient's chance of survival by some percentage, the patient (or the patient's estate) should be compensated by the doctor for that percentage loss. Compensation is often determined by multiplying the value of a patient's life by the lost chance. This paper investigates psychological factors that my affect a legal decision maker's evaluation of damage awards in loss of chance cases. A paper and pencil experiment and a large-scale mock jury study (the latter using videotaped trials) are conducted to investigate the …
Justice Required: Using A Preservation-Of-Court-Access Approach To Forum Non Conveniens In Five International Product-Injury Case Studies, Jeffrey A. Van Detta
Justice Required: Using A Preservation-Of-Court-Access Approach To Forum Non Conveniens In Five International Product-Injury Case Studies, Jeffrey A. Van Detta
Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business
The American federal courts have used a questionable common law procedural rule to erect a virtually impenetrable barrier for those injured in other countries by products or industrial activities of U.S.-based multinationals. This barrier exists as the forum non conveniens ("FNC") rule. Section II briefly reviews the current problems that the FNC rule causes and explains its origins. In Section III, I describe my doctrinal shift away from the FNC rule to a preservation-of-court-access statute. I demonstrate in Section IV, the focus of the article, how applying that statute would change the outcome of actual product injury cases filed by …
The Market Tort In Private International Law, Michael J. Whincop, Mary Keyes
The Market Tort In Private International Law, Michael J. Whincop, Mary Keyes
Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business
Perhaps the most troublesome of all choice of law questions arises when a plaintiff asserts a cause of action for injuries arising from a contractual exchange entered in a market situation. This description embraces some of the most important case types in modern litigation: products liability, securities litigation, industrial accidents, medical negligence, and so on. Outside of private international law cases, these have represented the battlefields of recent tort "crises" and subsequent reforms. We shall refer to these cases as "market torts" . They represent the principal subject of analysis in this work. The rules that should apply where a …
Liaiblity For Defective Products In The Soviet Union: Socialist Law Versus Soviet Reality, Bruce L. Ottley, Younghee Jin
Liaiblity For Defective Products In The Soviet Union: Socialist Law Versus Soviet Reality, Bruce L. Ottley, Younghee Jin
Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business
This Perspective examines the role of the Soviet legal system in improving the quality of industrial and consumer products.15 After discussing the laws governing the quality of goods and the remedies for defective products,16 the effectiveness of these laws in providing incentives for producing quality goods will be assessed. This Perspective demonstrates that while the socialist law of the USSR provides the tools for assuring product quality, these laws will not be successful until the Soviet Union deals with the more basic realities of its economic and legal systems.