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An Economic Analysis Of Liability For Aids-Contaminated Blood Products, George Ferrell Oct 1988

An Economic Analysis Of Liability For Aids-Contaminated Blood Products, George Ferrell

Seattle University Law Review

The purpose of this Comment is to develop an economic analysis of possible blood products liability rules in order to determine what the effects of such rules are on blood users and providers. To the extent that current liability rules fail to promote an efficient allocation of risks and resources, this Comment will propose changes designed to correct such deficiencies.


Recovery Of Pure Economic Loss In Product Liability Actions: An Economic Comparison Of Three Legal Rules, Heidi A. Irvin, Mark S. Carlson Jan 1988

Recovery Of Pure Economic Loss In Product Liability Actions: An Economic Comparison Of Three Legal Rules, Heidi A. Irvin, Mark S. Carlson

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment argues that in the allocation of pure economic loss caused by product failure, the negligence rule is generally more efficient than a strict liability rule and that a contract rule is almost always more efficient than a negligence rule. Part II presents a general discussion of the attributes of an economically efficient remedy. In Part III, three legal rules used to allocate pure economic loss are scrutinized under the standards set forth in Part II.


Modern Practice In The Indian Courts , Michael Taylor Jan 1987

Modern Practice In The Indian Courts , Michael Taylor

Seattle University Law Review

This Article is intended to provide a basic overview of Indian court jurisdiction and practice for those affected by the National Farmers Union Insurance Company v. Crow Tribe of Indians decision. Part II discusses, in detail, the National Farmers Union Insurance Company v. Crow Tribe of Indians holding. Part III is an overview of the history, structure, and types of Indian courts. Part IV deals with the complexities of jurisdiction, and Part V, constitutional and civil rights issues in Indian courts. Part VI summarizes the basics of Indian court practice and procedure.


The Legal Rights Of Nonsmokers In The Workplace, Raymond L. Paolella Jan 1987

The Legal Rights Of Nonsmokers In The Workplace, Raymond L. Paolella

Seattle University Law Review

This Article examines the legal rights of nonsmokers based upon the common law right to a safe workplace, federal and state laws protecting handicapped persons, other tort theories, various federal and state statutory provisions, administrative regulations, and local ordinances. Although strong emphasis is placed on the legal rights of nonsmokers in the workplace, the rights of nonsmokers in public places will also be discussed. The main focus is on Washington law; however, the common law and federal law theories discussed in this Article should be viable in many other jurisdictions throughout the United States.


Miotke V. City Of Spokane: Nuisance Or Inverse Condemnation—Theories For Government Environmental Liability, Gary L. Baker Jan 1986

Miotke V. City Of Spokane: Nuisance Or Inverse Condemnation—Theories For Government Environmental Liability, Gary L. Baker

Seattle University Law Review

A recent decision by the Washington State Supreme Court, Miotke v. City of Spokane, may broadly affect the right to and type of recovery that will be available to persons whose property rights are infringed either by an agent of the state or by private parties. Miotke involved the dumping of untreated sewage into a river, with the sewage flowing into a lake and interfering with lakefront property owners' enjoyment of their property. The court in Miotke faced a set of claims in property, tort, and state environmental law. The court recognized the significance of its decision and the …


On The Propriety Of The Public Interest Requirement In The Washington Consumer Protection Act—Wash. Rev. Code § 19.86, Susan K. Storey Jan 1986

On The Propriety Of The Public Interest Requirement In The Washington Consumer Protection Act—Wash. Rev. Code § 19.86, Susan K. Storey

Seattle University Law Review

This Note discusses first, whether the judicially created public interest element of a private consumer protection case can be justified by the language of the Consumer Protection Act and, second, assuming some justification for the element can be found, whether the public interest test, as delineated in Anhold v. Daniels and Hangman Ridge Training Stables, Inc. v. Safeco Title Insurance Co. serves a purpose intended by the legislature.” This Note concludes that the public interest element is unnecessary because it hinders and often prevents consumer litigation of private damage actions under the Act. Moreover, the public interest element cannot be …


Herskovits V. Group Health Cooperative: Negligent Creation Of A Substantial Risk Of Injury Is A Compensable Harm, Warner Miller Jan 1985

Herskovits V. Group Health Cooperative: Negligent Creation Of A Substantial Risk Of Injury Is A Compensable Harm, Warner Miller

Seattle University Law Review

This Note commends the Herskovits court for recognizing the loss of-a-chance claim as a legitimate cause of action. Chance interests are worthy of the protection of tort law. We can be statistically certain that the destruction of chance interests in survival results in actual losses. The burden of such losses should not fall exclusively on the victim, particularly when the interfering conduct of the wrongdoer has deprived the individual victim of the ability to know and prove with certainty the value of the lost chance. The burden of the loss can be shifted in an equitable manner to the negligent …


The Design Defect Test In Washington: The Requisite Balance, Joshua J. Preece Jan 1985

The Design Defect Test In Washington: The Requisite Balance, Joshua J. Preece

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment examines Washington's application of the design defect consumer expectations test. Washington courts have been inconsistent during the recent transition in products liability law. A case in point is Conner v. Skagit Corp.," in which the plaintiff was allowed to proceed with a design defect cause of action while offering proof of only one factor from the consumer expectations test. Accordingly, this Comment suggests that design defect plaintiffs must offer proof of multiple factors that relate to the issue of defectiveness and reasonableness. This proposal will be discussed in light of regional and national products liability theory and …


Public Policy Over Metaphysics: Wrongful Birth And Wrongful Life In Harbeson V. Parke-Davis, Inc., Eric B. Schmidt Jan 1985

Public Policy Over Metaphysics: Wrongful Birth And Wrongful Life In Harbeson V. Parke-Davis, Inc., Eric B. Schmidt

Seattle University Law Review

The recognition of the wrongful birth and wrongful life causes of action by the Washington State Supreme Court is supported by both policy rationales and legal theories. Wrongful birth and wrongful life causes of action receive support from traditional tort principles and, more important, further public policy by deterring negligent genetic counseling and negligent preconception medical treatment. This Note describes the legal history of these claims and analyzes several issues not addressed by the Washington court. In addition, this Note criticizes a more recent decision by the court, which limits wrongful conception causes of action, because that decision conflicts with …


Wrongful Death Of The Fetus: Viability Is Not A Viable Distinction, Sheryl Anne Symonds Jan 1984

Wrongful Death Of The Fetus: Viability Is Not A Viable Distinction, Sheryl Anne Symonds

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment reviews the history of tort law treatment of the fetus who is wrongfully injured or killed. The Comment discusses case history and wrongful death statutes, with a focus on Washington law. Finally, the Comment concludes that courts should ignore viability when deciding cases of fetal wrongful death.


Cardozo Revisited: Liability To Third Parties; A Real Property Perspective, Robert Kratovil Jan 1984

Cardozo Revisited: Liability To Third Parties; A Real Property Perspective, Robert Kratovil

Seattle University Law Review

One of the most outstanding jurists of our time, Justice Benjamin Cardozo, articulated a principle spanning the "seamless web" of the law which, unfortunately, has been obscured by the attempts of courts, casebook writers, and law professors to pigeonhole the principle into familiar categories. Justice Cardozo established the principle that a person who undertakes a task is liable for injury to remote third parties, regardless of lack of privity, which arises from the person's negligent performance of the task. Cardozo also enunciated an exception to this rule which developed into a widely accepted opposing rule. This Article first traces the …


Mutual Of Enumclaw Insurance Company V. Wiscomb: Excluding The Family Exclusion Clause, Janice L. Campton Jan 1983

Mutual Of Enumclaw Insurance Company V. Wiscomb: Excluding The Family Exclusion Clause, Janice L. Campton

Seattle University Law Review

This note examines Mutual of Enumclaw Insurance Company v. Wiscomb. The note supports the court’s decision to prohibit unbargained for family exclusion clauses, because it furthered the policies exemplified in the Financial Responsibility Law and the Underinsured Motorist Statute and acted consistently with its decision abrogating intrafamily tort immunity. However, the note argues that by suggesting it would uphold truly bargained for family exclusion clauses denying coverage to named insureds, the court ignored its own pronouncement declaring such clauses against this state’s policy of assuring compensation for the protection of innocent victims of negligent motorists.


Successor Liability In Washington: When A Successor Should Be Liable For A Predecessor's Products Liability—Meisel V. M & N Modern Hydraulic Press Company, Robert C. Manlowe Jan 1983

Successor Liability In Washington: When A Successor Should Be Liable For A Predecessor's Products Liability—Meisel V. M & N Modern Hydraulic Press Company, Robert C. Manlowe

Seattle University Law Review

This note examines the problem of products liability in the context of modern corporate practice. First, this note addresses products liability doctrine and its underlying rationale. Next, the note focuses on the conflict between the policies underlying the products liability doctrine and the traditional successor liability rules. Finally, this note examines the manner in which the modern rule resolves this inherent conflict and Meisel’s effect on that rule, concluding that the Washington courts should adopt the modern rule without limitations.


Glass V. Stahl Specialty Company: Reconciling Third Party's Contribution Rights With Employer's Immunity Under Workers' Compensation, Karin Nyrop Jan 1983

Glass V. Stahl Specialty Company: Reconciling Third Party's Contribution Rights With Employer's Immunity Under Workers' Compensation, Karin Nyrop

Seattle University Law Review

This note argues that the correct resolution of the tension between the employer’s immunity and the third party’s right of contribution requires balancing the interests of all parties. The employer has an interest in retaining the workers’ compensation law’s exclusive no-fault recovery system; the third party tortfeasor seeks to avoid shouldering the entire liability of another at-fault tortfeasor capable of contribution. At the same time, the employee has a right to full and speedy compensation, and the state has an interest in maintaining the financial stability of its accident fund. This note explores the policies and legal arguments supporting the …


Manifestation: The Least Defensible Insurance Coverage Theory For Asbestos-Related Disease Suits, Pamela J. Layton Jan 1983

Manifestation: The Least Defensible Insurance Coverage Theory For Asbestos-Related Disease Suits, Pamela J. Layton

Seattle University Law Review

This Note first explains the nature of asbestos diseases, the standard insurance policy language, and the theories of insurance coverage. It then demonstrates the misapplications of medical evidence and contract interpretation principles in Eagle-Picher Industries Inc. v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, and concludes with a discussion of the wider implications of the decision and the better theory suggested by Judge Wald. Because the facts and issues involved in Insurance Company of North America v. Forty-Eight Insulations, Keene Corp. v. Insurance Company of North America, and Eagle-Picher are essentially the same, the conclusions drawn from Eagle-Picher apply equally …


Miller V. Northside Danzi Construction Company: Immunity, The Contractor-Under Clause And Alaska's Workers' Compensation Act, Timothy R. Gosselin Jan 1982

Miller V. Northside Danzi Construction Company: Immunity, The Contractor-Under Clause And Alaska's Workers' Compensation Act, Timothy R. Gosselin

Seattle University Law Review

In Miller v. Northside Danzi Construction Co., "the Alaska Supreme Court held that a general contractor," required by Alaska's Workers' Compensation Act to pay compensation to an uninsured subcontractor's injured employee, is not immune from liability at common law for the same injuries. Interpreting narrowly the Act's "employer" definition, the court prohibited the general contractor from asserting the exclusive liability defense granted to the primary employer who pays compensation to its injured employee, and thus permitted the injured worker to claim awards under the Act and independently at common law. By allowing the injured employee recovery from the contractor …


Deelche V. Jacobsen: Recovering From Community Property For A Separate Tort Judgment, Joseph R. Mcfaul Jan 1982

Deelche V. Jacobsen: Recovering From Community Property For A Separate Tort Judgment, Joseph R. Mcfaul

Seattle University Law Review

This note critically analyzes deElche against the historical background of community property statutes and evaluates its effect on previous case law that subverted community property principles, resulting in injustice to either the victim or the tortfeasor’s spouse. While deElche does not explicitly overrule these cases, it casts doubt on their current vitality. This note also responds to the dissent’s criticisms, and discusses the scope of the deElche decision.


Washington's Product Liability Act, Philip A. Talmadge Jan 1981

Washington's Product Liability Act, Philip A. Talmadge

Seattle University Law Review

The Washington Legislature in its 1981 session enacted Senate bill 3158,1 the Tort and Product Liability Reform Act, a comprehensive change in product liability and tort law in the State of Washington. This change, perhaps the most sweeping legislative involvement in Washington tort law in this century, was accomplished after many years of extremely bitter political conflict over product liability and tort reform; Senate bill 3158, however, passed the legislature with little of the acrimony previ- ously associated with the issue. This article explores the involve- ment of the legislature in product liability and tort reform his- torically, reviews the …


The Discretionary Function Exception And The Suits In Admiralty Act: A Safe Harbor For Negligence?, Kathryn C. Nielsen Jan 1981

The Discretionary Function Exception And The Suits In Admiralty Act: A Safe Harbor For Negligence?, Kathryn C. Nielsen

Seattle University Law Review

This comment will focus on the different circuits' responses to the issue of whether the SIA should be read in light of the discretionary function exception.


Washington Title Insurers' Duty To Search And Disclose, Susan M. Stanley Jan 1980

Washington Title Insurers' Duty To Search And Disclose, Susan M. Stanley

Seattle University Law Review

This comment explores possible non-statutory sources of a title insurer's duty to search and disclose. After reviewing the historical background of title insurance and comparing it with other title assurance methods, this comment examines Washington case law, where the supreme court has failed to impose the duty. It then considers the need to impose and examines the theoretical bases of such a duty to search and disclose: whether it should lie in tort or in contract. Finally, this comment concludes that Washington courts should allow home buyers to sue title insurers for negligence in failing to reasonably search and disclose.


Product Liability Reform Proposals In Washington--A Public Policy Analysis, Howard E. Bundy Jan 1980

Product Liability Reform Proposals In Washington--A Public Policy Analysis, Howard E. Bundy

Seattle University Law Review

The current interest in statutory reform of product liability law presents a unique opportunity for the Washington Legislature to make some principled decisions in furtherance of the policies behind product liability law. The legislature, in deciding the future direction of product liability law in Washington, must look beyond polarized interests to policy considerations for guidance.


Mobil Oil Corp. V. Higginbotham—Confusion Returns To Maritime Wrongful Death Actions, Howard Hall Jan 1979

Mobil Oil Corp. V. Higginbotham—Confusion Returns To Maritime Wrongful Death Actions, Howard Hall

Seattle University Law Review

In 1967, a helicopter carrying three passengers and a pilot returning from an offshore drilling platform crashed into the Gulf of Mexico beyond Louisiana's territorial waters, killing all aboard. The families of the decedents instituted a wrongful death suit in admiralty, seeking recovery under general maritime law, the Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA), and the Jones Act. The federal district court found Mobil Oil Corporation, the owner and operator of the helicopter, negligent. In awarding damages the district court limited recovery to pecuniary losses, holding that a pecuniary loss limitation applied regardless of the theory of recovery. Specifically, …


Roberts V. Johnson—A Welcome Change Tainted By An Outmoded Approach To Statutory Interpretation, Mark F. Miller Jan 1979

Roberts V. Johnson—A Welcome Change Tainted By An Outmoded Approach To Statutory Interpretation, Mark F. Miller

Seattle University Law Review

In 1974, the Washington State Legislature repealed its automobile guest statute, intending to establish ordinary negligence as the proper standard of liability in host-guest automobile tort actions. Nevertheless, in March 1978, in Lau v. Nelson, the Washington Supreme Court, ignoring clear indicia of legislative intent, held that the repeal of the guest statute revived the common law of this state, which, like the guest statute, predicated a guest's recovery on proving the host grossly negligent. Having effectively reinstated the very law the legislature repealed, the Lau court declined to decide whether the majority rule of ordinary negligence should replace …


Shepard V. Superior Court—Recovery For Mental Distress In A Products Liability Action, G. Scott Greenburg Jan 1979

Shepard V. Superior Court—Recovery For Mental Distress In A Products Liability Action, G. Scott Greenburg

Seattle University Law Review

In Shepard v. Superior Court, the California Court of Appeals held that a party directly witnessing injury to a close relative could recover damages for resulting mental distress in a strict products liability action. By recognizing a duty to avoid infliction of emotional distress in a products liability case, Shepard elevated a manufacturer's duty in strict liability to the level recently recognized in a negligence action. The court correctly reasoned that a cause of action for mental distress in products liability was consistent with economic realities of modern society and the purposes behind products liability.


The Collateral Source Rule: Double Recovery And Indifference To Societal Interests In The Law Of Tort Damages, William A. Olson Jan 1978

The Collateral Source Rule: Double Recovery And Indifference To Societal Interests In The Law Of Tort Damages, William A. Olson

Seattle University Law Review

This comment analyzes the present utility of the collateral source rule and finds the rule unjustified as a means of ensuring either punishment of the defendant or just compensation for the plaintiff. It further examines the efficacy of subrogation in eliminating the collateral source rule's vice of double recovery. The comment concludes that legislative reform abolishing the collateral source rule and subrogation in medical malpractice suits should extend to all tort actions for personal injury, thereby entirely eliminating double recovery and the consequent higher societal costs in insurance premiums, taxes, and prices.