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Seattle University Law Review

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Full-Text Articles in Law

Employer Liability Under The Third Party Provision Of The Washington Industrial Insurance Act: The Dual Capacity And Dual Persona Doctrines In Evans V. Thompson, Melissa M. Jackson Jan 1995

Employer Liability Under The Third Party Provision Of The Washington Industrial Insurance Act: The Dual Capacity And Dual Persona Doctrines In Evans V. Thompson, Melissa M. Jackson

Seattle University Law Review

Most workers' compensation schemes are designed to provide a swift and sure source of benefits to injured workers by placing on employers the risks and burdens of modern industry. In keeping with this policy, Washington's Industrial Insurance Act2 (IIA) requires injured workers to relinquish the right to sue at common law for damages sustained on the job, and it requires employers to accept liability for a measure of damages set out by the statute. However, if a worker's injuries are caused by the negligence of a third person who is not in the worker's same employ, the IIA's third-party provision …


What Would Happen If Videotaped Depositions Of Sexually Abused Children Were Routinely Admitted In Civil Trials? A Journey Through The Legal Process And Beyond , John B. Mitchell Jan 1992

What Would Happen If Videotaped Depositions Of Sexually Abused Children Were Routinely Admitted In Civil Trials? A Journey Through The Legal Process And Beyond , John B. Mitchell

Seattle University Law Review

As all of us are aware, there has been concern throughout our legal system about the trauma that child victims of sexual abuse suffer when testifying at criminal trials. It is likely that these same concerns will follow into the civil arena as civil cases for sexual abuse of child victims become more common. In response, advocates of child victims will propose that videotapes of child depositions be admitted in trial in place of live testimony. Such evidence may have profound effects on juries and may also alter the role of advocates in our civil system. This Article is about …


Reading Tea Leaves: The Future Of Negotiations For Tort Claimants Free From Fault, Cornelius J. Peck Jan 1992

Reading Tea Leaves: The Future Of Negotiations For Tort Claimants Free From Fault, Cornelius J. Peck

Seattle University Law Review

This Article first reviews what a study of the 1986 Tort Reform Act reveals to be problems created by that Act for negotiators of settlements in tort suits. These problems are greatest for fault-free plaintiffs. Next, a summary of the previous law governing joint and several liability provides an understanding of these problems and the changes negotiators should make in their negotiation strategies. The court's success in avoiding the mandated disaster for the Workers Compensation Fund raises the possibility that the court may also provide fault-free plaintiffs with an easier escape from the perils and pitfalls created by the Act …


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 …


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 …


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 …