Law Commons^™

Mercury Rising: The Omnibus Autism Proceeding And What Families Should Know Before Rushing Out Of Vaccine Court, Gordon Shemin

American University Law Review

This Comment sheds light on the “opt-out” provision of the Vaccine Act. It namely discusses the effect of short-form petitions and their impact on subsequent civil action, by examining consequences flowing from the Omnibus Autism Proceeding. In short, it argues that the Vaccine Court erred with its decision to permit short-form petitions by overlooking that procedure’s long-term implications on vaccine plaintiffs. In addition, this Comment lays out a scenario to illustrate the potential pitfalls of a hasty exit from the OAP and offers some guidance to plaintiffs to avoid this outcome. The final part of this Comment offers some ideas …

Your Mileage May Vary: A General Theory Of Legal Disclaimers, R. George Wright

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “Disclaimers are a common feature of public and commercial life. While this article will be concerned with disclaimers only in legal contexts, the range of such legal contexts is broad. This article will refer below to disclaimers by governmental and non-governmental actors in various circumstances. Disclaimers arise, for example, in Establishment Clause cases in general, and of late, in cases involving public school evolution text books. Disclaimers may also be thought of as a remedy for compelled speech, or as themselves an instance of compelled speech. In addition, commercial speech is a fertile source of disclaimer problems, as in …

Short Notes On Teaching About The Micro-Politics Of Class, With Examples From Torts And Employment Law Casebooks, Susan Carle, Michelle Lapointe

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Torts And Innovation, Alex Stein, Gideon Parchomovsky

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Continuing Drift Of Federal Sovereign Immunity Jurisprudence, Gregory C. Sisk

William & Mary Law Review

With the enduring doctrine of federal sovereign immunity, it is too late in the day to suggest that the United States should be treated as an ordinary party in the federal courts. Yet as the Supreme Court has become more comfortable with the increasingly common encounter with a statutory waiver of immunity, the rigidity of interpretive approach has eased. An early jaundiced judicial attitude has resolved into a greater respect for the legislative promise of relief to those harmed by their government. After sketching the history of statutory waivers over the past century-and-a-half and examining Supreme Court decisions across the …

Proposed Legislation: A (Second) Modest Proposal To Protect Virginia Consumers Against Defective Products, Peter Nash Swisher

University of Richmond Law Review

The purpose of this article is to suggest a viable, necessary, and eminently reasonable legislative alternative that the Virginia General Assembly should enact for legitimate and pressing public policy reasons in order to properly protect Virginia consumers from defective and unreasonably dangerous consumer products.Adopting this alternative would bring the Commonwealth of Virginia into the mainstream of twenty-first century American, and transnational, products liability law.

Construction Law, D. Stan Barnhill

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Medical Malpractice Law, Kathleen M. Mccauley, William F. Demarest Iii

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Torts And Innovation, Gideon Parchomovsky, Alex Stein

Michigan Law Review

This Essay exposes and analyzes a hitherto overlooked cost of tort law: its adverse effect on innovation. Tort liability for negligence, defective products, and medical malpractice is determined by reference to custom. We demonstrate that courts' reliance on custom and conventional technologies as the benchmark of liability chills innovation and distorts its path. Specifically, recourse to custom taxes innovators and subsidizes replicators of conventional technologies. We explore the causes and consequences of this phenomenon and propose two possible ways to modify tort law in order to make it more welcoming to innovation.

Are Artificial Tans The New Cigarette? How Plaintiffs Can Use The Lessons Of Tobacco Litigation In Bringing Claims Against The Indoor Tanning Industry, Andrea Y. Loh

Michigan Law Review

Indoor tanning salons have grown significantly in popularity during recent years. Scientific research has revealed a strong link between skin cancer and ultraviolet light exposure from indoor tanning lamps. Despite such dangers, federal regulations place minimal restrictions on the labeling of indoor tanning lamps. Indoor tanning salons work vigorously to dispel notions of a link to skin cancer, often falsely promoting various health benefits of indoor tanning. The first lawsuit for injuries resulting from indoor tanning was recently filed against an indoor tanning salon, and other such litigation is poised to follow. This Note examines three potential tort claims against …

Torts And Innovation, Gideon Parchomovsky, Alex Stein

All Faculty Scholarship

This Essay exposes and analyzes a hitherto overlooked cost of the current design of tort law: its adverse effect on innovation. Tort liability for negligence, defective products, and medical malpractice is determined by reference to custom. We demonstrate that courts’ reliance on custom and conventional technologies as the benchmark of liability chills innovation and distorts its path. Specifically, the recourse to custom taxes innovators and subsidizes replicators of conventional technologies. We explore the causes and consequences of this phenomenon and propose two possible ways to modify tort law in order to make it more welcoming to innovation.

Summary Of Winchell V. Schiff, 124 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 80, Brandon Johansson

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appeal and cross-appeal from a district court judgment entered on a jury verdict in a conversion/lease action.

Summary Of M.C. Multi-Family Dev. V. Crestdale Assocs., 124 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 77, Jennifer K. Koonce

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appeal from a district court order granting Defendant’s motion for directed verdict on a claim for conversion and cross-appeal denying Defendant’s request for attorney fees and prejudgment interest.

Securities Law—The Securities Exchange Act Of 1934—'Round And 'Round We Go: The Supreme Court Again Limits The Circumstances In Which Federal Courts May Hold Secondary Actors Liable Under Section 10(B) And Sec Rule 10b-5. Stoneridge Investment Partners, Llc V. Scientific-Atlanta, Inc., 128 S. Ct. 761 (2008)., W. Taylor Marshall

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

In Stoneridge Investment Partners, LLC v. Scientific-Atlanta, Inc., the Supreme Court addressed the plaintiffs' bar's most recent theory for recovery against secondary actors under section 10(b): "scheme liability." Rejecting the theory as beyond the scope of liability intended by Congress, the court sharply narrowed the circumstances under which courts may hold secondary actors liable under section 10(b) and SEC Rule 10b-5. Although Stoneridge clearly limits the circumstances in which federal courts may hold secondary actors liable under section 10(b) and SEC Rule 10b-5, lower federal courts have historically alleviated the harshness of the Supreme Court's approach to securities litigation by …

Understanding And Problematizing Contractual Tort Subrogation, Brendan S. Maher, Radha A. Pathak

Faculty Scholarship

The modern incarnation of tort subrogation allows an insurer to force its insured to turn over the litigation proceeds independently obtained by the insured against a third-party tortfeasor, even if the insured has not been made whole by such litigation. This Article demonstrates that such a result is the product of a subrogation-as-contract paradigm that has taken hold in the federal system, most notably by the United States Supreme Court in Sereboff v. Mid-Atlantic Services, 547 U.S. 356 (2006). More importantly, the Article illustrates the conceptual and historical roots of subrogation to demonstrate the extent to which subrogation-as-contract is divorced …

Defense Costs And Insurer Reserves In Medical Malpractice And Other Personal Injury Cases: Evidence From Texas, 1988-2004, Bernard Black, David A. Hyman, Charles Silver, William M. Sage

Faculty Scholarship

We study defense costs for commercially insured personal injury tort claims in Texas over 1988–2004, and insurer reserves for those costs. We rely on detailed case-level data on defense legal fees and expenses, and Texas state bar data on lawyers’ hourly rates. We study medical malpractice (“med mal”) cases in detail, and other types of cases in less detail. Controlling for payouts, real defense costs in med mal cases rise by 4.6 percent per year, roughly doubling over this period. The rate of increase is similar for legal fees and for other expenses. Real hourly rates for personal injury defense …

Dances With Elephants: Administrative Resolution Of Medical Injury Claims By Medicare Beneficiaries, Eleanor D. Kinney, William M. Sage

Faculty Scholarship

In our judgment, Hoffmann and Rowthorn's research clearly demonstrates that the QIO-based complaint review process does not provide genuine relief to beneficiaries. People who complain typically want an explanation of their bad experience, compensation for harm they may have suffered, and assurance that future experiences will be better for themselves and for others. Medicare beneficiaries, however, receive minimal information about the resolution of their complaints and no substantive relief whatsoever.

As Hoffmann and Rowthorn point out, several reform proposals are now before Congress, including moving the beneficiary complaint function from QIOs to new "Medicare Provider Review Organizations." It is not …

Private Equity's Three Lessons For Agency Theory, William Wilson Bratton

Articles

No abstract provided.

Calling It A Leg Doesn't Make It A Leg: Doctors, Lawyers And Tort Reform, Ellen Wertheimer

Working Paper Series

It has long been a truism that doctors hate lawyers. This article explores some of the reasons for this phenomenon, as well as some areas for reform that might help to promote a better relationship between the professions.

Compensating Nuclear Damage: A Comparative Economic Analysis Of The U.S. And International Liability Schemes, Michael G. Faure, Tom Vanden Borre

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Summary Of Boulder City V. Boulder Excavating, 124 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 65, Stephen O. Schofield

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

No abstract provided.

The Case For Field Preemption Of State Laws In Drug Cases, Richard A. Epstein

NULR Online

No abstract provided.

Amicus Brief, Lebron V. Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, Neil Vidmar, Tom Baker, Ralph L. Brill, Martha Chamallas, Stephen Daniels, Thomas A. Eaton, Theodore Eisenberg, Neal R. Feigenson, Lucinda M. Finley, Marc Galanter, Valerie P. Hans, Michael Heise, Edward J. Kionka, Thomas H. Koenig, Herbert M. Kritzer, David I. Levine, Nancy S. Marder, Joanne Martin, Frank M. Mcclellan, Deborah Jones Merritt, Philip G. Peters, Jr., James T. Richardson, Charles Silver, Richard W. Wright

Scholarly Works

Illinois Public Act 82-280, § 2-1706.5, as amended by P.A. 94-677, § 330 (eff. Aug. 25, 2005), and as codified as 735 ILCS 5/2-1706.5(a), imposes a $500,000 “cap” on the noneconomic damages that may be awarded in a medical malpractice suit against a physician or other health care professional, and a $1 million “cap” on the noneconomic damages that may be awarded against a hospital, its affiliates, or their employees.

This brief will address two of the questions presented for review by the parties:

1. Does the cap violate the Illinois Constitution’s prohibition on “special legislation,” Art. IV, § 3, …

Taser Stun-Gun Verdict Supports Litigation As Means For Solving Social Issues, Dylan O. Malagrino

Dylan Malagrinò

What Riegel Portends For Fda Preemption Of State Law Products Liability Claims (Part Ii), Catherine M. Sharkey

NULR Online

No abstract provided.

Inflando Los Resarcimientos Con Automatismos. El Daño Al Proyecto De Vida Y Otros Espejismos De La Magistratura Peruana, Leysser L. Leon

Leysser L. León

Una sentencia de la Corte Superior de Lima (Perú) en la que se concede a un ex-magistrado destituido un resarcimiento exorbitante por "daño al proyecto de vida" (US$ 70,000), una categoría irresarcible conforme al ordenamiento peruano y nociva por los espejismos que crea en la magistratura, brinda la ocasión para proponer límites a la creación jurisprudencial de nuevas y artificiales especies de "daño".

What Riegel Portends For Fda Preemption Of State Law Products Liability Claims, Catherine M. Sharkey

NULR Online

No abstract provided.

Jackpot Justice And The American Tort System: Thinking Beyond Junk Science, Tom Baker, Herbert M. Kritzer, Neil Vidmar

All Faculty Scholarship

In 2007 the Pacific Research Institute released a report, Jackpot Justice: The True Cost of America's Tort System, that is widely available on the internet. The conclusion of the report is that America's tort system costs $865.37 billion annually, amounting to an "annual price tag, or 'tort tax' for a family of four in terms of costs and foregone benefits" of $9,827. As our report will demonstrate, the conclusions of Jackpot Justice are without scientific merit and present a very misleading picture of the American tort system and its costs.

Research on the tort system's efficiency, its fairness and …

Injunctions For Defamation, Juries, And And The Clarifying Lens Of 1868, Stephen A. Siegel

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Victorian Tort Liability For Workplace Injuries, Michael Ashley Stein

Faculty Publications

The first decision of an injured worker suing his master for a workplace accident was reported in 1837, the year of Queen Victoria's ascension. The second Workman's Compensation Act, a comprehensive social insurance scheme, was passed in 1900, a few months before her death. The Article provides an initial account of the development of employers' liability to their servants for work-related injuries during the Victorian era. It demonstrates that English judges, and especially the Barons of the Exchequer, interpreted the law to resist employers' liability. The means these judges used included creating the defence of common employment, widely applying the …