Law Commons^™

Should Neither Wind Nor Rain Nor Hurricane Keep Victims From Recovery? Examining The Tort And Insurance Systems’ Ability To Compensate Hurricane Victims, Kathleen A. Zink

Fordham Law Review

Large-scale natural disasters, such as hurricanes, wreak tremendous havoc, causing billions of dollars in damages. Those who suffer serious damage may turn to their insurance providers or the tort system for compensation. But, both the tort and insurance systems present serious limitations to a hurricane victim’s recovery. This Note analyzes the goals and criticisms of these two systems to determine which compensates hurricane victims best. In light of its analysis, this Note ultimately concludes that neither system satisfactorily compensates victims. Yet, tort could play some role in hurricane-related damage. Tort law could effectively deter negligent behavior by imposing liability on …

Reforming The Consumer Class Action, Elizabeth Chamblee Burch

Presentations and Speeches

Professor Elizabeth Chamblee Burch was part of a panel on Reforming the Consumer Class Action. This was part of a conference entitled: The Future of Class Action Litigation: A View From the Consumer Class that took place at the New York University School of Law on November 7, 2014

Not Just For Products Liability: Applying The Economic Loss Rule Beyond Its Origins, Danielle Sawaya

Fordham Law Review

Most litigants, if given the chance, prefer to assert tort theories to recover their economic losses, rather than rely on the remedies provided under contract law. This is primarily because plaintiffs have the potential to recover more damages under tort law than contract law. However, most courts have adopted a doctrine known as the economic loss rule to bar plaintiffs from asserting certain tort theories to recover for their economic loss. Although the economic loss rule may seem like an easy way to maintain the boundary between tort law and contract law, confusion abounds when courts attempt to determine the …

The Illusion Of Autonomy In Women's Medical Decision-Making, Jamie Abrams

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

This article considers why there is not more conflict between women and their doctors in obstetric decision-making. While patients in every other medical context have complete autonomy to refuse treatment against medical advice, elect high-risk courses of action, and prioritize their own interests above any other decision-making metric, childbirth is viewed anomalously because of the duty to the fetus that the state and the doctor owe at birth. Many feminist scholars have analyzed the complex resolution of these conflicts when they arise, particularly when the state threatens to intervene to override the birthing woman’s autonomy. This article instead considers the …

Mental Disabilities And Duty In Negligence Law: Will Neuroscience Reform Tort Doctrine?, Jean Eggen

Jean M. Eggen

Recent developments in neuroscience may contribute to some long-needed changes in negligence law. One negligence rule in need of reform is the duty rule allowing physical disabilities to be considered in determining whether a party acted negligently, but disallowing mental disabilities for adult tortfeasors. Further, this bifurcated rule applies imposes an objective standard only on adults alleged to have acted negligently. A subjective standard applies to all parties in intentional torts and to children in negligence actions. Courts justify the bifurcated rule for adults on policy grounds, but these policy underpinnings are no longer valid in contemporary society. More accurate …

National Geographics: Toward A “Federalism Function” Of American Tort Law, Riaz Tejani

San Diego Law Review

This Article will situate the federalism function among existing scholarly frameworks and assess the “contoured” approach to federal and state power balancing across the existing subject matter of torts. Part II will assess conflicting characterizations of tort law as on one hand “private” and on the other “public” law. Part III will define and explain competing functions of tort law with an eye to whether federalism fits the common criteria of these coexisting objectives, goals, purposes, and methods for adjudication. In Part IV, the Article will explore historical and contemporary roles of federalism to understand why this process becomes so …

L'Ontologia Dei Danni Non Patrimoniali, Pier Giuseppe Monateri

Pier Giuseppe Monateri

L'autore esamina la nuova decisione della Cassazione che, dandogli ragione, ristabilisce in termini coerenti la 'ontologia' dei danni non patrimoniali, chiarendo che il danno esistenziale ha natura propria e differente da quella del danno morale e del danno biologico

西方侵权法中的多数人侵权：一种比较法的视角 (Multiple Tortfeasors In Western Tort Law: A Comparative Outline), Mauro Bussani, Marta Infantino

Marta Infantino

The aim of the paper (in Chinese) is to explore the state-of-the-art of principles and rules on multiple tortfeasors liability in Western tort laws. The survey mainlyes focus on a set of Western jurisdictions from Western Europe and North America – mostly on England, France, Germany, Italy, and the United States.

Invalid Testimony: Disability And Voice In The Criminal Procedure (Co-Authored With Osnat Ein-Dor) (Hebrew), Sagit Mor

Sagit Mor

This Article discuses the sociolegal reality that people with developmental and mental disabilities experience in their interaction with the criminal justice system and the challenges that the criminal system faces when it comes to deal with a case which involves a disabled person. It maintains that the barriers that disabled people face in criminal proceedings do not exist only in pre-trial stages, but also during the trial itself, since courts, too, are impacted by exclusionary legal rules and by cognitive schemas that express negative stereotypes. In 2005 a new law was introduced in Israel: Investigation and Testimony Proceedings (Accommodations for …

Doomed Steamers And Merged Fires: The Problem Of Preempted Innocent Threats In Torts, Anthony M. Dillof

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Understanding The Limits Of The Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvement Act Using Tort Law Principles As A Guide, Rene H. Dubois

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Contract Law And The Hand Formula, Daniel P. O'Gorman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Disaggregative Mechanisms: The New Frontier Of Mass-Claims Resolution Without Class Actions, Jaime Dodge

Scholarly Works

Aggregation has long been viewed as the primary if not sole vehicle for mass claims resolution. For a half-century, scholars have consistently viewed the consolidated litigation of similar claims through joinder, class actions and more recently multi-district litigation as the only mechanism for efficiently resolving mass claims. In this Article, I challenge that long-standing and fundamental conception. The Article seeks to reconceptualize our understanding of mass claims resolution, arguing that we are witnessing the birth of a second, unexplored branch of mass claims resolution mechanisms — which I term “disaggregative” dispute resolution systems because they lack the traditional aggregation of …

Apportioning Liability In Maryland Tort Cases: Time To End Contributory Negligence And Joint And Several Liability, Christopher Robinette

Christopher J Robinette

Lapses Of Attention In Medical Malpractice And Road Accidents, Robert D. Cooter, Ariel Porat

Robert Cooter

A doctor who lapses and injures her patient, and a driver who lapses and causes an accident, are liable under negligence law for the harm done. But lapse is not necessarily negligence, since reasonable people lapse from time to time. We show that tort liability for “reasonable” lapses distorts doctors’, drivers’, and manufacturers’ incentives to take care. Furthermore, such liability provides potential injurers with incentives to substitute activities which are less prone to lapses with activities which are more prone to lapses, even if such substitution is inefficient. We propose several solutions to the inefficiencies that result from liability for …