Law Commons^™

Standard Of Care For Students With Disabilities: The Intersection Of Liability Under The Idea And Tort Theories, Ralph D. Mawdsley

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This article explores issues of legal liability for school personnel where students with disabilities are injured in school settings or cause injuries to employees and other students in schools. While questions related to legal liability are varied, they tend to fall within two broad areas: standard of care relating to injuries to or by students; and, standard of care for employees working with students with or training others to work with students with disabilities. In both areas, the legal issue revolves around the concept of heightened standard of care, especially where framed by the language of students' IEPs (Individualized Education …

Federalization Snowballs: The Need For National Action In Medical Malpractice Reform, Abigail R. Moncrieff

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Because tort law and healthcare regulation are traditional state functions and because medical, legal, and insurance practices are localized, legal scholars have long believed that medical malpractice falls within the states' exclusive jurisdiction and sovereignty. This conventional view fails to consider the impact that federal healthcare programs have on the states' incentives to regulate. As a result of federal financing, each state externalizes some of the costs of its malpractice policy onto the federal government. The federal government therefore needs to take charge of medical malpractice in order to fix the spillover problem created by existing federal healthcare programs.

Importantly, …

Reprocessing Single-Use Medical Devices: The State Of The Debate, Brian E. Ray, Mark Hermann

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Reprocessing single-use medical devices is a growing but controversial industry subject to an increasingly complex and fast-developing set of regulations and a wide range of unresolved legal issues.

A Novel Approach To Mass Tort Class Actions: The Billion Dollar Settlement In The Sulzer Artificial Hip And Knee Litigation: A Symposium, Susan J. Becker

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

As you know our primary focus today is on the Sulzer knee and hip replacement class action. My remarks are intended to place this fascinating and innovative case in the larger context of the many issues that we all face as participants in our modern civil justice system. I am going to do this by briefly refreshing your recollection as to the procedural requirements for modern class actions, describing the ongoing controversy surrounding use of these procedures, and touching on reform efforts currently underway. I will then provide a short introduction to the Sulzer litigation and introduce each panelist.

Ohio: A Microcosm Of Tort Reform Versus State Constitutional Mandates, Stephen J. Werber

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Tort reform emanates, for our purposes, from two primary bodies: state judicial and legislative branches. The vast panoply of congressional and regulatory federal action that bears on the protections afforded and rights to recover for persons within their ambit is a subject for another day. Similarly, the rare areas in which the Supreme Court of the United States establishes federal common law are subjects for another day. On a national scale, the impetus for state legislative reform action can be found in a series of landmark decisions that were soon adopted, in largely similar form, by almost all state supreme …

Ohio Tort Reform In 1998: The War Continues, Stephen J. Werber

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

For more than a decade a war has been waged between forces seeking legislative reform of tort law, with emphasis on product liability, and the Ohio Supreme Court. The battleground has been the legislative enactments of the Ohio General Assembly. This legislation has faced consistent challenge before the court as a proper exercise of its power of judicial review. Time and time again the court's philosophical approach, predicated on a need to protect injured parties and guarantee compensation for harm, has led to determinations that given legislation fails constitutional scrutiny. In a real sense, the Court has become a super …

A National Product Liability Statute Of Repose - Let's Not, Stephen J. Werber

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Despite the failure of the 104th Congress to override President Clinton's veto and enact the Common Sense Product Liability Legal Reform Act, there is little doubt that such an Act will be passed by the 105th Congress. Uniform national laws concerning product liability are necessary, can be enacted consistent with Congressional authority, and should be enacted at the earliest possible time. A balanced Act, recognizing the need to protect injured consumers while providing necessary protection to product manufacturers and distributors, can be drafted. Such an Act could include provisions that abolish the consumer expectancy test for design defect litigation, reject …

Lovewell V. Physicians Insurance Co.: Personal Liability For Prejudgment Interest, Karin M. Mika

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This article looks at the Supreme Court of Ohio's decision in Lovewell v. Physicians Insurance Co. and the variety of issues and unanswered questions the decision presents relating to insurance law. First, it may no longer be assumed that the insurer acts in tandem with the insured when the insurer is defending a suit brought against the covered individual. Secondly, the Lovewell decision seems to be contrary to one of the basic tenets of insurance law – that an insurance contract must be construed liberally in favor of the insured and strictly against the insurer. Third, the decision gives insureds …

Ohio Tort Reform Versus The Ohio Constitution, Stephen J. Werber

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Ohio tort law is about to be changed in a dramatic and comprehensive manner. House Bill 350 will be enacted as a major piece of tort reform legislation with provisions substantially like those discussed herein. The vast majority of this legislative change is directed to areas of the law in need of change and the restoration of balance. Most of the proposed changes either raise no constitutional concerns or should be deemed in compliance with the Ohio Constitution. In a few areas, most notably statutes of repose and limitations on damages, the governmental need is weak, the effect drastic, and …

Attempted Cap On Punitive Damages Continues To Spark Debate, Susan J. Becker

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

The debate surrounding federal product liability law has not been silenced by recent compromises reached by the House and Senate regarding appropriate boundaries for such laws. To the contrary, President Clinton's threatened veto of Congress's Common Sense Product Liability Reform Act of 1996 and continued opposition by the ABA Section of Litigation and other groups to parts of the Act guarantee that the 20-year-old debate will continue to rage.

An Overview Of Ohio Product Liability Law, Stephen J. Werber

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Enactment of the Ohio Product Liability Act (the “Act”), which took effect on January 5, 1988, created an exclusive statutory basis for all tort based product liability claims. The statute, while eliminating the term “strict liability in tort,” is primarily a codification of preexisting common law. The Act provides that product liability claims may be predicated on one of four theories: defects in manufacture or construction; defects in design or formulation; defect in warning or instruction, and failure to conform to representation. Each of these theories had previously been recognized by the courts. For example, the requirements for a cause …

Observations On Personal Injury Law, Stephen J. Werber

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

When I originally came to Ohio in 1970, I was surprised to find that the Ohio state courts lagged considerably behind other states in the development of personal injury law and especially product liability law. Under the leadership of Chief Justice Frank Celebrezze, the court's position was re-oriented. With decisions adopting and liberally defining strict liability, the court took a major step. Shortly thereafter, the court ruled that neither the Ohio Constitution nor any Ohio legislation insulated an employer from liability to employees for intentional torts. These, and other changes, have moved Ohio to the forefront of legal development in …

Product Liability In The Sixth Circuit: 1984-1985, Stephen J. Werber

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

The Sixth Circuit, as other federal courts, is deciding a growing number of product liability cases. The court has been required to carefully explore state substantive law in such complex areas as comparative fault and foreseeability. Several of the recent cases have required application of difficult facts to recognized legal principles. In the following article Professor Werber analyzes key decisions against applicable state law and suggests areas in which the court has applied that law in manners both consistent with, and contrary to, state law. Professor Werber is critical of the court's Erie determination that the Ohio Supreme Court would …

The Reemergence Of Nuisance Law In Environmental Litigation, Alan Weinstein

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

In the summer of 1980, Chicago's beaches were fouled by raw and inadequately treated sewage, allegedly discharged into Lake Michigan by the Hammond (Indiana) Sanitary District. Clearly, Illinois and Chicago officials wanted to stop pollution of the lake. Surprisingly, they turned to the common law of nuisance, rather than to a regulatory agency or a statutory citizens' suit to obtain relief, charging the city of Hammond and the sanitary district with violations of the Illinois common law of nuisance. While planners are generally familiar with the application of common law nuisance doctrines to resolve disputes between conflicting uses of land, …

The Products Liability Revolution - Proposals For Continued Legislative Response In The Automotive Industry, Stephen J. Werber

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

The law of automobile product liability in the United States developed intially through a process of evolution, as evidenced by the more than four decades between the leading decisions in the area. Since then, the restrained evolution of judicial development has become a revolution with its major focus of attack in several significant areas, including: (1) crashworthiness, (2) strict liability in tort, (3) burden of proof to establish the existence of a "defect"; and (4) apportionment of liability judgments, i.e., comparative fault versus joint and several liability. The purpose of this Article is twofold: to trace and comment upon these …

Product Liability: A Consolidated Teaching Approach, Stephen J. Werber

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

At a time when the impact of product liability litigation upon the socioeconomic structure of the United States is becoming better understood and at a time when the legal profession is realizing to a greater extent the impact of developing doctrine it is sad to note that vast numbers of law colleges offer no specialized course in this subject. The number of litigated, reported cases is rising dramatically as an increasing number of states are adopting more sophisticated and liberal approaches to product suits. Nevertheless, many law students are ill equipped to deal with the problems of a product claim, …

Strict Liability Come Of Age In Ohio: Almost, Stephen J. Werber

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

In June 1977 the Ohio Supreme Court decided Temple v. Wean United, Inc., and adopted the doctrine of strict liability for product liability litigation, thereby following a national trend. Earlier decisions had discussed a theory similar to strictly liability and had engendered considerable confusion as to the substantive theory supporting possibly recovery. Temple apparently ended the confusion.

Product Liability: The Potential Liability Of The Advertising Agency, Stephen J. Werber, William L. Trombetta

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

In the typical products liability action, there is generally a solvent manufacturer or seller from whom the injured party may recover. One could speculate that this is the major reason why no agency has ever been joined--but should not the agency be called to account where there is no other solvent defendant, or where other reasons prevent an effective action against the principles, or where justice demands a proper sharing of liability? The authors believe that this must be answered affirmatively, and that the potential for advertising agency liability does in fact exist.

Automotive "Crashworthiness:" An Untenable Doctrine, Stephen J. Werber

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

It is the purpose of this article to review the decisional law of automobile crashworthiness and to place it in the context of important policy considerations which justify such judicial determinations. It will be shown that the great majority of these decisions are entirely consistent with the doctine of "strict tort liability" as enunciated in section 402A of the Restatement of Torts, Second; that the questions sought to be submitted to juries in these cases are properly the subject of highly technical and complex legislative and administrative action on both a state and federal level; and that the few decisions …

Cancellation Of Salary Indebtedness: Stock Distribution As Realization Of Income To Shareholder-Employee, William Tabac

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This article discusses C.I.R. v. Fender Sales, Inc., 338 F. 2d 924 (9th Cir. 1964). The author concludes that by taxing at ordinary rates the benefit realized by respondents when they invested the income in the corporation which they owned in exchange for its stock, the court eliminated the possibility--suggested by the dissent--of any undeserved capital gains treatment. The case serves to reinforce the fait accompli in the tax law between the treatment of ordinary income and capital transactions.