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Government Liability For Economic Losses: The Case Of Regulatory Failure, David S. Cohen
Government Liability For Economic Losses: The Case Of Regulatory Failure, David S. Cohen
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
Compensation claims against provincial and federal governments are largely a product of the second half of the 20th century. The initial surge of cases after the enactment of the federal Crown Liability Act in 1953--mirrored also in developments at the provincial level-- were typically "private" tort claims. Indeed a significant percentage of claims against the federal government continue to be nothing more than automobile accident, occupier liability claims and lawsuits arising out of similar relatively minor bureaucratic error. Recently, however, as a result of both the imagination of litigators and the growth of the regulatory state, claims against governments have …
Regulating Regulators: The Legal Environment Of The State, David S. Cohen
Regulating Regulators: The Legal Environment Of The State, David S. Cohen
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
In this paper I focus on the ability of tort law to reduce primary costs, or losses associated with the number and seriousness of accidents. In one sense I will be analysing the state as if it were a private firm in which losses suffered by private individuals and firms are externalities. Several years ago Mark Spitzer wrote a paper on this topic in which he posited several models of state activity and analysed the incentive effects of liability rules in each case. In my view Spitzer's general conclusion - the rule which may be synthesized from all of the …
Bleeding Hearts And Peeling Floors: Compensation For Economic Loss At The House Of Lords, David S. Cohen
Bleeding Hearts And Peeling Floors: Compensation For Economic Loss At The House Of Lords, David S. Cohen
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
The decision of the House of Lords in Junior Books Ltd. v. Veitchi Ltd. represents an unwarranted development in the law of tort and contract, unless its rationale and limitations are fully appreciated. This reform in such an important area is premature "in the absence of hard data on the probable impact of such an extension of liability.” Much of the published commentary on recovery of economic loss in tort, and on this decision in particular, has been written from the ex post perspective of accident compensation doctrine and theory. Most writers have been concerned with the development of positive …