Law Commons^™

America’S Preoccupation With Ethics In Government, Vincent R. Johnson

Faculty Articles

Many Americans today expect that the law can, should, and will be used to ensure a level playing field in public life. Americans expect the law to eliminate, insofar as possible, any unfair advantage that might be gained through the use of special connections to those who exercise the power of government. There are numerous rules applicable to judges, lawyers, and public officials that each seek to promote equal treatment for all persons by limiting the ability of persons to use special connections and privileged relationships to gain an advantage in public affairs.

There were two threads of development in …

Law’S Alienation: Furies And Nomoi And Bears (And Nuns), Emily A. Hartigan

Faculty Articles

The inclusion of spirit in the law is necessary because the exclusion of the spirit from the law separates the law from its dynamic source of animation. The inclusion of the spirit or spirituality with the law will better allow the United States to craft laws and policies designed to address undocumented workers and illegal aliens.

Even Socrates wrote about the separation of spirit and the law when he wrote about the Nomoi and the Furies; however, he also discussed his Daemon, an inner voice enters into dialogue with the Nomoi, the law. This inner voice that was essential for …

American Family Law: History -- Whostory, Ana M. Novoa

Faculty Articles

Family law should be rooted in preserving and protecting intimate relationships; instead, it is rooted in preserving those domestic systems that created or expanded the economic empire of the "Founding Fathers," the white males of the colonial northeast. This northeastern colonial perspective continues to underpin most of the basic assumptions in family law. Concurrently, with the increased privatization of the cooperative virtues, Americans have developed an excessive preoccupation with self and a cult of consumerism.

Consumerism has driven American society toward increased individualism and narcissism. A by-product of the increased individual-consumer culture is the mistaken belief that our personal values …

Representation Elections, Anti-Semitism And The National Labor Relations Board, John W. Teeter Jr, Christopher Burnett

Faculty Articles

The use of anti-Jewish propaganda in labor representation elections undermines employee freedom and workplace democracy. This Judeopathic practice has proved to be a vexing problem for both the National Labor Relations Board (“the Board”) and the federal courts. The Board has been haphazard and lax in applying the doctrine of Sewell Manufacturing Co. in cases involving anti-Semitism, whereas the federal appellate courts have applied Sewell more consistently to purge elections of anti-Jewish misconduct. This divergence between the Board and reviewing courts may be the result of a pattern of nonacquiescence on the part of the Board. There are four fundamental …

The Government Contractor Defense: Breaking The Boyle Barrier, Charles E. Cantú, Randy W. Young

Faculty Articles

The government contract defense, known as the Boyle defense, shields those successfully invoking it from liability for injuries caused by defective products they manufactured. The contract specification defense is afforded to both private and government contractors when they follow the directions and specifications of a third party, usually the employer.

The first element of the Boyle defense requires that the government approve reasonably precise specifications for the equipment’s design. The contractor must show that a team-like effort existed in all communications between the contractor and the government, with the government providing general specifications and approval at various stages of project …

The Ethics Of Communicating With Putative Class Members, Vincent R. Johnson

Faculty Articles

The ethical prohibition against contact with represented persons is an exacting rule. It carries with it the threat of serious consequences, including, but not limited to, attorney discipline, disqualification of counsel, and inadmissibility of evidence obtained in violation of its terms. However, there are still important unresolved questions relating to the interpretation of the rule, including its proper operation in class action litigation.

Following analysis, the various rationales offered in support of the rule fail to justify an application of the contact ban to communications with unnamed putative class members during the pre-certification period of class action litigation. Absent a …

Ethical Campaigning For The Judiciary, Vincent R. Johnson

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Insurance Contracts And Judicial Discord Over Whether Liability Insurers Must Defend Insureds’ Allegedly Intentional And Immoral Conduct: A Historical And Empirical Review Of Federal And State Courts’ Declaratory Judgments—1900–1997, Willy E. Rice

Faculty Articles

Each year in America, an estimated $200 billion is spent purchasing third-party liability insurance. Fairly recent findings reveal that although some carriers try to settle third-party claims, an unacceptable number of liability companies simply refuse to settle or defend third-party suits. Each year, thousands of consumers and insurers petition state and federal courts for declaratory relief. The simple question asked in these cases is: do liability insurers have a duty to defend policyholders when third-party complainants only allege that insureds committed immoral or intentional acts?

Plaintiffs’ lawyers, defense counsels, state and federal judges, and state legislators and insurance commissioners should …

Disturbing The Peace, Emily A. Hartigan

Faculty Articles

When concerns of race, gender, and orientation intersect with the Catholic faith and church, the interaction can prove painful and difficult. Experiences of feeling judged or condemned ricochet between camps, the members of each desperate to defend that which they feel is inherent to them, to their identities and self-understanding. But despite the damage that Catholicism can and has inflicted by its striction and history, it retains a mode of outreach to the disaffected—La Virgen, dark and female and still only just coming to be understood. She is controversial and always subject to attempts at political manipulation, but she is …

Resurrection Of The Prohibition On The Corporate Practice Of Medicine: Teaching Old Dogma New Tricks, Andre Hampton

Faculty Articles

The corporate practice of medicine doctrine was a creature of the organized medical profession, state legislatures, and the courts in an effort to both protect the physician-patient relationship and help physicians operate as fiduciaries. It aimed at improving the reputation of the medical profession by prohibiting entanglements between a physician’s professional judgment and the profit-making endeavors of lay organizations. The doctrine found its genesis in ethical codes promulgated by the American Medical Association (AMA), which essentially prevented physicians from taking salaried positions, or splitting professional fees, with lay organizations. The rationale was that such a doctrine was necessary in order …