Law Commons^™

Rethinking Civil Rights And Employment At Will: Toward A Coherent National Discharge Policy, Ann C. Mcginley

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America's employment discharge policy begs for reform. Although most states have created exceptions to the employment at will doctrine, the doctrine thrives. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”), which bans discrimination in employment based on race, gender, color, religion, and national origin, has proved ineffective in combating employment discrimination. Despite the statutory and common law exceptions to the employment at will doctrine, today's employees may have less job security than in the past. Although I applaud the Commissioners' efforts toward achieving justice in the workplace, I believe that abolishing the employment at will doctrine through …

Principles Of Insurance Coverage: A Guide For The Employment Lawyer, Francis J. Mootz Iii

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Employment lawyers have witnessed a virtual revolution in the law of employment relations during the past thirty years. Although the federal government intervened substantially in private employment relationships in response to the economic catastrophe of the Great Depression, employers remained largely free of regulation until the explosion of statutes and common law developments that commenced in the 1960s and continues today. Recent developments in common law tort and contract principles are particularly troubling for defense counsel in employment matters, since the resulting doctrinal uncertainty renders it difficult to assess the client's exposure with any assurance until the appeals in the …

Panacea Or Corporate Tool?: Debunking The Supreme Court's Preference For Binding Arbitration, Jean R. Sternlight

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This article examines the increasing use of contracts of adhesion in which companies require consumers, employees, franchisees and other "little guys" to submit disputes with the company to binding arbitration. The article argues that the Supreme Court's current preference for such agreements is not statutorily well-founded. Specifically, it contends that the Federal Arbitration Act was not intended to make such agreements binding on unknowing consumers or employees. Turning next to policy analysis, the article asserts that the Supreme Court has erred in expressing a preference for binding arbitration in cases where such arbitration was not knowingly and voluntarily accepted by …

Terrorism And Hostages In International Law: A Commentary On The Hostages Convention 1979, Christopher L. Blakesley

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In this piece, Professor Blakesley reviews “Terrorism and Hostages in International Law: A Commentary on the Hostages Convention 1979” by Joseph J. Lambert.

The Convergence Of Analogical And Dialectic Imaginations In Legal Discourse, Linda H. Edwards

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The dialogue over the role of narrative in the making and interpreting of law and in legal practice is often stalemated by confusion about the complex relationships between narrative and other forms of legal reasoning. Are narrative and rules opposing methods for interpretation and persuasion? Does narrative theory assert that lawyers can win cases by presenting a sympathetic story, without regard for the governing rule of law? If so, it is no wonder that conversations about narrative theory are so difficult.

This article explores the relationship between narrative and other forms of legal interpretation and persuasion. It relies on David …

Trouble In Transamerica: Deferred Compensation, Contingent Debt, And Overstated Basis, Mary Lafrance

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For many years, owners of motion pictures and television films have optimized the tax benefits of depreciation deductions by employing a broad concept of basis. In addition to their cash investment, these taxpayers have increased their basis to reflect both fixed and contingent liabilities incurred in creating or acquiring these assets. Some of these liabilities represent royalties for the use of intellectual property such as music and literary works incorporated in the film. Others constitute deferred compensation for the services performed by producers, directors, actors, musicians, and others during the production process. The fixed liabilities do not depend on the …

A Critical Guide To The Ninth Amendment, Thomas B. Mcaffee

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Since the Supreme Court's decision in Griswold v. Connecticut, thousands of law students each year have confronted a confusing debate over the meaning of the Ninth Amendment. Writing for the majority in Griswold, Justice Douglas included the Ninth Amendment among the sources for deriving the “penumbral” right of privacy. More central to this article, in a separate concurrence Justice Goldberg contended that the Amendment provided a basis for the discovery of fundamental human rights beyond those included in the text of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. In response, the dissenting Justices, Stewart and Black, argued that …

Paying Physicians More To Do Less: Financial Incentives To Limit Care, David Orentlicher

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No abstract provided.

God Bless The Child: Poor Children, Parens Patriae, And A State Obligation To Provide Assistance, Kay P. Kindred

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In this Article, I argue that poor parents who are willing, but economically unable, to provide proper care for their children are entitled to some minimum level of state assistance grounded in the constitutional right to family integrity. The right to family integrity, when coupled with the state's power as parens patride, creates an affirmative obligation on the state to provide income assistance to impoverished families when necessary to protect the welfare of the children and maintain the family intact.

Whose Justice? Which Victims?, Lynne Henderson

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No abstract provided.

Destructuring Disability: Rationing Of Health Care And Unfair Discrimination Against The Sick, David Orentlicher

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No abstract provided.

The Paradox Of The Fresh Complaint Rule, Kathryn M. Stanchi

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This Article explores the paradox of the fresh complaint rule, evaluates the proposed solutions, and suggests a modified rule as an interim solution. Part II of this Article explores the fresh complaint rule, from its historical roots in the English common law to its evolution in the United States, with special attention to the rationale for the rule, the requirement of freshness, and the standards for the rule's application. Parts III and IV examine the paradox raised by the need for and effectiveness of the rule and its concurrent harmful effects. Part V describes proposed solutions to the paradox and …

Foreward, Symposium: Insurance Coverage Of Employment Disputes, Francis J. Mootz Iii

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This Symposium addresses the most recent insurance coverage issue that requires mastery not only of insurance law concepts but also a rapidly developing area of substantive law. Employers increasingly are finding themselves subject to state and federal regulation of the terms, conditions, and duration of their relationship with employees. The liabilities associated with increased governmental regulation represent a major financial exposure, leading many employers to demand coverage under their various insurance policies. This rapidly evolving area of insurance law achieved some measure of public notice with the recent disclosure that two insurance companies already have paid out nearly a million …

Avoiding Judicial Wrath: The Ten Commandments For Bankruptcy Practitioners, Nancy B. Rapoport

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This article describes the top ten duties for bankruptcy lawyers. 1. Know the purpose(s) of the Bankruptcy Code. 2. Know the facts and the law. 3. Spend time crafting your arguments. 4. Don't lie (about conflicts of interest or about controlling law). 5. Be respectful (of other lawyers, of the system, and of other participants in the system). 6. Don't indulge your client's sleazy instincts. 7. Don't escalate a conflict unnecessarily. 8. Honor your calendar. 9. Keep your client informed. 10. Don't whine.

Reflections Of Judicial Adr And The Multi-Door Courthouse At Twenty: Fait Accompli, Failed Overture, Or Fledgling Adulthood, Jeffrey W. Stempel

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Like any trend, ADR has its skeptics and even some opponents. Considerable debate exists regarding the degree to which the increasing ADRization of traditionally judicial activity amounts to triumph or tragedy, a point well-illustrated by the past Schwartz Lectures. In the 1993 Schwartz Lecture, Professor Laura Nader described the ADR movement as a byproduct of society's attempt to suppress or conceal uncomfortable conflicts. In the 1994 Lecture, Professor Judith Resnik essentially concluded that the modern ADR movement has brought a regrettable de facto closing of the court house (or at least raised barriers to entry) and replaced reflective decision-making about …

Bootstrapping And Slouching Toward Gomorrah: Arbitral Infatuation And The Decline Of Consent, Jeffrey W. Stempel

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The Seventh Amendment to the Constitution preserves for litigants a right to a jury trial in actions at law. The right to a jury trial does not attach for equitable actions, but in cases presenting claims for both legal and equitable relief a right to a jury trial exists for common questions of fact. Although many modern statutes and claims did not exist in 1791, the Amendment has been interpreted to require a jury trial of statutory claims seeking monetary damages, the classic form of legal relief, so long as there is a relatively apt analogy between the modern statutory …

Symbiotic Legal Theory And Legal Practice: Advocating A Common Sense Jurisprudence Of Law And Practical Applications, Jean R. Sternlight

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Lawyers and legal academics are waging a fierce war over the soul of legal education in the United States. The various battles in this war include disputes over the proper emphasis on teaching versus scholarship; the need for clinical, practical, or transaction-oriented education versus the need for theoretical education; and the need for traditional doctrinal work versus the need for interdisciplinary or more liberal arts-oriented education within law schools. The war also plays itself out in discussions over law school hiring and tenure decisions.

In this Article I urge that practice and even the most abstract theory are complementary, not …

Vindicating Rights In A Federal System: Rediscovering 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3)'S Equality Right, John Valery White

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Section 1985(3) is dead. The United States Supreme Court's refusal to apply § 1985(3) to the assault and intimidation of abortion seekers by abortion protesters in Bray v. Alexandria Women's Health Clinic confirmed the demise of the section, already significantly undercut by the Supreme Court's previous decisions in Great American Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n v. Novotny and United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners v. Scott. If Bray is troubling for the conceptual moves Justice Scalia employed to deny recovery under the section, it is more disconcerting for the apparently inconsequential resemblance of its facts to those of the case …

Substantive Due Process And Free Exercise Of Religion: Meyer, Pierce And The Origins Of Wisconsin V. Yoder, Jay S. Bybee

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In this paper the author examines the nature of parents' due process right to direct the education of their children and its relationship to the First Amendment. The article begins with the hardiest of the U.S. Supreme Court's early substantive due process decisions: Meyer v. Nebraska and Pierce v. Society of Sisters. Meyer struck down a Nebraska law forbidding the teaching of foreign language in public or private schools; Pierce struck down an Oregon law requiring attendance at public schools. Part I recounts that the laws in both cases were the result of complex forces, uniting groups as disparate …

Florida's Property Rights Act: A Political Quick Fix Results In A Mixed Bag Of Tricks, Sylvia R. Lazos

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This Article discusses Florida’s 1995 Property Rights Act, which grants to private property owners an alternative cause of action, outside of takings law, when they are permanently denied reasonable use of their land by regulatory actions. The Act also grants alternative procedures for property owners, outside of the judicial and administrative process. Thus, the Act does not change Florida takings law nor does it alter the substance of Florida's sometimes controversial growth management laws.

This article reviews the political climate that made passage of the Act possible and places the property rights initiative in the historical context of populist politics. …

Originalism And Indeterminacy, Thomas B. Mcaffee

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Perhaps the most universal objection to originalism is that it is impossible; that is, the materials relied upon by originalists simply do not yield determinant answers to any worthwhile questions. This indeterminacy objection lacks significant force for at least three reasons. First, the claim that the interpretive materials are always indeterminate vastly overstates the extent and importance of the uncertainties involved; consequently, originalism's critics understate the importance of the originalist canon as a tool for reducing the degree of indeterminacy in constitutional interpretation. Once it becomes clear that originalist methodology can provide some definitive answers, even if significant indeterminacy remains, …

Federalism And The Protection Of Rights: The Modern Ninth Amendment’S Spreading Confusion, Thomas B. Mcaffee

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Blindness to a basic understanding of the framers' design of our federal structure is largely responsible for the confusion that surrounds our understanding of the Ninth Amendment. The Ninth Amendment reads: “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” In Griswold v. Connecticut, Justices Black and Stewart explained in separate dissenting opinions that the Ninth Amendment's reference to the other rights “retained by the people” alluded to the collective and individual rights the people “retained” by virtue of granting limited, enumerated powers to the national government. …

Whose Duties And Liabilities To Third Parties?, Leslie C. Griffin

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No abstract provided.

Review Of Winifred Fallers Sullivan, Paying The Words Extra: Religious Discourse In The Supreme Court Of The United States (1994), Leslie C. Griffin

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No abstract provided.