Law Commons^™

Stuck Inside The Heartland With Those Coastline Clerking Blues Again, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, Circuit Judge Edward Becker, and Circuit Judge Guido Calabresi deserve kudos for helping to craft, implement, and publicize an efficacious solution to the increasing difficulties engendered by the selection of federal judicial law clerks. The jurists' essay, The Federal Judicial Law Clerk Hiring Problem and the Modest March 1 Solution, which recently appeared in the Yale Law Journal, is a must read for all those who participate in the process of law clerk hiring.

The concerted efforts of Justice Breyer and Judges Becker and Calabresi have apparently succeeded in bringing considerable order out of chaos, …

Refining Federal Civil Justice Reform In Montana, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

The Civil Justice Reform Act of 1990 (CJRA) has reached the mid-point of its implementation nationally and in the Montana Federal District Court. At this juncture, one of the most important aspects of statutory effectuation is evaluation of the experimentation that federal district courts have conducted under the legislation. The timing is particularly propitious in the Montana federal district because the court recently completed the annual assessment of statutory implementation that the CJRA requires. These developments in civil justice reform, particularly relating to evaluation of the experimentation which has occurred, warrant examination. This Article undertakes that effort.

The Article first …

Losing The Littoral Zone, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Review of John Stilgoe, Alongshore (1994)

Why Congress Should Reject Revision Of Rule 11, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

The United States House of Representatives recently passed the Attorney Accountability Act of 1995. Section 2 of the measure would modify existing Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 68 by prescribing two-way fee-shifting in diversity cases. Section 3 of the bill would amend Federal Rule of Evidence 702 in ways that limit expert testimony, ostensibly to increase “honesty in testimony.” Section 4 of the legislation would substantially revise the 1993 amendment of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11, effectively returning to the 1983 version of the provision. This essay emphasizes section 4 of the Attorney Accountability Act, because I believe that …

Re-Evaluating Federal Civil Justice Reform In Montana,, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Part I of this piece initially affords an update of relevant developments relating to civil justice reform nationally and in the Montana Federal District Court. It emphasizes the congressional decision to extend the deadlines governing analysis of experimentation in the pilot districts and recent developments that led the Montana district to delay the preparation of a written annual assessment. Part II of this paper then glances into the future.

The Implicit "Takings" Jurisprudence Of Article 9 Of The Uniform Commercial Code, David Frisch

Law Faculty Publications

Part I of this Article begins by reasserting that central to the idea of property rights is the legal entitlement to remedies that permits a person to exercise dominion over the specific asset or to exclude the exercise of dominion by others. Next, part I examines the essence of a security interest and demonstrates that it is a protected property interest. Part II sets forth a model of priorities that suggests that although property interests should ordinarily be protected by a property rule, there is something special about a security interest, implying the need for greater contingency and justifying a …

Studying Montana State Civil Justice Reform, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Several years ago in the pages of this journal, I asked and attempted to answer the question whether the 1993 session of the Montana Legislature should adopt a civil justice reform act. The article initially afforded a brief analysis of the problems in federal civil litigation that prompted the United States Congress to pass the Civil Justice Reform Act (CJRA) of 1990. I next evaluated whether the state legislature in Montana should enact similar legislation which would govern civil litigation in the state court system. Because there were relatively few important reasons for adopting a measure covering civil justice reform …