Law Commons^™

Strictly Speaking, What Needs To Change? A Review Of How Statutory Changes Could Bring Strict Products Liability To Virginia, Ryan C. Fowle

Law Student Publications

Virginia remains one of five states that refuse to adopt strict products liability. To date, the Supreme Court of Virginia has declined to follow the path Justice Traynor set out nearly a century ago, as its recent decisions confirm its resistance to strict liability. However, given the change in control of the General Assembly following the elections of 2017 and 2019, the General Assembly is in new hands and may remain that way for some time. This new legislative majority, among its plans for new policies, may soon consider establishing strict products liability by statute. In doing so, Virginia would …

Keeping People In Their Homes: How A Reduction In Property Tax Burden Can Retain Homeownership For Low-Income Communities, Andy O'Connell, Daniel Lange

Law Student Publications

This article seeks to educate policymakers and advocates on the benefits of a reduction in real property tax burdens. In Virginia, there is a dangerous combination of high real property taxes and low income that can lead homeowners to become delinquent on their property taxes. Ultimately, this can lead to taxpayers' homes being foreclosed upon. The best solution for Virginia is the Circuit Breaker tax credit, a program enacted by many other states that allows for a maximum property tax burden for families based on their income and amount of assets. This program is pinpointed to only helping those who …

How Judicial Application Of Cda § 230 And Fha § 3604 Have Created Safe Havens For Online Housing Discrimination, Sophia A. Studer

Law Student Publications

This article analyzes how the anti-discrimination language of Fair Housing Act section 3604 is currently out of reach for people being discriminated against online through the exclusionary language of Communications Decency Act section 230(c). The exclusionary language in CDA section 230(c) prevents liability from attaching to interactive computer service providers so long as the interactive computer service provider is not a creator or developer of information. Through the decisions of Zeran, Craigslist, and Roommate, the federal appellate courts created broad shield of immunity for interactive computer service providers, leading to a safe haven for discrimination online. Together the courts and …

Table Of Contents

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Trade Secrets And Personal Secrets, Lital Helman

University of Richmond Law Review

This Article aims to examine the different ways in which the law protects commercial and private secrets. The most fundamental difference is that the trade secrets regime forbids the unauthorized use of a business’s confidential information, while privacy law does not forbid the unauthorized use of a person’s confidential information. If a firm takes measures to protect information of value, the law forbids the use of this information. Yet, as to personal secrets, the mere fact that someone has taken measures to protect their privacy does not create an obligation to avoid misappropriation of their in- formation.

This asymmetry of …

The Bivens "Special Factors" And Qualified Immunity: Duplicative Barriers To The Vindication Of Constitutional Rights, Amelia G. Collins

University of Richmond Law Review

Part I of this note traces the history of the Bivens cause of action and analyzes the original “special factors” that concerned the Supreme Court. Part I also outlines the purpose behind implying a Bivens cause of action for plaintiffs bringing constitutional claims. Part II includes the same analysis of the qualified immunity defense, both to its history and purpose. Part III demonstrates how the Supreme Court has incorporated the concerns addressed by qualified immunity into the “special factors” analysis, rather than acknowledging the mitigating nature of immunity defenses when examining if any “special factors” exist. Finally, Part IV argues …

Funeral Poverty, Victoria J. Haneman

University of Richmond Law Review

This Article makes a unique contribution to the literature by drawing attention to the financial burden of death service being shouldered by those who are “relatively poor,” or those for whom everyday life may be a financial struggle. The thesis is equal parts positive, normative, descriptive, and prescriptive: it is imperative that options be made available to transition human remains in a way that does not exacerbate cycles of poverty and allows for the living to preserve dignity. This need calls for important changes to existing legal structures, including modernization of consumer protection regulation, change to laws regulating the death …

Mergers, Macs, And Covid-19, Brian Jm Quinn

University of Richmond Law Review

The conventional wisdom is that MAE/MACs in merger agreements provide an opportunity for buyers to renegotiate merger agreements in the event of intervening adverse events. However, the experience following the COVID-19 outbreak suggests that the conventional wisdom is incorrect or at least overstated. In fact, MAE/MACs shift the risk of exogenous adverse events (like COVID-19) to buyers while leaving only the risks of adverse endogenous and semi-endogenous events with the seller. The consequence of this risk-shifting is to strictly limit the circumstances under which a buyer can credibly lean on a MAE/MAC to threaten to terminate a merger agreement and …

Almond Beverage, Oat Water, And Soaked Soybean Juice: How The Dairy Pride Act Attempts To Remedy Consumer Confusion About Plant-Based Milks, Michelle E. Hoffer

University of Richmond Law Review

With sales of plant-based milks, such as almond and soy milk, on the rise and dairy industry sales declining, dairy industry supporters are taking issue with plant-based milk products calling themselves “milk.”10 In an effort to combat the “mislabeling” of non-dairy products, a few Senators banded together in an attempt to save the dairy industry by creating the DAIRY PRIDE Act.11 The Act was introduced in an effort to prohibit plant-based milk producers from using the term “milk” on their products and instead use a less misleading name, such as “almond imitation milk” or “soy beverage.”12 This Comment argues that, …

Proving The Constitution: Burdens Of Proof And The Confrontation Clause, Enrique Schaerer

University of Richmond Law Review

In law, we never prove anything to 100% certainty. For factual propositions, the proponent has the burden of proving them to the satisfaction of a standard: a preponderance of the evidence at the low end; clear and convincing evidence in the middle; proof beyond a reasonable doubt at the high end. The standards are often explicit. Yet, for legal propositions, standards are often implicit or lacking altogether. This Article argues that, to decide legal issues, courts may look to similar burdens of proof that they use to decide factual issues. They should do so informally, using burdens of proof just …

Opportunity Gap: A Survey Of State Sourceof-Income Protection Laws And How They Address The Challenges Facing The Federal Housing Choice Voucher Program, Jamie H. Wood

University of Richmond Law Review

In 1968, the United States Congress enacted the Fair Housing Act (“FHA”) with the stated purpose of “prevent[ing] segregation and discrimination in housing, including in the sale or rental of housing . . . .” The FHA prohibits landlords from refusing to rent to members of certain protected classes, including race, color, national origin, sex, religion, disability, and familial status.2 Notably absent from this list is what is commonly referred to as “source-of-income” (“SOI”) protection, which extends antidiscrimination statutes to recipients of federal public assistance.

The federal government’s primary housing public assistance program is the Housing Choice Voucher (“HCV”) Program …

The Preemption Of Collective State Antitrust Enforcement In Telecommunications, Jacob P. Grosso

University of Richmond Law Review

The dichotomy between the levels of government provided murky guidance to telecommunications firms on what behavior is anticompetitive and what decisions firms will have to spend years defending. Despite T-Mobile and Sprint agreeing to sell off several subsidiaries, helping to create a new competitor, and surviving a gamut of regulatory reviews, these companies still could not merge. At this point, preventing the deal would cause irreversible harm to the merging parties.

The conflicts that arose in the T-Mobile-Sprint merger could have been solved through the preemption of collective state antitrust enforcement in the telecommunications market, which would balance the twin …

Reports Of Cases By Lord Hardwicke, William Hamilton Bryson

Law Faculty Publications

Philip Yorke, earl of Hardwicke (1690-1764) was the Lord Chancellor of Great Britain from 1737 to 1756. He had a brilliant legal mind, and his memory is still celebrated today.

These reports are taken from Lord Hardwicke's opinions in other cases. Thus, being statements by Lord Hardwicke of these cases, in that sense, they are his reports of these cases. The text published here has been massaged into the standard format for law reports. However, originally, it was Lord Hardwicke's treatment of these reports as legal precedents for other cases that were before him for decision, which precedents he followed …

The Problem Of Problem-Solving Courts, Erin Collins

Law Faculty Publications

The creation of a specialized, “problem-solving” court is a ubiquitous response to the issues that plague our criminal legal system. The courts promise to address the factors believed to lead to repeated interactions with the system, such as addiction or mental illness, thereby reducing recidivism and saving money. And they do so effectively — at least according to their many proponents, who celebrate them as an example of a successful “evidence-based,” data-driven reform. But the actual data on their efficacy is underwhelming, inconclusive, or altogether lacking. So why do they persist?

This Article seeks to answer that question by scrutinizing …

Entrenched Racial Hierarchy: Educational Inequality From The Cradle To The Lsat, Kevin Woodson

Law Faculty Publications

For my contribution to this special issue of the Minnesota Law Review, I will attempt to situate the problem of black underrepresentation at America’s law schools within the broader context of racial hierarchy in American society. The former has generated an extensive body of legal scholarship and commentary, centering primarily on the racial impact of law schools’ admissions criteria and procedures, particularly the substantial weight placed upon the Law School Admissions Test (“LSAT”). This focus is understandable: given the substantial racial disparities in LSAT performance and the test’s relatively limited value in predicting academic and professional outcomes, it makes sense …

Covid-19'S Impact On Renewable Energy, Joel B. Eisen

Law Faculty Publications

"In keeping with this Symposium's focus on accelerating clean energy growth and nations' ability to meet climate goals, this Article examines recent trends during the COVID-19 pandemic that at least temporarily set back the pace of growth, although conditions have rebounded somewhat since a disastrous spring of 2020. This Article supports several near-term policy prescriptions aimed at promoting a speedier return to the upward trajectory renewable energy enjoyed before the pandemic. These include extending the tax policies that support renewables beyond their short-term extensions in pandemic relieflegislation and establishing robust programs to help workers in renewable energy industries who have …

Death Penalty Exceptionalism And Administrative Law, Corinna Lain

Law Faculty Publications

"In the world of capital punishment, the oft-repeated refrain “death is different” stands for the notion that when the state exercises its most awesome power—the power to take human life—every procedural protection should be provided. Every safeguard should be met. Granted, doing so makes the death penalty cumbersome. And granted, it slows what Justice Blackmun famously called “the machinery of death.” But when the stakes are literally life and death, the idea is that we ought to make sure that whatever the state does, it does right.

Scholars have lamented the way that this idea of death penalty exceptionalism has …

Filling Judge Flaum's Vacant Seventh Circuit Seat, Carl Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

"On November 30, 2020, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Judge Joel Flaum assumed senior status after completing more than forty years in public service as one of the nation’s preeminent jurists. By then, Judge Flaum had compiled the longest active status tenure provided by a federal appellate court jurist, serving over practically thirty-eight years, six as chief judge of the prominent tribunal. On this day, the Senate also promptly resumed Congress’ lame duck session, which the upper chamber had begun after voters chose Joe Biden as President yet concomitantly appeared to retain a close Grand Old …

Bostock, The Crown Acts, And A Possible Right To Self-Expression In The Workplace, Henry L. Chambers, Jr.

Law Faculty Publications

Employment at-will is the default rule in American law. In the absence of an employment contract, employers are generally free to discharge workers for any reason not barred by statute or public policy. Typically, an employee can be fired when an employer dislikes an employee's self-expression that is not specifically protected by law. However, recent developments in employment discrimination law may provide the foundation for a burgeoning right to self-expression in the workplace. In its recent case Bostock v. Clayton County, the Supreme Court ruled sexual orientation discrimination and transgender discrimination necessarily involve sex discrimination under Title VII. The Court's …

Custom Of The Country: Trust And Marriage Planning In High-Wealth Families, Allison Anna Tait

Law Faculty Publications

That marriage has always been a property arrangement in some form or another – particularly for those families and couples with property to arrange – is a truism. It is a truism because marriage has significant property implications for the intended spouses, with the result that financial planning around marriage is both a historical and continuing reality, despite changes in the social and economic norms governing marriage. Moreover, the wealth management industry has, past and present, trained its eye and its expertise on marriage planning as part of a family’s larger wealth planning, offering services and products to help mitigate …

Covid-19 And Corporate Social Responsibility: Business Responses To The Pandemic In The Inland Northwest, Jacob H. Rooksby

Law Faculty Publications

The novel coronavirus upended the world beginning in early spring of 2020. As travel ground to a halt, and governments issued stay-at-home orders, the impact on commerce was immediate and has proven to be lasting. Employees accustomed to working in offices and job sites were told to stay home. Certain industries received permission to have so-called “essential” personnel continue their labor in person, but for many employers the reality they faced was not so simple: learn to adapt to the new environment or succumb to the new environment. ...

Coming To Terms: Using Contract Theory To Understand The Detroit Water Shutoffs, Marissa Jackson Sow

Law Faculty Publications

After the City of Detroit underwent financial takeover and filed the largest municipal bankruptcy in American history in 2013, the city’s emergency manager encouraged mass water shutoffs as a way of making the city’s water utility a more attractive asset for sale—and for privatization—by ridding the water department of its association with bad debt. The sale never took place, but the water shutoff, too, became the largest ever in American history, with over 141,000 homes subjected to water disconnections over a period of over six years. The governor of the State of Michigan ordered that the shutoffs be temporarily suspended …

Law's Ability To Further The "Menstrual Movement", Christopher A. Cotropia

Law Faculty Publications

"The current menstrual movement calls for overcoming the cultural stigma associated with menstruation, achieving “menstrual equity,” and ending “period poverty.” The stigma the movement seeks to address is that menstruation is seen as taboo, unclean, and impure. The movement’s aims are twofold: First, it wants to increase awareness of menstruation and remove discrimination against those who menstruate, thus achieving menstrual equity. Second, it intends to provide greater access to menstrual hygiene products (“MHPs”), particularly for homeless and lower income people, thus eliminating period poverty. To achieve these goals, the movement is advocating to legislatively eliminate the “tampon tax” and increase …

Richmond Law Magazine: Winter 2021, University Of Richmond

Richmond Law Magazine

The Pandemic Pivot

8 Things to Know When Suing and Defending in a Post-COVID World

The Pandemic, Students, and The Law

E-Museletter: December 2020, William Taylor Muse Law Library

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E-Museletter: November 2020, William Taylor Muse Law Library

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Preface, Jamie H. Wood

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Wills, Trusts, And Estates, J. William Gray Jr., Katherine E. Ramsey

University of Richmond Law Review

The 2020 Virginia General Assembly addressed a wide variety of matters affecting wills, trusts, and estates, ranging from a new article of the Virginia Uniform Trust Code and an expanded partition procedure to a $2 increase in the circuit court clerk’s recordation fees. Among the most helpful were new rules that clarify and expand the powers and responsibilities of non-trustees who may direct the trustee on certain issues and a revised procedure for partitioning real property while protecting the rights and interests of co-owners. The legislature also dealt with fiduciary issues, including express authorization for multiple-party bank accounts, additional duties …

Virginia’S Physician-Only Law For First Trimester Abortion: Maintaining The Unduly Burdensome Law Under Falls Church Medical Center, Llc V. Oliver And Its Subsequent Amendment, Emily M. Gindhart

University of Richmond Law Review

This Comment seeks to critique the Falls Church Medical Center’s holding that Virginia’s first-trimester physician-only law is not an undue burden on the right to abortion. Part I is an overview of the physician-only law, discussing the historical roots of the law, the impacts of the law on access to first-trimester abortion, related laws in other jurisdictions, and a survey of research conducted on the overall safety and effectiveness of APCs as abortion providers. Part II is an overview of the Falls Church Medical Center’s three decisions. Part III is an undue burden analysis of the physician-only law, …