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Articles 1 - 30 of 76
Full-Text Articles in Law
Rebuttal In Defense Of The Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement, Michael A. Swiger, Sharon L. White
Rebuttal In Defense Of The Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement, Michael A. Swiger, Sharon L. White
Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy
This article rebuts certain assertions made by Mr. Thomas Schlosser in a recent article entitled Dewatering Trust Responsibility: The New Klamath River Hydroelectric and Restoration Agreements. The Klamath hydroelectric dams are not causing degrading fish disease conditions in the Klamath Basin. Dewatering Trust Responsibility overlooks the effects of water diversions for agriculture, pollution from pesticides and industrial operations and habitat degradation from timbering, ranching and other human activities on current Basin conditions. Under the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license, PacifiCorp is taking extensive measures to protect aquatic resources in the Basin prior to …
Beyond The Blaze: Strategies For Improving Forest Service Fire Suppression Policies, Aurora R. Janke
Beyond The Blaze: Strategies For Improving Forest Service Fire Suppression Policies, Aurora R. Janke
Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy
Current Forest Service fire management policies restrict NEPA’s application to fire suppression actions and contribute to a lack of detailed information about the effectiveness and environmental impact of suppression efforts. Decisions by the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana in the Forest Service for Environmental Ethics v. U.S. Forest Service litigation suggest that NEPA review applies to commonly used fire suppression tactics and that the Forest Service should conduct this review before fires occur. Other recent federal district court decisions and congressional concern with current fire suppression efforts support the need for NEPA review in the fire suppression …
Stranger Than Fiction: An "Inside" Look At Environmental Liability And Defense Strategy In The Deepwater Horizon Aftermath, William H. Rodgers Jr., Jason Derosa, Sarah Reyneveld
Stranger Than Fiction: An "Inside" Look At Environmental Liability And Defense Strategy In The Deepwater Horizon Aftermath, William H. Rodgers Jr., Jason Derosa, Sarah Reyneveld
Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill of April 20, 2010 initiated an environmental disaster that presented attorneys on both sides of the legal action with monumental challenges. Using the satirical format of a memo written by the corporate defense counsel to BP America four days after the spill began, this article investigates BP’s potential liability and strategic defense positions available in criminal and civil proceedings. Major federal environmental laws, including the Oil Pollution Act, the Clean Water Act and major wildlife protection statutes, are implicated by the Spill. The memo provides a clear picture of the existing opportunities for a responsible …
Creating An Environmental No-Man's Land: The Tenth Circuit's Departure From Environmental And Indian Law Protecting A Tribal Community's Health And Environment, Claire R. Newman
Creating An Environmental No-Man's Land: The Tenth Circuit's Departure From Environmental And Indian Law Protecting A Tribal Community's Health And Environment, Claire R. Newman
Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy
When Congress set aside reservations as permanent homelands for American Indian people, it intended that the reservations remain “livable environments.” When resource conflicts arise in “checkerboard” areas outside Indian reservations—where land ownership alternates between a tribe, state, the federal government and private, non-Indian landowners—disputes over regulatory jurisdiction and environmental protection intensify. Two recent Tenth Circuit opinions determining the next generation of uranium mining in the checkerboard area of the Navajo Nation, depart from the intent of environmental laws and fail to uphold federal agencies’ trust responsibilities to the Tribe. These cases illustrate the legal vulnerabilities tribal communities in checkerboard areas …
A "Narrow Exception" Run Amok: How Courts Have Misconstrued Employee-Rights Laws' Exclusion Of "Policymaking" Appointees, And A Proposed Framework For Getting Back On Track, Angela Galloway
Washington Law Review
The civil rights and workplace protections afforded some government workers vary vastly nationwide because federal circuit courts disagree over how to interpret an exemption common to five landmark employment statutes. Each statute defines “employee” for its purposes to exclude politicians and certain categories of politicians’ appointees—including government employees appointed by elected officials to serve at “the policymaking level.” Neither Congress nor the United States Supreme Court has defined who belongs to the “policymaking-level” class. Consequently, lower federal courts across the country have adopted their own standards to fill the gap, creating a wide circuit split. At stake in this employment …
Blindsight: How We See Disabilities In Tort Litigation, Anne Bloom, Paul Steven Miller
Blindsight: How We See Disabilities In Tort Litigation, Anne Bloom, Paul Steven Miller
Washington Law Review
Tort litigation operates with a distorted perspective of disability. It suffers from blindsight; it does not see people with disabilities the way they see themselves. Disability advocates emphasize that most people with disabilities lead happy lives. Deeply rooted biases, however, make it difficult for this perspective to be recognized. Tort litigation’s heavy emphasis on medical testimony and its repeated portrayal of plaintiffs as “less than whole” over-emphasize the physical aspects of disability and unfairly depict people with disabilities as tragic. When legal actors embrace these views, they reinforce harmful stereotypes outside the courthouse doors. Newly disabled plaintiffs are also likely …
Foreclosing Modifications: How Servicer Incentives Discourage Loan Modifications, Diane E. Thompson
Foreclosing Modifications: How Servicer Incentives Discourage Loan Modifications, Diane E. Thompson
Washington Law Review
Despite record losses to investors, homeowners, and surrounding communities, the foreclosure crisis continues to swell. Many commentators have urged an increase in the number of loan modifications as a solution to the foreclosure crisis. The Obama Administration created a program specifically designed to encourage modifications. Yet, the number of foreclosures continues to outpace modifications. One reason foreclosures outpace modifications is that the mortgage-modification decision maker’s incentives generally favor a foreclosure over a modification. The decision maker is not the investor or the lender, but a separate entity, the servicer. The servicer’s main function is to collect and process payments from …
Aedpa's Ratchet: Invoking The Miranda Right To Counsel After The Antiterrorism And Effective Death Penalty Act, David Rubenstein
Aedpa's Ratchet: Invoking The Miranda Right To Counsel After The Antiterrorism And Effective Death Penalty Act, David Rubenstein
Washington Law Review
In Davis v. United States, the United States Supreme Court established a high standard to invoke the Miranda right to counsel, holding that a suspect must make a clear and unequivocal request for an attorney. Two years later, Congress passed the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA), which created a highly deferential standard of review for state court judgments challenged under federal habeas corpus jurisdiction. Generally, a state prisoner challenging the alleged deprivation of his Miranda right to counsel may obtain federal court relief under AEDPA only if his conviction in state court was based on an “objectively …
False Valor: Amending The Stolen Valor Act To Conform With The First Amendment's Fraudulent Speech Exception, Jeffery C. Barnum
False Valor: Amending The Stolen Valor Act To Conform With The First Amendment's Fraudulent Speech Exception, Jeffery C. Barnum
Washington Law Review
The Stolen Valor Act (SVA or “the Act”) was enacted to protect against “fraudulent claims” of receipt of military honors or decorations. It does so by criminalizing false verbal or written claims regarding such awards. However, the Act failed to include all of the elements of an anti-fraud measure required by the First Amendment. Most critically, the SVA fails to require actual reliance on the part of the defrauded. Although fraud is generally not protected by the First Amendment, courts cannot construe the SVA as an anti-fraud measure if the statute does not require actual reliance. Therefore, the SVA as …
Banishing Habeas Jurisdiction: Why Federal Courts Lack Jurisdiction To Hear Tribal Banishment Actions, Mary Swift
Banishing Habeas Jurisdiction: Why Federal Courts Lack Jurisdiction To Hear Tribal Banishment Actions, Mary Swift
Washington Law Review
The Indian Civil Rights Act (ICRA or “the Act”) of 1968 grants members of federally recognized Indian tribes individual civil rights similar to those enumerated in the federal Bill of Rights and Fourteenth Amendment. However, the Act provides only one explicit federal remedy for violations of the rights secured therein: the writ of habeas corpus. The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to read an implied cause of action into the Act. Some federal courts assert habeas jurisdiction to review tribal banishment actions alleged to violate ICRA, but not over disenrollment actions. Tribal banishment means an individual tribal member is cast …
Copyright Infringement Liability Of Placeshifting Services In The United States And Japan, Naoya Isoda
Copyright Infringement Liability Of Placeshifting Services In The United States And Japan, Naoya Isoda
Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts
Placeshifting is a convenient service that enables customers to enjoy television programs from their home countries even if they are in foreign countries. Placeshifting works by receiving/recording a television program in one country and then transmitting the digital data to customers everywhere in the world via the Internet upon each customer’s request. Because placeshifting may be involved with recording and/or transmitting copyrighted content, service providers must face the question whether they may be liable for copyright infringement. In the United States, the Second Circuit in Cartoon Network v. CSC Holdings decided the legality of placeshifting by requiring a “volition element” …
Beyond Absurdity: Climate Regulation And The Case For Restricting The Absurd Results Doctrine, Katherine Kirklin O'Brien
Beyond Absurdity: Climate Regulation And The Case For Restricting The Absurd Results Doctrine, Katherine Kirklin O'Brien
Washington Law Review
The absurd results doctrine of statutory interpretation allows courts to depart from clear legislative text when a literal reading would be “absurd.” Traditionally, courts defined an absurd result as one that offends fundamental social values. Over time, however, courts have expanded the concept of legal absurdity to include outcomes that do not violate moral principles, but instead present regulatory burdens deemed too onerous to reflect congressional intent. In June 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) invoked this expansive reading of the absurd results doctrine to support a regulation known as the “Tailoring Rule,” which the agency promulgated as part …
The Neoliberal Turn In Regional Trade Agreements, James Thuo Gathii
The Neoliberal Turn In Regional Trade Agreements, James Thuo Gathii
Washington Law Review
This Article makes two primary arguments. First, that the increased resort to bilateral and regional trade agreements has taken a neoliberal turn. As such bilateral and regional trade agreements are now a primary means through which greater investor protections, commodification of social services, guaranteed rights of investor access to investment opportunities, privatization of public service goods, and generally the diminution of sovereign control are being realized. These trade agreements make the foregoing goals possible not just in developing countries, but in industrialized economies as well. I show that these agreements provide business interests with opportunities to exercise concerted pressure to …
A Cure For A "Public Concern": Washington's New Anti-Slapp Law, Tom Wyrwich
A Cure For A "Public Concern": Washington's New Anti-Slapp Law, Tom Wyrwich
Washington Law Review
In March 2010, the Washington State Legislature passed its Act Limiting Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation. The new Act fills a critical void in Washington’s protection of free expression and petition rights. The Washington Act protects the free expression of Washington citizens by shielding them from meritless lawsuits designed only to incur costs and chill future expression. This Comment offers interpretive guidance for Washington courts by examining the new law, its legislative history, its constitutional underpinnings, and its relationship to the influential California anti-SLAPP statute on which it is modeled. Although the Washington Act shares many identical provisions with the …
The Globalization Of Corporate Law: The End Of History Or A Never-Ending Story?, Franklin A. Gevurtz
The Globalization Of Corporate Law: The End Of History Or A Never-Ending Story?, Franklin A. Gevurtz
Washington Law Review
Considerable scholarship during the last few decades addresses the question of whether corporate laws are becoming global by converging on commonly accepted approaches. Some scholars have asserted that such convergence is occurring around the most efficient laws and institutions, thereby marking the “End of History” for corporate law. This Article responds to such assertions by developing three claims not previously given due attention in the convergence literature. First, it demonstrates that the history of corporations and corporate law has been one of seemingly constant movement toward global convergence, yet the resulting convergence is always incomplete or transitory. Next, it points …
Cross-Border Contributory Patent Infringement In Germany, Heinz Goddar
Cross-Border Contributory Patent Infringement In Germany, Heinz Goddar
Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts
This Article examines recent German court decisions analyzing Section 10 of the German Patent Act (“PatG”), which governs cases of contributory patent infringement, focusing in particular on the implications of recent decisions on potential cross-border infringement. The Article offers recommendations on how judicial scrutiny of contributory infringement in Germany may be streamlined in light of potential evidentiary problems and concludes with a case study of how German courts might analyze a situation like that faced by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in AT&T v. Microsoft.
End User Liability For Sofware Developed With Trade Secrets, Jeff Patterson
End User Liability For Sofware Developed With Trade Secrets, Jeff Patterson
Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts
The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) developed the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA) to unify the laws regulating the improper use of secret, economically advantageous information. However, consumers often procure software and other products without knowledge of any trade secrets used in the production of the products. Some companies have sought remedies against end users of products developed using trade secrets. But in Silvaco Data Systems v. Intel Corp., a California appeals court considering this issue in the software context held that execution of compiled object code, which is not easily interpreted by humans, is …
Juror Investigation: Is In-Courtroom Internet Research Going Too Far?, Duncan Stark
Juror Investigation: Is In-Courtroom Internet Research Going Too Far?, Duncan Stark
Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts
Lawyers traditionally have conducted research on potential jurors outside the courtroom as part of voir dire. But as wireless Internet access becomes ubiquitous, attorneys are increasingly likely to conduct juror research inside the courtroom, including during voir dire itself. In the August 2010 decision Carino v. Muenzen, a New Jersey appeals court held that a trial court judge erred when he told a lawyer to close his laptop during voir dire, reasoning that there was no disruption, no resulting prejudice, and no rule against researching jurors online during the proceeding. This Article examines the Carino decision and the issue …
Ninth Circuit Unmasks Anonymous Internet Users And Lowers The Bar For Disclosure Of Online Speakers, Mallory Allen
Ninth Circuit Unmasks Anonymous Internet Users And Lowers The Bar For Disclosure Of Online Speakers, Mallory Allen
Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts
There is no judicial consensus about what test to apply when plaintiffs attempt to obtain the identity of an anonymous Internet user during discovery in an online defamation case. In July 2010, the Ninth Circuit became the first federal appeals court to devise an articulable test to determine when a plaintiff may compel disclosure of an online commentator. Previously, federal courts had applied inconsistent balancing tests to determine whether disclosure was appropriate. In In re Anonymous Online Speakers, the Ninth Circuit relied upon the Delaware state-court standard from Doe v. Cahill but applied this test in a way that …
Discovery Of Breathalyzer Source Code In Dui Prosecutions, Aurora J. Wilson
Discovery Of Breathalyzer Source Code In Dui Prosecutions, Aurora J. Wilson
Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts
In driving under the influence (DUI) cases, prosecutors habitually rely on the results from breathalyzer tests as proof of the defendant’s blood alcohol level at the time of arrest. In response, DUI defendants often attempt to compel discovery of the source code contained in the test device, which can reveal whether the breath test at issue was performed accurately. Despite the popularity of this strategy, nearly all states to consider the issue have denied the defendant’s motion for discovery of breathalyzer source code. The majority of courts construe state and federal rules of criminal procedure to limit discovery orders to …
Global Law And The Environment, Robert V. Percival
Global Law And The Environment, Robert V. Percival
Washington Law Review
This Article explores three areas in which globalization is profoundly affecting the development of a global environmental law. First, countries increasingly are borrowing law and regulatory innovations from one another to respond to common environmental problems. Although this is not an entirely new phenomenon, it is occurring at an unprecedented pace. Second, lawsuits seeking to hold companies liable for environmental harm they have caused outside their home countries are raising new questions concerning the appropriate venue for such transnational liability litigation and the standards courts should apply for enforcement of foreign judgments. Third, nongovernmental organizations are playing an increasingly important …
The Limits Of Global Judicial Dialogue, David S. Law, Wen-Chen Chang
The Limits Of Global Judicial Dialogue, David S. Law, Wen-Chen Chang
Washington Law Review
The notion that “global judicial dialogue” is contributing to the globalization of constitutional law has attracted considerable attention. Various scholars have characterized the citation of foreign law by constitutional courts as a form of “dialogue” that both reflects and fosters the emergence of a common global enterprise of constitutional adjudication. It has also been claimed that increasing direct interaction between judges, face-to-face or otherwise, fuels the growth of a global constitutional jurisprudence. This Article challenges these claims on empirical grounds and offers an alternative account of the actual reasons for which constitutional courts engage in comparative analysis. First, it is …
Renewable Energy Integration Costs: Who Pays And How Much?, Paul Vercruyssen
Renewable Energy Integration Costs: Who Pays And How Much?, Paul Vercruyssen
Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy
Over the past decade major public policy concerns over the environment, national security, the economy, and climate change have converged, creating significant pressure to reform America’s energy system. The result has been a tremendous increase in the use of renewable energy sources with growth only expected to accelerate. This new development represents a radical shift for a nation whose electricity system was built to run on fossil fuels and hydroelectric dams. The electricity grid is a complex interconnected system requiring constant balancing of supply and demand. Using new intermittent technologies like solar and wind requires changes in grid management to …
Rough Seas For Renewable Energy: Addressing Regulatory Overlap For Hydrokinetic Projects On The Outer Continental Shelf, Amanda Righi
Rough Seas For Renewable Energy: Addressing Regulatory Overlap For Hydrokinetic Projects On The Outer Continental Shelf, Amanda Righi
Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy
Hydrokinetic energy harnesses the power of the oceans and generates renewable energy with a low carbon footprint. Because wave and tidal energy projects have not yet been initiated for the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and scientific knowledge of the effects on the ocean environment is uncertain, analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act is particularly important. However, overlapping jurisdiction on the OCS creates an inhospitable regulatory environment for hydrokinetic energy developers and marine ecosystem protection. This comment will analyze these overlapping and duplicative regulations and will make recommendations to streamline the environmental review process. Programmatic environmental impact statements, adaptive management …
Maintaing A Balance: Innovation In Power System Balancing Authorities, Malcolm Mclellan, Carol Opatrny
Maintaing A Balance: Innovation In Power System Balancing Authorities, Malcolm Mclellan, Carol Opatrny
Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy
The introduction of new power generation, including intermittent resources, into the North American electric grid is exposing the fact that the traditional approach to resource integration is not necessarily cost-effective. At the forefront of analysis is the electric balancing authority; the functional structure that is responsible for maintaining the continuous balance of the demand for and supply of electric power. Electric balancing authorities perform this function according to standards developed by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. These services can significantly affect the cost of power. Rather than blindly purchasing balancing services from the …
A Breath Of Fresh Air: Methods And Obstacles For Achieving Air Pollution Reduction In Washington Factory Farm Communities, Linda M. Thompson
A Breath Of Fresh Air: Methods And Obstacles For Achieving Air Pollution Reduction In Washington Factory Farm Communities, Linda M. Thompson
Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy
“Animal feeding operations (AFOs),” or, if large enough, “concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs),” have become increasingly concentrated in ownership, location, and quantity of animals since the 1950s. The Yakima Valley of central Washington is one area that has been subject to an influx of these industrial farms, raising health and environmental concerns for residents. Despite scientific evidence of potential harm, citizens have had difficulty enforcing air emissions regulation. The problem is twofold: the EPA is still working with the industry to develop a methodology for emission monitoring––the effectiveness of which remains unclear––and, assuming monitoring methods existed, the statutory framework provides …
Dewatering Trust Responsibility: The New Klamath River Hydroelectric And Restoration Agreements, Thomas P. Schlosser
Dewatering Trust Responsibility: The New Klamath River Hydroelectric And Restoration Agreements, Thomas P. Schlosser
Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy
In order to protect Indian property rights to water and fish that Indians rely on for subsistence and moderate income, the Interior Department Solicitor has construed federal statutes and case law to conclude that the Department must restrict irrigation in the Klamath River Basin of Oregon and Northern California. Draft legislation, prescribed by the February 18, 2010 Klamath River Hydroelectric Agreement and the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, would release the United States from its trust duty to protect the rights of Indian tribes in the Klamath River Basin. The agreements will also prolong the Clean Water Act Section 401 application …
Injunction Relief: Must Nonparty Websites Obey Court Orders To Remove User Content?, Connor Moran
Injunction Relief: Must Nonparty Websites Obey Court Orders To Remove User Content?, Connor Moran
Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts
Websites are normally immune to suits arising from illegal user-posted content due to 42 USC § 230. Victims of illegal postings must therefore bring suit, if at all, against the original posters. However, when websites refuse to take down illegal content, a suit against an original poster might not provide relief. In the recent case Blockowicz v. Williams, a family won a default judgment against persons posting defamatory content to Ripoff Report. But the plaintiffs could not contact the defendant to enforce the judgment, and thus they sought enforcement of an injunction against Ripoff Report. The court refused because …
Fair Notice: Providing For Electronic Document Transmissions To Shareholders In Washington State, James L. Proctor Jr.
Fair Notice: Providing For Electronic Document Transmissions To Shareholders In Washington State, James L. Proctor Jr.
Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts
In 2008, Washington State amended Wash. Rev. Code § 23B.01.410 to allow electronic transmission of materials accompanying corporate notices to shareholders. This amendment, combined with an earlier change allowing corporations operating within the state to notify shareholders through certain types of electronic transmissions, incorporated several Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) suggestions to expand the authorized uses of Internet-based technology to communicate with shareholders. However, corporations operating across state lines are subject to a complex variety of state notice requirements. These differences create an uneven national standard for which types of electronic communication constitute sufficient notice. This statutory variance compels corporations …
Broadcasting Expectations: An Unprotected Wireless Network Takes On Constitutional Dimensions, Duncan Stark
Broadcasting Expectations: An Unprotected Wireless Network Takes On Constitutional Dimensions, Duncan Stark
Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts
In January 2010, the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon decided U.S. v. Ahrndt, the first case regarding the reasonable expectation of privacy in a home wireless internet network. The court found that the defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy in his unsecured home wireless network because he had openly shared information on a system freely accessible by his neighbors. This Article examines the Ahrndt case and the potential legal effect this issue may have on an individual’s expectation of privacy in his or her wireless network and personal computer files. This Article concludes that although …