Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Elizabeth Chamblee Burch

Selected Works

2009

Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Law

Litigating Groups, Elizabeth Chamblee Burch Dec 2008

Litigating Groups, Elizabeth Chamblee Burch

Elizabeth Chamblee Burch

Large-scale litigation, such as the Vioxx, Zyprexa, and asbestos cases, breeds conflict. Conflicts arise between attorneys and their clients (agency problems), plaintiffs and other plaintiffs (group problems), and plaintiffs’ attorneys and other plaintiffs’ attorneys (competition problems). Although these cases cannot be certified as class actions, they still proceed en masse to achieve economies of scale and present a credible threat to defendants. Assuming that coordinating and consolidating large-scale litigation is systemically desirable, this Article explores a new approach to removing the group and agency problems that increase aggregate litigation’s costs and undermine its normative goals such as fairness, compensation, and …

Go to article

A New Way Forward: A Response To Judge Weinstein, Elizabeth Chamblee Burch Dec 2008

A New Way Forward: A Response To Judge Weinstein, Elizabeth Chamblee Burch

Elizabeth Chamblee Burch

This short essay responds to Judge Jack Weinstein's essay, Preliminary Reflections on Administration of Complex Litigations, 2009 Cardozo De Novo 1. In so doing, it also provides a condensed version of my earlier article, Litigating Groups, which analyzes group dynamics within nonclass aggregation. By drawing on the literature of moral and political philosophy as well as social psychology, I contend that, in the face of hard cases, of instability and disunity, plaintiffs who have made promises and assurances to one another can invoke social norms of promise-keeping, social agglomeration, compatibility, and the desire for means-end coherence to achieve consensus, mitigate …

Go to article

There's A Pennoyer In My Foyer: Civil Procedure According To Dr. Seuss, Elizabeth Chamblee Burch Dec 2008

There's A Pennoyer In My Foyer: Civil Procedure According To Dr. Seuss, Elizabeth Chamblee Burch

Elizabeth Chamblee Burch

There’s A Pennoyer in My Foyer: Civil Procedure According to Dr. Seuss is what it purports to be: a Seussian take on civil procedure. It’s a short, fun essay that covers (1) the iron triangle of civil procedure—the role of lawyers, judges, and juries, and (2) prominent civil procedure doctrines, such as personal jurisdiction, Erie, pleading, discovery, and joinder.

Go to article

Procedural Justice In Nonclass Aggregation, Elizabeth Chamblee Burch Dec 2008

Procedural Justice In Nonclass Aggregation, Elizabeth Chamblee Burch

Elizabeth Chamblee Burch

Nonclass aggregate litigation is risky for plaintiffs: it falls into the gray area between individual litigation and certified class actions. Although scholars have formulated procedural protections for both extremes, the unique danger and allure posed by nonclass aggregation has been undertheorized, leaving mass tort claimants with inadequate safeguards. When hallmark features of mass torts include attenuated attorney-client relationships, numerous litigants, and the demise of adversarial legalism, the attorney-client relationship itself becomes another bargaining chip in the exchange of rights. This Article takes the initial steps toward advancing a cohesive theory of procedural justice in nonclass aggregation by exposing the problem …

Go to article