Law Commons^™

To Transfer Or Not To Transfer: Identifying And Protecting Human Rights Interests In Non-Refoulment, Vijay Padmanabhan

Fordham Law Review

Human rights law imposes upon States an absolute duty not to transfer an individual to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing he or she will be tortured or subjected to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. This protection, called non-refoulement, emanates from a theory of human rights that recognizes rights fulfillment requires States to protect those within their jurisdiction from rights violations perpetrated by third parties, including other States. Generally human rights law recognizes that resource constraints and/or competing rights restrict protection duties. But such limitations have not been recognized in the non-refoulement context. In recent years the …

The Honor Of Private Law, Nathan Oman

Fordham Law Review

While combativeness is central to how our culture both experiences and conceptualizes litigation, we generally notice it only as a regrettable cost. This Article offers a less squeamish vision, one that sees in the struggle of people suing one another a morally valuable activity: the vindication of insulted honor. This claim is offered as a normative defense of a civil recourse approach to private law. According to civil recourse theorists, tort and contract law should be seen as empowering plaintiffs to act against defendants, rather than as economically optimal incentives or as a means of enforcing duties of corrective justice. …

The Philip D. Reed Lecture Series: The State Secrets Privilege And Access To Justice: What Is The Proper Balance?, The Honorable Robert D. Sack, The Honorable John D. Bates, Douglas Letter, Ben Wizner

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Errata

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Books Received

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Statutory Disorganization Of The Inferior Courts Of New York City , James Randall Creel

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Don't Blame Me, Blame The Financial Crisis: A Survey Of Dismissal Rulings In 10b-5 Suits For Subprime Securities Losses, Christopher J. Miller

Fordham Law Review

This Note surveys thirty-four district court decisions on motions to dismiss in actions brought under SEC Rule 10b-5 for losses suffered during the recent financial crisis. This Note focuses on issues of scienter and loss causation, the elements of a 10b-5 claim most likely to be affected by a market-wide downturn. In the opinions surveyed, successfully pleading scienter proved the biggest hurdle for plaintiffs in surviving a motion to dismiss, and this Note proceeds to analyze the factors that influenced whether a district court found scienter to be adequately pleaded. This Note also examines efforts by both plaintiffs and defendants …

Presidential Succession And Inability: Before And After The Twenty-Fifth Amendment, John D. Feerick

Fordham Law Review

The Framers of the Constitution did not spend a great deal of time on the succession provisions, but just enough to get the nation started. The Twenty-Fifth Amendment answered questions they left open in the area of presidential inability and gave further significance to the Vice Presidency, which had been adopted almost as an afterthought. As strong as the system of presidential succession may appear, complacency can easily set in, leading to an unwillingness to confront gaps and defects that reveal themselves along the way.

Several gaps in the area of presidential inability are triggered by the absence of any …

Dna And Due Process, Brandon L. Garrett

Fordham Law Review

The U.S. Supreme Court in District Attorney’s Office v. Osborne confronted novel and complex constitutional questions regarding the postconviction protections offered to potentially innocent convicts. Two decades after DNA testing exonerated the first inmate in the United States, the Court heard its first claim by a convict seeking DNA testing that could prove innocence. I argue that, contrary to early accounts, the Court did not reject a constitutional right to postconviction DNA testing. Despite language suggesting the Court would not “constitutionalize the issue” by announcing an unqualified freestanding right, Chief Justice Roberts’s majority opinion proceeded to carefully fashion an important, …

The Compatibility Of Patent Law And The Internet, Jeanne C. Fromer

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Nepa At The Limits Of Risk Assessment: Whether To Discuss A Potential Terrorist Attack On A Nuclear Power Plant Under The National Environment Policy Act, Michael Hill

Fordham Law Review

This Note explores the question of whether to address the environmental impacts of a potential terrorist attack on a nuclear power plant under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit assert that the risk of terrorism is unquantifiable and too remote to warrant consideration under NEPA. In contrast, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit concludes that the risk is foreseeable enough that it cannot be disregarded as a matter of law and that a qualitative discussion of a range of potential impacts is …

Behind The Music: Determining The Relevant Constitutional Standard For Statutory Damages In Copyright Infringement Suits, Colin Morrissey

Fordham Law Review

Record labels have brought thousands of copyright infringement lawsuits against individuals engaged in the online downloading and distribution of music. As these lawsuits work their way through the court system, a debate has emerged over the constitutionality of the large statutory damage awards some juries have awarded. In arguing that the copyright statute results in unconstitutional damage awards, commentators as well as defendants accused of copyright infringement contend that courts should apply the rigorous standard of review for punitive damages that the U.S. Supreme Court adopted in BMW of North America v. Gore to find large statutory damage awards unconstitutional. …

Judge Or Jury? Determining Deception Or Misrepresentation Under The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Christian Stueben

Fordham Law Review

This Note explores the conflict among the federal circuit courts as to whether a judge or jury should decide if the language contained in a collection letter is false, misleading, or deceptive to the least sophisticated consumer under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). Some circuits, such as the Second and Ninth Circuits, hold that this issue is a question of law, appropriate for the judge to decide. In contrast, the Seventh Circuit finds this to be a question of fact, and requires the plaintiff to submit extrinsic evidence in the form of professional surveys in order to reach …

New York: The Next Mecca For Judgment Creditors? An Analysis Of Koehler V. Bank Of Bermuda Ltd., Damien H. Weinstein

Fordham Law Review

New York may have just become a great place to be a judgment creditor. In the summer of 2009, the Court of Appeals of New York handed down its decision in Koehler v. Bank of Bermuda Ltd. In Koehler, the court upheld a turnover order directing a garnishee to transfer a nonresident judgment debtor’s assets, deposited in a Bermuda bank, into New York. Under Koehler, assets anywhere in the world may now be garnishable in New York so long as the garnishee is subject to the state’s jurisdiction. This decision greatly broadens New York courts’ power to enforce judgments by …

Using Disparate Impact Analysis In Fair Housing Act Claims: Landlord Withdrawal From The Section 8 Voucher Program, Rebecca Tracy Rotem

Fordham Law Review

The Fair Housing Act (FHA) outlaws discrimination in housing based on race, color, religion, national origin, and sex. A plaintiff can win an FHA claim using a disparate impact theory by showing that the defendant’s actions had a disproportionately adverse impact on a protected class. This Note will address a circuit court split on whether a landlord can be held liable for discrimination under the FHA for withdrawing from the Section 8 voucher program. Section 8 is a government program that provides low-income citizens with vouchers to pay a portion of their rent. Many voucher recipients are minorities or persons …

The Cafa Mass Action Numerosity Requirement: Three Problems With Counting To 100, Guyon Knight

Fordham Law Review

This Note examines the mass action provision of the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA) and the difficulties courts have encountered when applying its seemingly simple 100-person numerosity requirement. “Mass actions” are a broad category of nonclass aggregate litigation over which CAFA extended federal jurisdiction. This Note examines three interpretations of the numerosity requirement advanced in recent cases. These interpretations have advocated, in turn, not finding a mass action when a case has more than 100 formally joined plaintiffs, recognizing the existence of a single mass action broken up among parallel suits with fewer than 100 plaintiffs, and finding …

Strictly Wrong As A Tax Policy: The Strict Liability Penalty Standard In Noneconomic Substance Transactions, Mik Shin-Li

Fordham Law Review

This Note analyzes the propriety of using a strict liability standard to assess tax penalties for transactions lacking economic substance. Noneconomic substance transactions lack legitimate business objectives and exist only to produce tax benefits. Under current law, the Internal Revenue Service can disallow the tax benefit claimed by the taxpayer and then assess a penalty for the taxpayer’s understatement of tax liability. In response, the taxpayer can assert a reasonable cause exception, which can serve as a defense to the penalty should the taxpayer demonstrate that he had reasonable basis for his tax position. In the last decade, numerous legislative …

The Economic Downturn And The Legal Profession, Foreword: The Great Recession And The Legal Profession, Eli Wald

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Prospective Compensation In Lieu Of A Final Injunction In Patent And Copyright Cases, H. Tomas Gomez-Arostegui

Fordham Law Review

In a 2006 decision, eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C., the U.S. Supreme Court held that traditional equitable factors apply to injunctions in patent and copyright cases, and therefore the mere fact that a defendant has infringed a patent or a copyright does not necessarily mean a final injunction must issue. In the three years since, lower courts have denied final injunctions more frequently than before and are now struggling with what relief, if any, to give prevailing plaintiffs in lieu of an injunction. Some courts permit plaintiffs to sue again later. But most award prospective relief to plaintiffs¾sometimes a lump-sum …

So, You Want To Be A Lawyer? The Quest For Professional Status In A Changing Legal World, Joyce S. Sterling, Nancy Reichman

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Risk Of Risk Management, Stephan Landsman

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Listening To Cassandra: The Difficulty Of Recognizing Risks And Taking Action, Carol A. Needham

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Paradoxes Of Pro Bono, Richard Abel

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Managing Pro Bono: Doing Well By Doing Better, Scott L. Cummings, Deborah L. Rhode

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Getting A Fix On Cocaine Sentencing Policy: Reforming The Sentencing Scheme Of The Anti-Drug Abuse Act Of 1986, Alyssa L. Beaver

Fordham Law Review

The now-infamous “War on Drugs” campaign of the 1980s culminated in the adoption of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, which included a provision for a one-hundred-to-one sentencing ratio of powder cocaine to crack cocaine. This ratio provides that the penalty for a crime involving five or ten grams of crack cocaine is equivalent to the sentence for a crime involving five hundred or one thousand grams of powder cocaine. This structure has led to a racial disparity in sentencing because African Americans are more often charged with a crack cocaine offense than Caucasians, who are usually indicted for powder …

Skeptical Internationalism: A Study Of Whether International Law Is Law, Joshua Kleinfeld

Fordham Law Review

Should international law be understood as a form of law at all? The premise here is that if we are to get some purchase on that question, we should consult the experience of international law in operation. The analysis proceeds in two steps. First, the Article takes up the litigation connected to the Israeli/West Bank barrier, asking whether that case was or could have been addressed in such a way as to keep faith with minimal principles of legality. It wasn’t, the Article finds, but it could have been. Second, the Article specifies four values that are constitutive elements of …

Lightening The Load: Whether The Burden Of Proof For Overcoming A Patent's Presumption Of Validity Should Be Lowered, Kristen Dietly

Fordham Law Review

Patents fuel innovation and are becoming an ever-more important form of protection in this technological age. Society also has a vested interest in only valid patents being issued and enforced. Patents are presumed valid once they are issued and also currently enjoy the application of a heavy burden of proof—clear and convincing evidence—to overcome that presumption when their validity is questioned at trial. This burden has started to be questioned as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office becomes more taxed by the increasing influx of patent applications. Current precedent conflicts with past precedent and with general principles of administrative law. …

The Rule 10b-5 Suit: Loss Causation Pleading Standards In Private Securities Fraud Claims After Dura Pharmaceuticals, Inc. V. Broudo, Evan Hill

Fordham Law Review

In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Dura Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Broudo. The Court held that a plaintiff alleging securities fraud must prove that a defendant’s misrepresentation caused actual economic loss. The Dura decision put to rest the loss causation standard applied by several U.S. courts of appeals, which allowed plaintiffs to merely plead that a misrepresentation caused an artificially inflated purchase price. However, in Dura’s wake, the circuit courts have fashioned divergent standards with respect to pleading loss causation. The courts currently apply pleading standards ranging from the lenient and generally applicable Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a) to …

Introduction, William Michael Treanor

Fordham Law Review

In view of the profound importance of questions of presidential succession and the lack of attention paid to them, this issue of the Fordham Law Review is, very simply, a great public service. It presents the papers produced by The Adequacy of the Presidential Succession System in the 21st Century Symposium, which was held at Fordham Law School on April 16 and April 17, 2010. Sitting in the audience during the Symposium and listening to the papers presented here, I was struck by how many gaps there are in our current system and what dangers those gaps pose.

It was …

A Modern Father Of Our Constitution: An Interview With Former Senator Birch Bayh

Fordham Law Review

Following the death of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, Birch Bayh, then a freshman Senator from Indiana, undertook a remarkable campaign to amend the U.S. Constitution and address gaps in our system of presidential succession. The effort to ratify the Twenty-Fifth Amendment was orderly, swift, and effective. In leading this campaign, Senator Bayh took his first step in becoming the only American since the Founding Fathers to draft more than one amendment to the Constitution. As part of this Symposium, the Fordham Law Review sought to merge constitutional theory with historical context and the practicalities of lawmaking surrounding the …