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Tort Law's Deterrent Effect And Procedural Due Process, Jill W. Lens
Tort Law's Deterrent Effect And Procedural Due Process, Jill W. Lens
Jill Wieber Lens
The defendants in Philip Morris USA v. Williams and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes claimed a right to present defenses. The defendants also both claimed that the mechanisms in place in those cases — the consideration of nonparties in imposing punitive damages and the use of sampling to litigate a large class action — violated that right. The Supreme Court agreed, a death knell for the advocated use of both mechanisms to counteract tort law’s under-litigation problem: the fact that not all injured persons sue, precluding tort law’s ability to achieve effective deterrence.
This Article argues that procedural due process …