Law Commons^™

Allegedly "Biased", "Intimidating," And "Incompetent" State Court Judges And The Questionable Removal Of State Law Class Actions To Purportedly "Impartial" And "Competent" Federal Courts -- A Historical Analysis Of Class Action Dispositions In Federal And State Courts, 1925-2011, Willy E. Rice

William & Mary Business Law Review

Judges as well as members of plaintiffs’ and defense bars agree: a class action is a superior, efficient, and inexpensive procedural tool to litigate disputes that present similar questions of fact and law. To be sure, corporations and insurers have a long history of filing successful class actions against each other in state courts. Yet those corporate entities convinced Congress to embrace an uncommon view: continuing to allow allegedly “hostile” and “biased” state judges and juries to hear and decide everyday consumers’ “purely substantive state law class actions” is unfair and inefficient. Responding to the plea, Congress enacted the Class …

Allocating Loss In Securities Fraud: Time To Adopt A Uniform Rule For The Special Case Of Ponzi Schemes, Grant Christensen

William & Mary Business Law Review

The global financial crisis precipitated a condensing of capital and a fall in global equities markets that not only resulted in the necessity of government bailouts of the financial industry, but also exposed a number of Ponzi schemes that collectively will cost investors tens of billions of dollars. With a new wave of litigation by innocent investors against Ponzi scheme operators just beginning, and likely to take years to finish, it becomes important to clearly identify the methodologies used to value the loss and allocate existing assets among the remaining creditors. To that end, this Article argues that courts ought …

The Exit Tax: A Move In The Right Direction, William L. Dentino, Christine Manolakas

William & Mary Business Law Review

Citizenship-based taxation was first enacted during the Civil War, in large part to express congressional disapproval of wealthy individuals who fled abroad to avoid bearing the financial and physical burdens of the war. A century later, motivated by a desire to encourage foreign investment in the United States, Congress passed legislation in 1966 that offered significant tax incentives to nonresident aliens, thereby creating an opportunity for tax abuse. To discourage U.S. citizens from expatriating to avoid U.S. taxation, Congress contemporaneously enacted I.R.C. section 877, which taxes expatriates on certain U.S.-source income for a ten-year period after expatriation. Congress, and the …

The Search For America's Most Eligible Patent: The Impact Of The Bilski Decision On Obtaining Patents For Processes And Business Methods, Mark Connolly

William & Mary Business Law Review

For one year, the business community, patent lawyers, and the media in the United States speculated as to how the Supreme Court would rule in Bilski v. Kappos. Some forecasted the end of all business method patents, while others advanced the idea that after the case, practically any business method could be patented. When the dust settled, the Court’s holding did neither: it determined that the machine-or-transformation test is not the exclusive test for patent eligibility under Section 101, and left open the possibility for business method patents to withstand future challenges.

While this result frustrated many that advocated for …

America's Energy Dependency: Will Government Regulation Of Caffeine Bring The Caffeine Companies To A Crash?, Rakesh J. Parikh

William & Mary Business Law Review

In light of Americans’ growing love affair with caffeinated products, this Note considers not only the possibility of future regulation of those products, but also the effect that regulation would have on caffeinated product-producing companies. While there is no certainty that such regulation is in our future, the regulation of market-similar products like tobacco and alcohol, and regulations abroad on heavily caffeinated drinks, suggest American regulation of caffeinated products to be a distinct possibility. This would be a serious concern for caffeine companies, who could face reduced access to target markets as a result of FDA-imposed limitations, whether by age …

The Bloody Truth: Examining America's Blood Industry And Its Tort Liability Through The Arkansas Prison Plasma Scandal, Sophia Chase

William & Mary Business Law Review

Most of the time, blood transfusions are safe. Over the years, however, tragedies connected to tainted blood and blood products have ripped through communities on an international scale. Blood contaminated with hepatitis C, HIV, and hepatitis B has sickened and killed recipients, causing financial, political, and legal repercussions for those found responsible.

This Note seeks to explore one such tragedy: the Arkansas Prison Plasma Scandal. Occurring between 1982 and 1994 at the Cummins Prison in Grady, Arkansas, the scandal stemmed from the operation of a blood product center in which prisoners “bled” in exchange for $7 to $10 per donation. …

Insider Trading, Informed Trading, And Market Making: Liquidity Of Securities Markets In The Zero-Sum Game, Stanislav Dolgopolov

William & Mary Business Law Review

This Article reexamines the nexus of relationships among informed transactions, information asymmetry, and liquidity of securities markets in the context of public policy debates about insider trading and its regulation.The Article analyzes this nexus, with the emphasis on recent empirical studies and developments in the securities industry, from a variety of perspectives and considers the validity of the alleged link between insider trading—as opposed to other forms of informed trading—and market liquidity as a justification for the existence of regulation.

Seeking True Financial Reform: Ending The Debt-Equity Distinction, Joseph B. Allen

William & Mary Business Law Review

This Note identifies the failure of Congress to address tax incentives for leverage as a principal cause of the recent financial crisis and a fundamental flaw of recent financial reform legislation. Specifically, the Internal Revenue Code provides substantially disparate tax treatment for debt and equity financing by allowing firms to deduct interest payments on indebtedness, but not providing an equivalent deduction for equity funding. This “debt-equity distinction” artificially reduces the cost of capital for debt financing relative to equity financing and encourages firms to over-employ leverage in their capital structure. This in turn increases financial distress costs and externalities to …

Twenty Questions About An Individual Debtor's Name Under Amended Article 9 Section 9-503(A)(4) Alternative A, Richard H. Nowka

William & Mary Business Law Review

This Article answers questions created by the financing statement requirements for sufficiency of the name of an individual debtor under the amendments to Uniform Commercial Code Article 9—Secured Transactions. An individual debtor in a security interest transaction could be known by various names: birth certificate name, driver’s license name, passport name, or nickname. Revised Article 9 provides no guidance on what name is the correct name of the debtor for entry on the financing statement, and a financing statement that does not provide the correct name of the debtor does not perfect the security interest. To resolve this problem, the …

Compatible Or Conflicting: The Promotion Of A High Level Of Employment And The Consumer Welfare Standard Under Article 101, Tom C. Hodge

William & Mary Business Law Review

The antitrust, or competition, regime of the European Union (EU) differs substantially from that of the United States, because EU competition law forms part of the EU Treaties and is therefore imbibed with the multiple values of the European Union itself. Accordingly, it is by no means clear or settled if the anti-cartel law of the European Union, Article 101 TFEU, must focus solely on a consumer welfare standard or must also consider the broad and multiple policy aims enshrined in the EU Treaties. If Article 101 must balance multiple aims, this would be in stark contrast to Section 1 …

Hawala's Charm: What Banks Can Learn From Informal Funds Transfer Systems, Arya Hariharan

William & Mary Business Law Review

Hawala networks, or Informal Funds Transfer Systems (IFTS), are age-old means of conducting cross-border financial transactions. They thrive in regions where there is inadequate or nonexistent financial infrastructure due to poverty, daunting geography, or endemic conflict. Such regions are home to poor and underserved communities hungry for and in desperate need of financial services. IFTS provide access to these relatively ignored markets through the use of specific transactional mechanisms, payment modalities, and clearing and settlement options. With these innovative and flexible techniques, IFTS have successfully tapped into the exponentially growing global remittance market. Hawala networks are also used by NGOs …

This Business Of "Procuring Cause" In Virginia, Robert Luther Iii

William & Mary Business Law Review

This Article aims to provide a basic overview of Virginia law resulting from suits for sales commissions, with a special emphasis on “procuring cause” case law. By thinking ahead to the kinds of issues that have resulted in the recovery or failure of sales commissions by agents in past sales commission cases, real estate litigators will be in a better position to advise their clients. To that end, this Article further seeks to serve as a brief, yet stout, reference resource for real estate litigators and members of the Virginia bench confronted with facts directed towards this often nuanced area …

Ncaa Scholarship Restrictions As Anticompetitive Measures: The One-Year Rule And Scholarship Caps As Avenues For Antitrust Society, Neil Gibson

William & Mary Business Law Review

By referencing the historical record to expose the NCAA’s one-year rule and per sport scholarship limits as cost-cutting, anticompetitive measures imposing harmful effects upon scholarship-seeking student athletes, this Note argues that despite the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana’s unfavorable ruling in Agnew v. NCAA, a Sherman Act claim against the NCAA linking bachelor’s degrees and scholarships could be legally viable. In particular, just application of the quick look rule of reason, an abbreviated form of antitrust analysis, could lead a court to find the NCAA’s one-year rule and per sport scholarship caps as violative of …