Law Commons^™

Measuring The Deterrent Effect Of Punitive Damages, Theodore Eisenberg

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Professor Viscusi's article differs from the dominant mode of law and economics scholarship on punitive damages. The usual punitive damages article contains purely theoretical considerations about when punitive damages are appropriate and about their optimal level; no effort is made to ascertain whether the existing pattern of punitive awards corresponds with the theory. This is part of a larger problem: the dearth of empirical evidence in law and economics scholarship. Viscusi, on the other hand, provides empirical tests of whether punitive damages accomplish their goals, and he makes creative use of publicly available data sources. For the goal of his …

Acts Of God Or Toxic Torts? Applying Tort Principles To The Problem Of Climate Change, Eduardo M. Peñalver

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The problem of climate change continues to be an intractable one for policymakers. Uncertainties over the likely costs of climate change as well as over the costs of proposed remedies have hampered the formation of a consensus regarding the best course of action. The principles of tort law provide a useful means of analyzing the problem of climate change, particularly the issue of who should bear the costs associated with its effects. The two major goals of tort law (reducing the costs of accidents and corrective justice) both point towards the appropriateness of placing the costs of climate change on …

Constitutional Remedies, Section 1983 And The Common Law, Michael L. Wells

Scholarly Works

Constitutional tort law marries the substantive rights granted by the Constitution to the remedial mechanism of tort law. The sweeping language of 42 U.S.C. 1983 provides that "[e]very person who, under color of any [state law] subjects, or causes to be subjected, any [person] to the deprivation of any [constitutional rights] shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress." Constitutional tort suits raise, in a new context, many tort-like remedial questions relating to causation, immunity, and damages--and therein lies a problem. The usual source of answers to …

Tort Claims Against The State: Georgia's Compensation System, R. Perry Sentell Jr.

Scholarly Works

The State's immunity from liability for the torts of its officers and employees claims legendary status in American law. Indeed, immunity's history now looms as daunting as the doctrine itself. As with most epochal accounts, this history varies according to version--versions, assuredly, for many tastes. In sum, nevertheless, the offerings attest to a legal principle persisting as (at least) the point of departure in most jurisdictions. Anchored in both history and rationale, therefore, state tort immunity long dominated the law of the United States. Over time, indeed, the doctrine's durability proved unequal only to that of its critics. Those critics …

Replacing Strict Liability With A Contract-Based Products Liability Regime, Richard C. Ausness

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

When strict products liability first appeared on the scene some thirty-five years ago, it was heralded as a boon to consumers whose claims to compensation had hitherto been frustrated by the law of sales. Warranty law, it was said, worked fairly well in purely "commercial" transactions, but tort law did a better job in cases where ordinary consumers suffered personal injuries or property damage from defective products. To be sure, defenders of warranty law pointed out that the newly-drafted Uniform Commercial Code (the "Code" or "U.C.C.") was much more consumer friendly than the old Uniform Sales Act. Nevertheless, the proponents …

Achieving Consensus On Defective Product Design, James A. Henderson Jr., Aaron Twerski

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Politics Of The Products Liability Restatement, James A. Henderson Jr., Aaron Twerski

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Civil (Tort) Litigation: The Search For Data Continues, Thomas A. Eaton

Scholarly Works

What do we "know" about tort litigation in Georgia? How many tort suits are filed? What kinds of cases are filed? How many settle and how many go to trial? Do jurors tend to rule in favor of one party or the other? What are the typical damages awarded in cases in which the plaintiff prevails? How often are punitive damages awarded?

The Politics Of The Products Liability Restatement, Aaron Twerski, J. A. Henderson

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Employer Liability For Supervisors' Intentional Torts: The Uncertain Scope Of The "Alter Ego" Exception, Michael Hayes, Quinn Broverman

All Faculty Scholarship

When Illinois employees are the victims of intentional torts by supervisors, can they bring common law tort suits against their employers for these injuries, or are they limited to bringing a claim under the workers' compensation system? This question, which arises with unfortunate reguIarity, lacks a clear answer because both state and federal courts in Illinois are divided over the scope of the "alter ego" exception to the exclusivity of workers' compensation as the remedy for intentionally inflicted workplace injuries.

The Illinois Workers' Compensation Act ("IWCA") contains exclusivity provisions that mandate that workers' compensation is the sole remedy available to …

Achieving Consensus On Defective Product Design, Aaron Twerski, J. A. Henderson

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Tale Of A Tail, James F. Hogg

Faculty Scholarship

The commercial general liability insurance industry shifted, in 1986, from the use of an “occurrence-based” to a “claims-made” policy form. So-called “tail” or “long tail” claims have continued nevertheless, to be asserted under the older “occurrence” policies which required that injury occur during the term of the policy, but not that the claim for such injury be made or brought at any particular time. In seeking state approval to use the new “claims-made” form in 1985-86, the insurance industry represented that the new form would not affect coverage under the old “occurrence” form. Despite that representation, insurers are now asserting, …

Medtronic V. Lohr: For Want Of A Word, The Patient Was Almost Lost - Fixing The Mischief Caused In Cipollone By Dividing The Preemption Stream, Suzanne Darrow-Kleinhaus

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

The Plausibility Of Legally Protecting Reasonable Expectations, Bailey Kuklin

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Liability Of The Automobile And Motorcycle Manufacturers And Their Suppliers For Defective Products In The United States Compared To Germany, Daniel Karl Robyn

LLM Theses and Essays

This thesis deals with the lability of automobile and motorcycle manufacturers, as well as their suppliers, in situations where a defective product causes a harmful event. Specifically, it compares the product liability laws of the Federal Republic of Germany to those of the United States of America. Before entering into the details of legal doctrine, the introductory note provides background information on the social and economic aspects of automobile use in those two countries. Next, Chapter I describes the liability regime governing claims against German motor vehicle manufacturers and their suppliers. Chapter II focuses on the comparable law in the …

Rape In Wartime: Redress In United States Courts Under The Alien Tort Claims Act, Susana Sácouto

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Disability And Income Loss Benefits Under The Minnesota No-Fault Act, Michael K. Steenson

Faculty Scholarship

The Minnesota No-Fault Automobile Insurance Act was intended to ensure the “prompt payment of specific basic economic loss benefits to victims of automobile accidents without regard to whose fault caused the accident,” to prevent overcompensation of less seriously injured people by the interposition of tort thresholds, and to encourage appropriate medical and rehabilitation treatment by assuring prompt payment for that treatment. It seems clear that at least some of the initial promise of the Act has not been fulfilled. Payment of basic economic loss benefits, which the legislature intended to be paid promptly, has become bogged down in a quagmire …

Industrial Espionage As Unfair Competition, Robert L. Tucker

Akron Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Products Liability Law Restated, David G. Owen

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Discussion And A Defense Of The Restatement (Third) Of Torts: Products Liability, James A. Henderson Jr.

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Reconsidering Insurance For Punitive Damages, Tom Baker

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

A Comparative Analysis Of Minnesota Products Liability Law And The Restatement (Third) Of Torts: Products Liability, Michael K. Steenson

Faculty Scholarship

This Article compares the Restatement (Third) of Torts: Products Liability with Minnesota products liability law. The Restatement (Third) of Torts: Products Liability provides a yardstick for measuring products liability law in each individual state. Minnesota's law is largely similar to the rules set out in the Restatement. While Minnesota has not yet adopted all of the positions in all of the rules, the Minnesota Supreme Court has taken positions on the rules governing liability, which are substantially the same. It no longer seems possible to argue that negligence principles do not control in cases involving design defect and failure to …

A One Term Tort Reform Tale: Victimizing The Vulnerable, Andrew F. Popper

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

During its spring 1997 term, Congress passed the Volunteer Protection Act and considered but did not pass the Biomaterials Access Assurance Act of 1997. The Volunteer Protection Act provides a wide range of tort immunities to volunteers working for charitable organizations. The Biomaterials Access Assurance Act would have provided tort immunity to biomaterials producers. In this Article, the author examines the origins and possible implications of both these tort reform proposals from a class-based perspective and within the broader context of the ongoing tort reform debate. The author concludes that both of these proposals ultimately would harm individuals in vulnerable …

Tort Law (Symposium: The Supreme Court And State And Local Government Law: The 1996-97 Term), Leon D. Lazer

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Reason And Pollution: Construing The "Absolute" Pollution Exclusion In Context And In Light Of Its Purpose And Party Expectations, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

Responding to the flurry of environmental coverage litigation over the application of the “sudden and accidental” pollution exclusion, the insurance industry during the mid-1980s largely adopted new standard pollution exclusion language for commercial general liability (CGL) policies. Since the mid-1980s, the standard form CGL has included the so-called absolute pollution exclusion, which provides that the insurance does not apply to bodily injury or property damage “arising out of the actual, alleged or threatened discharge, dispersal, seepage, migration, release, or escape of pollutants.” A “pollutant” is defined as “any solid, liquid, gaseous or thermal irritant or contaminant, including smoke, vapor, soot, …

Recent Case Developments, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

Recent case developments in Insurance law in the year 1998.

Recent Case Developments, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

Recent case developments in Insurance Law in years 1998 and 1999.

Tort Reform Policy More Than State Law Dominates Section 2 Of The Third Restatement, Andrew Popper

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Getting A Handle On Coverage Decisions: If Not Case Law, Then What - Comments On A Paper By Professor William Sage, Maxwell J. Mehlman

Faculty Publications

Comments on Professor William Sage's paper "Judicial Opinons Involving Health Insurance Coverage: Trope L'Oeil or Window on the World."

Law And Economics And Tort Law: A Survey Of Scholarly Opinion, Andrew P. Morriss, John C. Moorhouse, Robert Whaples

Faculty Scholarship

Recent litigation brought against cigarette manufacturers, software companies over potential year 2000 computer problems, and a fast food restaurant for serving coffee that was allegedly too hot reminds us of the importance and dynamic nature of tort law in the United States. Judging from ongoing coverage by newspapers and television, tort law is newsworthy. Yet, as with other legal issues, it is within the covers of law reviews and specialty journals in economics that much of the debate over the social utility of various tort rules and their reform takes place. In that debate law and economics exercises great influence. …