Law Commons^™

Intent To Contract, Gregory Klass

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

There is a remarkable difference between black-letter contract laws of the United States and England. In England, the existence of a contract is supposedly conditioned on the parties' intent to be legally bound, while section 21 of the Second Restatement of Contracts states that "[n]either real nor apparent intention that a promise be legally binding is essential to the formation of a contract." There are also differences within U.S. law on the issue. While section 21 describes courts' approach to most contracts, the parties' intent to contact can be a condition of validity of preliminary agreements, domestic agreements and social …

Attorneys' Fees Agonistes: The Implications Of Inconsistency In The Awarding Of Fees And Costs In International Arbitrations, John Y. Gotanda

Working Paper Series

The awarding of arbitration costs and attorneys’ fees in international arbitrations is often arbitrary and unpredictable. In one recent investment arbitration where the tribunal deciding a case under the auspices of the international Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) had broad discretion to award costs and fees, the tribunal allocated arbitration costs evenly amongst the claimant and respondent and required each party to bear its own fees and expenses, even though the claimant prevailed. In another case where the claimant was successful on its substantive claim, the ICSID tribunal ordered the respondent to pay the claimant US$6 million …

Settlement Raises Questions About Housing Obligations, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

It is well established that zoning regulations which operate in an exclusionary capacity are unconstitutional. However, a bright line has yet to be drawn by either the New York legislature or the New York courts as to what constitutes an exclusionary zoning provision. This article examines several restricted holdings of the New York courts and compares the limited New York legislation, such as the 2008 Long Island Workforce Housing Act, to more powerful state legislation from surrounding states, which have had more success abolishing exclusionary zoning.

Exclusionary Housing Vs. Fair Housing: The Need For State Legislation, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

On September 23rd, Westchester County settled a lawsuit with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Anti-Discrimination Center of Metro New York under which it agreed to develop and carry out an implementation plan to construct 750 affordable housing units in Westchester communities with low percentages of African American and Hispanic households. Under this agreement, the County will provide over $50 million to create housing in these communities; if needed, the County agreed to withhold benefits from the communities or to bring litigation against them if the 750 units are not constructed. The County will be supervised by …

Incarceration American-Style, Sharon Dolovich

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In the United States today, incarceration is more than just a mode of criminal punishment. It is a distinct cultural practice with its own aesthetic and technique, a practice that has emerged in recent decades as a catch-all mechanism for managing social ills. In this essay, I argue that this emergent carceral system has become self-generating—that American-style incarceration, through the conditions it inflicts, produces the very conduct society claims to abhor and thereby guarantees a steady supply of offenders whose incarceration the public will continue to demand. I argue, moreover, that this reproductive process works to create a class of …

Punishing Pharmaceutical Companies For Unlawful Promotion Of Approved Drugs: Why The False Claims Act Is The Wrong Rx, Vicki W. Girard

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article criticizes the shift in focus from correction and compliance to punishment of pharmaceutical companies allegedly violating the Food, Drug, & Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) prohibitions on unlawful drug promotion. Traditionally, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has addressed unlawful promotional activities under the misbranding and new drug provisions of the FD&C Act. Recently though, the Justice Department (DOJ) has expanded the purview of the False Claims Act to include the same allegedly unlawful behavior on the theory that unlawful promotion “induces” physicians to prescribe drugs that result in the filing of false claims for reimbursement. Unchecked and unchallenged, …

On Writ Of Certiorari To The United States Court Of Appeals For The Second Circuit, Stolt-Neilsen S.A., V. Animalfeed International, No. 08-1198 (U.S. Oct. 20, 2009), Cornelia T. Pillard

U.S. Supreme Court Briefs

No abstract provided.

Open Access Week (Retention Of Author Rights), Mark Perry

Law Presentations

No abstract provided.

The 'Absurd Results' Doctrine In State And Local Cases, Steve R. Johnson

Scholarly Publications

A statute will not be applied according to the literal meaning of its words if to do so would produce absurd results. Cases considering this principle have never been in short supply, but the rule has appeared in a striking number of cases in recent months. Accordingly, it is timely to explore this doctrine in this installment of Interpretation Matters.

The first part describes the doctrine generally. The second part identifies a critical question – and point of dispute – about the doctrine: What results can be considered to be absurd enough for the doctrine to apply? The third part …

Ernst Freund, Felix Frankfurter And The American Rechtsstaat: A Transatlantic Shipwreck, 1894-1932, Daniel R. Ernst

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

From the passage of the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 through the New Deal, American legislators commonly endowed administrative agencies with broad discretionary power. They did so over the objections of an intellectual founder of the American administrative state. The American-born, German-educated lawyer and political scientist Ernst Freund developed an Americanized version of the Rechtsstaat—a government bound by fixed and definite rules—in an impressive body of scholarship between 1894 and 1915. In 1920 he eagerly took up an offer from the Commonwealth Fund to finance a comprehensive study of administration in the United States. Here was his chance to show …

October 18, 2009: Where Does Relativism Come From?, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Where Does Relativism Come From?“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

October 16, 2009: Higher Law In The Public Square Meets The High School Cheerleader, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Higher Law in the Public Square Meets the High School Cheerleader“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Cityland – Vol. 6, No. 9, Center For New York City Law

CityLand - 2009

The October 2009 issue of CityLand covers significant land use and preservation developments across New York City. The City Council approved rezoning plans for the 161st Street/River Avenue corridor in the Bronx and for Sunset Park in Brooklyn, aiming to promote affordable housing and contextual development. The Council also approved the Navy Green mixed-use project in Wallabout and a Fort Greene development at 470 Vanderbilt Avenue. The City Planning Commission approved a reduced-height version of the Jean Nouvel-designed MoMA tower and a residential development on City Island. BSA decisions included a denied variance for a commercial building in Staten Island …

Legislative Hearing On Ma Foreclosure Mediation Program Bills: Written Testimony To The Joint Committee On The Judiciary, Susan Jeghelian, Madhawa Palihapitiya

Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration Publications

The inability of homeowners to communicate with holders of securitized mortgage obligations has been a significant barrier to completing affordable loan modifications that might prevent foreclosures or minimize losses and keep more homeowners in their homes. Increasingly, legislators and the courts are looking at mediation as a potential solution to the problem.

In a little over a year, from mid-2008 to mid-2009, more than 25 distinct foreclosure mediation programs were launched in fourteen different states. State legislatures, state supreme courts, and local courts played roles in creating these programs. Mediation is being favored over litigation due to concerns such as …

Summary Of Citizens For Cold Springs V. City Of Reno, 125 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 16, Kristopher Milicevic

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appeal from a district court’s decision to grant the City of Reno’s motion to dismiss for a failure to state a claim. The question on appeal is whether the Citizens for Cold Springs had standing under NRS 268.668 to challenge a land annexation when they did not own the property being annexed.

The International Response To Climate Change: An Agenda For Global Health, Lindsay F. Wiley, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

As the international community negotiates a successor to the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), there is new reason to hope that meaningful action might be taken to prevent devastating climate change. Even the more ambitious mitigation targets currently under negotiation, however, will not be sufficient to avoid a profound effect on the public's health in coming decades, with the world's poorest, most vulnerable populations bearing the disproportionate burden. The influence of historic and current emissions will be so substantial that it is imperative to reduce global emissions while at the same time preparing …

Healthy Planet, Healthy People: Integrating Global Health Into The International Response To Climate Change, Lindsay F. Wiley

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The potentially groundbreaking negotiations currently underway on the international response to climate change and national implementation of commitments under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) include a number of hotly contested issues: (1) what degree of climate change is acceptable as a basis for emissions targets, (2) to what extent and in what ways climate change mitigation should incorporate emissions reductions or increased sinks for developing countries, (3) whether the legal regime governing mitigation can take advantage of the huge mitigation potential of changed practices in the land use and agricultural sectors, (4) how adaptation should be …

Vol. 60, No. 2, October 14, 2009, University Of Michigan Law School

Res Gestae

•John Nannes '73: He's Paying for This Paper •Dean Gregory on Tutors •Question on the Quad •The Dual-Degree Life •The Beer Guy Returns! •The Food Court •Sesquicentennial Style •Kicking It Old School •Between the Briefs

Agenda: Best Practices For Community And Environmental Protection, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center. Intermountain Oil And Gas Bmp Project, Colorado. Oil And Gas Conservation Commission

Best Practices for Community and Environmental Protection (October 14)

The first Intermountain BMP Project workshop, sponsored by the Natural Resources Law Center and the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, was held in Rifle, Colorado on October 14, 2009 at the Garfield County Fairground for over 170 participants.

Speakers from Federal, state and local governments, the community, industry and environmental consultants, and conservation groups focused presentations and discussion on a greater understanding of what Best Management Practices (BMPs) are appropriate to the western slope of Colorado and how they are integrated into developments.

Slides: Best Management Practices: Planning, Leasing, Permitting, Jamie Connell

Best Practices for Community and Environmental Protection (October 14)

Presenter: Jamie Connell, Northwest Colorado District Manager, U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Colorado

23 slides

Slides: Disappearing Roads--An Efd Project: An Exploration Into Low Impact And Efficient Gas Field Drilling, Charles Dolan

Best Practices for Community and Environmental Protection (October 14)

Presenter: Rich Haut, Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC), for Dr. Charles Dolan, University of Wyoming, Environmentally Friendly Drilling Program

25 slides

Slides: Energy By Design: Possible Bmp For Mitigation Planning, Dave Gann

Best Practices for Community and Environmental Protection (October 14)

Presenter: Dave Gann, The Nature Conservancy

15 slides

Slides: Recommended Best Management Practices For Plants Of Concern: Practices Developed To Reduce The Impacts Of Oil And Gas Development Activities To Plants Of Concern, Brian Kurzel, Colorado Rare Plant Conservation Initiative

Best Practices for Community and Environmental Protection (October 14)

Presenter: Brian Kurzel, Colorado Natural Areas Program (CNAP)

27 slides

Slides: Environmentally Friendly Drilling Systems Program (Efd), Rich Haut

Best Practices for Community and Environmental Protection (October 14)

Presenter: Rich Haut, Houston Advanced Research Center

23 slides

Slides: Innovative Best Practices For The Western Slope: Stormwater Management Solutions And Philosophy For The Oil And Gas Industry, Kyle N. Schildt

Best Practices for Community and Environmental Protection (October 14)

Presenter: Kyle N. Schildt, P.E., LT Environmental, Inc.

12 slides

Slides: Rifle, Silt, New Castle Community Development Plan: A Collaborative Planning Approach To Natural Gas Development, Peggy Utesch

Best Practices for Community and Environmental Protection (October 14)

Presenter: Peggy Utesch, Movin' Forward Consulting

25 slides

Slides: Bmp Project, Kent Kuster

Best Practices for Community and Environmental Protection (October 14)

Presenter: Kent Kuster, Consultation Coordinator, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE)

17 slides

Slides: Comprehensive Drilling Plans, Dave Neslin

Best Practices for Community and Environmental Protection (October 14)

Presenter: Dave Neslin, Director, Colorado OIl and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC)

8 slides

Slides: The Use Of Terrestrial Cyanobacteria For The Rehabilitation Of Arid Soils: Not Just Another Good Idea, Timothy Flynn

Best Practices for Community and Environmental Protection (October 14)

Presenter: Dr. Timothy Flynn, Primordial Solutions Inc.

42 slides

Slides: Intermountain Oil And Gas Bmp Project, Kathryn Mutz

Best Practices for Community and Environmental Protection (October 14)

Presenter: Kathryn Mutz, Natural Resources Law Center

19 slides