Law Commons^™

Turning Back The Clock: Reexamining Powel V. Chaminade And The "Capable Of Ascertainment" Standard In Priest Sexual Abuse Litigation, Lauren A. Standlee

Lauren A Standlee

Missouri courts, like most others around the nation, continue to confront the dilemma of how to administer justice when faced with statute of limitations, on one hand, and a victim of childhood sexual abuse by a clergy member, on the other. The Missouri Supreme Court decided Powel v. Chaminade in 2006 and discussed how to apply the statute of limitations, governed in Missouri by the "capable of ascertainment" test, to cases of repressed memory. The article argues that post-Powel Missouri plaintiffs and their attorneys have erroneously viewed Powel’s holding as an invitation to file non-meritorious lawsuits; suits that remain barred …

Protect The Children: Challenges That Result In, And Consequences Resulting From, Inconsistent Prosecution Of Child Pornography Cases In A Technological World, Francis S. Monterosso

Francis S Monterosso

This Note untangles courts’ problems with the prosecution of child pornography defendants and aims to redirect attention to the social impact associated with these crimes. First, Part I provides an introduction to the Note and discusses the background of the Child Pornography Prevention Act. Secondly, Part II sets forth the evolution of the CPPA and its goals and shortcomings. Next, Part III further explains the development of child pornography prosecutions in the United States through two cases that illustrate the government’s desire to prosecute child pornography defendants.

Moreover, Part IV explains the difficulties courts have encountered in the prosecution of …

A Step Too Far - Posthumously Conceived Children And Social Security Entitlements In Vernoff V Astrue, Mel Cousins

Mel Cousins

This case note examines a recent decision of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit concerning the entitlements of posthumously conceived children under social security. In contrast to its earlier (expansionary) decision in Gillett-Netting, here the Court set out the limits to how far it is willing to push the interpretation of the (convoluted) legislation and refused to find a right to benefit where there was no evidence that the father had consented to (or even considered) having a child post-mortem.

Rape As A Weapon Of Peace: A Legal And Psycological Analysis Of How The Pervasive Violence Against Women Leads To The Deterioration Of A Country’S Economy, Health And General Welfare., Lucette Pierre-Louis

Lucette Pierre-Louis Ms.

Much has been written about rape and how it has been used as a weapon of war. In Haiti, the subject of rape has falsely been used as a tactic of peace due to the miniscule role of women. Haiti has neglected to take action to prosecute rape offenders since it is an accepted practice and unmentioned silent crime. This paper will use Haiti as a case study demonstrating how a third world underdeveloped country’s lack of protection against women has a direct impact on the viability of the country.

How Do Local-Level Legal Institutions Promote Development?, Varun Gauri

Varun Gauri

This paper develops a framework and some hypotheses regarding the impact of local-level, informal legal institutions on three economic outcomes: aggregate growth, inequality, and human capabilities. It presents a set of stylized differences between formal and informal legal justice systems, identifies the pathways through which formal systems promote economic outcomes, reflects on what the stylized differences mean for the potential impact of informal legal institutions on economic outcomes, and looks at extant case studies to examine the plausibility of the arguments presented. The paper concludes that local-level, informal legal institutions can support social substitutes for the enforcement of contracts, though …

No Reparations Without Taxation, Carlton Waterhouse, Andre Smith

Carlton Waterhouse

ABSTRACT In the article, Professors Andre Smith and Carlton Waterhouse explore the interesting and rich relationship between reparations and the tax law scholarship. Employing a rich dialogical style, the authors move fluidly between the theoretical and practical aspects of both reparations and tax law in a way that brings both areas of research together. Beyond the slavery reparations tax scams of the earlier part of the decade, the authors reveal an intriguing and important relationship between reparations and the United States tax code previously unexplored. The authors accomplish this in two distinct ways. They begin with an examination of reparations …

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act: An Argument For H.R. 3685, Deborah L. Cook

Deborah L Cook

This article examines the language of H.R. 3685 and compares it to an earlier version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that was introduced in April of 2007 as H.R. 2015. Drawing upon arguments from both conservative and liberal perspectives challenging the Act, this article argues that the latest version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, proposed in September of 2007 as H.R. 3685, offers greater promise for protecting gay, lesbian and bisexual Americans from discrimination in the workplace. The revised Employment Non-Discrimination Act will act to ensure that individuals will be protected regardless of their sexual orientation by the same fundamental …

American With Disabilities Act Amendments Act: The Effect On Employers And Educators, Paul Anthony Race

Paul A Race

The American with Disability Act Amendment Act became law in 2009. In passing the Act, Congress moved to correct a trend by Courts and the EEOC to weaken the coverage of the ADA. The American with Disability Act Amendment Act became law in 2009. In passing the Act, Congress moved to correct a trend by Courts and the EEOC to weaken the coverage of the ADA. In this article, we look at the effects of the ADAAA upon both employers and educators within post-graduate school programs. Pursuant to the Act, institutions will be required to consider accommodations for an increasing …

Change Is Needed; How Latinos Are Affected By The United States Criminal Justice System, Christopher F. Bagnato

Christopher F. Bagnato

Latinos have been present in this country for centuries. They slowly have been making their mark in the communities of this country, usually seen but not really heard or noticed. Yet during the past thirty years the amount of Latino immigrants has skyrocketed. Census projections indicate that Latinos will be the biggest minority population in this county in the near future. The issues with discrimination of Latinos started on the streets with phrases like, “racial profiling” and “driving while brown,” and have moved into new places like the courtroom. Latinos have had to face not only the burden of prejudice …

Thwack!! Take That, User-Generated Content!: Marvel Enterprises, Inc. V. Ncsoft Corp., Carl M. Szabo

Carl M Szabo

Dear Madam or Sir: As seen in the attached note, I am to make two contributions. First, I address the issue of copyright liability of websites for infringement by the website users. A constant struggle as old as the constitution itself, the issue of copyright protection now makes its way into the virtual world of the internet. While the issue of copyright liability has been seen in hundreds of comments and notes from courts and attorneys alike, the issue of copyright liability on the internet remains an open question that if not addressed could endanger the protection afforded to authors …

Zoning For Child Protection: Declaring Communities Unfit For Child Rearing, James G. Dwyer

James G Dwyer

Current zoning law fails to reflect the reality that some geographical areas, however suitable they might be for residence by adults, are not suitable for children, because of the social and physical environment that adult residents have created. The law governing children's welfare and family relationships likewise reflects no consideration of the impact that the quality of parents’ or potential parents’ community can have on children. Yet the world outside children's homes can dramatically affect their well being, even presenting threats to their very survival. This Article is the first to recommend that governments declare some communities unfit for residence …

A Crumbling Pyramid: How The Evolving Jurisprudence Defining “Employee” Under The Adea Threatens The Basic Structure Of The Modern Large Law Firm, Jessica Fink

Jessica Fink

Under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, as well as other federal antidiscrimination laws, only “employees” as defined by the statute are permitted to sue. In recent years, the U.S. Supreme Court and lower courts have provided guidance regarding when partners in large law firms might be deemed “employees” protected by these laws. What has emerged from the courts’ decisions in these cases is a test that places significant emphasis on the amount of power and control that a partner has within a firm: Partners deemed to lack a sufficient amount of power and control within their firms may be …

An Act Of Resistence: Reconceptualizing Andrea Yates' Killing Of Her Children, Shelby A.D. Moore

Shelby A.D. Moore

The definition of domestic violence is broad and includes physical as well as psychological and sexual abuse. The legal system, however, gives considerably less attention to these latter forms of abuse. One reason for the relative neglect of these types of domestic abuse is the assumption that physical abuse causes more harm than do psychological and sexual abuse. In reality these forms of abuse may have a far greater impact on their victims. Apart from physical abuse, greater attention must be given to those who suffer on-going psychological and sexual abuse at the hand of a spouse or intimate partner. …

An Act Of Resistence: Reconceptualizing Andrea Yates' Killing Of Her Children, Shelby A.D. Moore

Shelby A.D. Moore

The definition of domestic violence is broad and includes physical as well as psychological and sexual abuse. The legal system, however, gives considerably less attention to these latter forms of abuse. One reason for the relative neglect of these types of domestic abuse is the assumption that physical abuse causes more harm than do psychological and sexual abuse. In reality these forms of abuse may have a far greater impact on their victims. Apart from physical abuse, greater attention must be given to those who suffer on-going psychological and sexual abuse at the hand of a spouse or intimate partner. …

An Act Of Resistence: Reconceptualizing Andrea Yates' Killing Of Her Children, Shelby A.D. Moore

Shelby A.D. Moore

The definition of domestic violence is broad and includes physical as well as psychological and sexual abuse. The legal system, however, gives considerably less attention to these latter forms of abuse. One reason for the relative neglect of these types of domestic abuse is the assumption that physical abuse causes more harm than do psychological and sexual abuse. In reality these forms of abuse may have a far greater impact on their victims. Apart from physical abuse, greater attention must be given to those who suffer on-going psychological and sexual abuse at the hand of a spouse or intimate partner. …

Of Victims, Villains And Fairy Godmothers: Regnant Tales Of Predatory Lending, Carolyn Grose

carolyn grose

The subprime mortgage crisis has exposed a system of predatory and irresponsible lending on a scale we are only beginning to comprehend. Those initially harmed in this crisis – the canaries in the coal mine – were largely low-income people of color. As the crisis has unfolded, the potential solutions available to such borrowers seem to privilege one kind of legal story over all others: the story of the poor person as a victim in need of rescuing.

In order to win, therefore, lawyers who represent these clients often fall back on a default narrative about their clients as unwitting …

Lessons For Social Scientists And Politicians: An Analysis Of Welfare Reform, Jasmin Sethi

Jasmin Sethi

Despite soaring unemployment and the worst economic crisis in decades, 18 states cut their welfare rolls last year, and nationally the number of people receiving cash assistance remained at or near the lowest in more than 40 years. Escalating unemployment coupled with the impending expiration of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) in 2010, will bring renewed attention to welfare reform. This Article examines the effects of President Clinton’s Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 and in particular, evaluates how social science interacted with politics to culminate in the enactment of the PRWORA. It explicates several …

Lessons For Social Scientists And Politicians: An Analysis Of Welfare Reform, Jasmin Sethi

Jasmin Sethi

Despite soaring unemployment and the worst economic crisis in decades, 18 states cut their welfare rolls last year, and nationally the number of people receiving cash assistance remained at or near the lowest in more than 40 years. Escalating unemployment coupled with the impending expiration of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) in 2010, will bring renewed attention to welfare reform. This Article examines the effects of President Clinton’s Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 and in particular, evaluates how social science interacted with politics to culminate in the enactment of the PRWORA. It explicates several …

The New Sanctuary Movement: When Moral Mission Means Breaking The Law, And The Consequences For Churches And Illegal Immigrants, Kara L. Wild

Kara L. Wild

Are the churches involved in the New Sanctuary Movement -- a movement that hides illegal immigrants in churches to prevent them from being deported -- acting legally? If not, is there a way that they could pursue their goals in a legal manner? The author explores the movement's goal, to win public sympathy and eventual legality for the nation's illegal immigrant population by using methods that were popular during the successful 1980s Sanctuary Movement. The author examines the differences between the 1980s Movement and the current one, the likelihood of success for the New Sanctuary Movement's legal arguments, and the …

Finding A Reasonable Way To Enforce The Reasonable Efforts Requirement In Child Protection Cases, Jeanne M. Kaiser

Jeanne M. Kaiser

Abstract: Under federal law, state child protection agencies are required to exert “reasonable efforts” to reunite abused and neglected children with their parents before seeking to terminate parental rights and free the children for adoption. The scope of this requirement is undefined in federal statutes and in the statutory law of many states. As a result, it has fallen to appellate courts to determine the degree of effort a state agency must exert before the relationship between a parent and a child is severed. This has proven no easy task. By the time a parental termination case has reached an …

The Long Road To Self Determination, Sarah Chilim Ihn

Sarah Chilim Ihn

East Los Angeles is widely considered as the heart of Southern California’s strong and vibrant Mexican American community – yet, it is also an unincorporated area whose only general purpose government is provided by Los Angeles County, the most populous county in the nation. Through the lens of East Los Angeles’ quest for cityhood, this paper explores and critiques the limited governance options that exist for low-income unincorporated communities.

Meaningful Mortgage Reform, Jake Werrett

Jake Werrett

Should six-year-old children be able to access “the largest pornography store in history?” They can. Should eleven be the average age that a child first views pornography? It is. Should children between the ages of twelve and seventeen represent the largest group of pornography consumers? They do. It is puzzling how a quintessentially adult activity has increasingly edged-out Saturday morning cartoons, homework, piano lessons, and T-ball games. Perhaps social consensus is that teenagers are best served by searching out porn 150 billion times a year. But, I doubt it.

Juxtaposing limitations on children's exposure to speech in the real-world versus …

An Act Of Resistence: Reconceptualizing Andrea Yates' Killing Of Her Children, Shelby A.D. Moore

Shelby A.D. Moore

Abstract The definition of domestic violence is broad and includes physical as well as psychological and sexual abuse. The legal system, however, gives considerably less attention to these latter forms of abuse. One reason for the relative neglect of these types of domestic abuse is the assumption that physical abuse causes more harm than do psychological and sexual abuse. In reality these forms of abuse may have a far greater impact on their victims. Apart from physical abuse, greater attention must be given to those who suffer on-going psychological and sexual abuse at the hand of a spouse or intimate …

Mortgage Market Regulation And Moral Hazard: Equity Stripping Under Sanction Of Law, Vincent Di Lorenzo

Vincent Di Lorenzo

No abstract provided.

Lowering The Bar: In Re Van Orden And The Constitutionality Of The 2006 Amendments To Missouri's Sexually Violent Predator Act, Lauren A. Standlee

Lauren A Standlee

Beginning in 1990, states began enacting statutes for the involuntary civil commitment of sexually violent predators. Missouri amended its Sexually Violent Predator Act in 2006. Significantly, the Missouri Legislature reduced the burden of proof necessary to commit such individuals, and implemented a program for their conditional release. The Missouri Supreme Court recently addressed the amendments in In re Van Orden, and upheld the lower burden of proof against constitutional attack. Focusing on Supreme Court of the United States' precedent, the article argues that the 2006 amendments are a blemish on the legislature and the judiciary alike. The paper asserts that, …

Growing Political Will From The Grassroots: How Social Movement Principles Can Reverse The Dismal Legacy Of Rule Of Law Interventions, Fran Quigley

Fran Quigley

The international community’s efforts to promote the rule of law and human rights in developing countries have been largely unsuccessful, a record of disappointment typically attributed to a lack of political will for reform in the host societies. As a result, an estimated four billion people worldwide are without access to human rights associated with the rule of law, and suffer without recourse from discrimination, theft, and physical and emotional harm.

It is time for rule of law promoters to draw upon the lessons of social science, particularly the study of social movements. This article represents the first effort to …

Follow The Yellow Brick Road: Perusing The Path To Constitutionally Permissible Reparations For Slavery And Jim Crow Era Governmental Discrimination, Carlton Waterhouse

Carlton Waterhouse

ABSTRACT A growing body of scholarship has developed around the issue of reparations for the holocaust, slavery, and other social injustices. Numerous articles have proposed reparations programs for America’s legacy of race based slavery and segregation but the constitutionality of those programs has largely been ignored in the literature. Instead, most scholarship focuses on the legal or political justification for existing or new reparations proposals. This article charts new ground in the area by examining prototypical reparations proposals by the leading scholars in the field for compliance with the Court’s equal protection requirements. The Supreme Court’s affirmative action jurisprudence represents …

Reasonable Efforts To Reunite Families In Child Abuse And Neglect Proceedings: They Aren’T Just For Funding Anymore In Re Rood, 763 N.W.2d 587 (Mich. 2009), Evelyn K. Calogero

Evelyn K. Calogero

The article explores the history of the reasonable efforts to reunify families requirement in state and federal law; explains how the Rood opinion explains what the State Department of Human Services must do to satisfy the reasonable efforts requirement under Michigan law; shows how the Michigan Supreme Court’s decision regarding the Department of Human Services’ duties to non-custodial parents in child welfare proceedings is inconsistent with Michigan statutes, court rules, and the Department’s own procedures; and suggests what advocates for children and their parents must now know about the Department of Human Services’ procedures.

Failure To Consider Human Rights Suits As A Potential Basis For Derivative Actions, Daniel Augustus Sansone Foe

Daniel Augustus Sansone Foe

Failure to Consider Human Rights Suits as a Potential Basis for Derivative Actions

This note proposes that in instances where corporate boards have knowingly or through their gross negligence allowed potentially costly human rights abuses to occur or where boards have failed to utilize appropriate monitoring standards to ensure compliance with human rights laws, they may be held to account for resulting losses to their shareholders in derivative actions.

In arriving at this proposition the note explores the current prospects for being held liable under the Alien Torts Statute (28 U.S.C. § 1350) and the direct and indirect costs associated …

Will Americans Embrace Single-Payer Health Insurance: The Intractable Barriers Of Inertia, Free Market, And Culture, Susan A. Channick

Susan Channick

This article posits that the adoption of single-payer health insurance is effectively impossible in the United States. In spite of evidence that a single-payer system might be substantially more efficient and inexpensive than the complex, administratively-burdened multi-payer system we currently have, the probability that it will be part of health care reform is remote at best. The article identifies a number of reasons that a single-payer health insurance system cannot succeed ranging from inertia, path dependence, the expense of Medicare, the American belief in looking to the private sector for solutions to even large social problems, the fear of big …