Civil Procedure Commons^™

Abstention Doctrine And The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Michael J. Wood

Chicago-Kent Law Review

A survey of cases where federal courts abstain from hearing cases related to existing state court cases under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) reveals varying approaches and theories underlying those courts’ abstentions. This article attempts to distinguish FDCPA claims related to the validity of the underlying debt from claims arising out of debt collectors’ conduct in collecting a debt, and recommends that federal courts avoid abstaining from the latter. When Congress passed the FDCPA, it intended to provide access to a forum of the consumer’s choice to enforce their rights under the Act by serving as “private attorneys …

The Federal Rules At 75: Dispute Resolution, Private Enforcement Or Decisions According To Law?, James R. Maxeiner

Georgia State University Law Review

This essay is a critical response to the 2013 commemorations of the75th anniversary of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure were introduced in 1938 to provide procedure to decide cases on their merits. The Rules were designed to replace decisions under the “sporting theory of justice”with decisions according to law.

By 1976, at midlife, it was clear that they were not achieving their goal. America’s proceduralists split into two sides about what to do. One side promotes rules that control and conclude litigation: e.g.,plausibility pleading, case management, limited discovery, cost indemnity for discovery, and summary …

Closing Nevada's Courthouse Doors: A Critical Examination Of Dogra V. Liles, David H. Rigdon

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Division Of Labor: The Modernization Of The Supreme Court Of Georgia And Concomitant Workload Reduction Measures In The Court Of Appeals, Kyle G.A. Wallace, Andrew J. Tuck, Max Marks

Georgia State University Law Review

This article addresses two distinct yet interrelated topics: the arcane and unnecessarily complex jurisdictional division between the Georgia Supreme Court and Georgia Court of Appeals, and the excessive caseload at the Georgia Court of Appeals.

In Part I.A., this article discusses Georgia’s appellate system—its history, the jurisdictional division that arose, the confusion the current jurisdictional framework creates, and the limitations and burdens it places on Georgia’s highest court. In Part I.B., the article discusses the current caseload at the Court of Appeals and the burden any jurisdictional reforms would have on the Court of Appeals. In Part II, the article …

Historical Antecedents Of Challenges Facing The Georgia Appellate Courts, Michael B. Terry

Georgia State University Law Review

The Georgia appellate courts face challenges common to many courts in these days of reduced governmental resources. At the same time, the Georgia appellate courts face unusual challenges that can be traced to their historical antecedents and one unique constitutional provision: the “Two-Term Rule.” Just as “[t]he law embodies the story of a nation’s development through many centuries,” the current rules and practices of both the Supreme Court of Georgia and the Court of Appeals of Georgia embody the story of the development of those courts since their founding.

Several aspects of the history of the courts directly impact the …

The Trouble With Torgerson: The Latest Effort To Summarily Adjudicate Employment Discrimination Cases, Theresa M. Beiner

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Civil Rulemaking In Nevada: Contemplating A New Advisory Committee, Thomas O. Main

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Summary Of L.V. Dev. Assocs. V. Eighth Jud. Dist. Ct., 130 Nev. Adv. Op. 37, Ryan Becklean

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court determined whether NRS 50.125 applies to depositions.

Summary Of Dornbach V. Tenth Jud. Dist. Ct., 130 Nev. Adv. Op. 33, Kylee Gloekner

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court determined two issues: (1) whether the NRCP 16.1(e) time period begins to run when the defendant appears or answers and (2) whether a district court may consider its own internal delays when justifying a deadline extension.

No Adequate Recompense For Destruction: The Constitutionality Of The New York Medical Malpractice Statute Of Limitations As Applied To Misdiagnosis Of Latent Disease, Lillian M. Spiess

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Specificity Or Dismissal: The Improper Extension Of Rule 9(B) To Negligent Misrepresentation As A Deprivation Of Plaintiffs’ Procedural Due Process Rights, Julie A. Cook

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Who Owns A Class Action?, Richard A. Booth

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

This Essay considers the potential implications for securities class actions of Standard Fire Insurance Co. v. Knowles, which is presently before the Supreme Court. Although the ultimate question in Knowles is whether the plaintiff class may be gerrymandered so as to avoid removal to federal court, a closely related question may arise in securities fraud class actions (which are filed in federal court in the first place). In an action under SEC Rule 10b-5, the plaintiff typically seeks to recover for losses suffered as a result of buying a stock at a price inflated by management misrepresentations. In such a …

Waiving The Duty To Mitigate In Commercial Leases, Jacqueline Sandler

William & Mary Business Law Review

This Note examines a largely unexplored consequence of jurisdictions adopting a default duty to mitigate for commercial leases: whether a contract provision waiving the duty should be enforced. Only a few courts across the country have addressed the waiver issue in a commercial setting. At least two different appeals courts have enforced a waiver clause and claim that public policy supports their decision. In contrast, a federal court has stated the opposite—that public policy demands waiver provisions be void. Another state has outright voided all waiver clauses by statute. Courts that have enforced waivers have asserted that commercial parties have …

The Practical Challenges Of Litigating And Trying A Claim For Attorney Fees To A Jury In Minnesota: Providing Minnesota’S District Court Judges, Lawyers, And Litigants The Guidance And Predictability They Need, S. Jamal Faleel

Hamline Law Review

abstract

Summary Of Alcantara V. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 130 Nev. Adv. Op. 28, Allison Vitangeli

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Whether issue and/or claim preclusion can prevent an heir from asserting a wrongful-death claim under NRS 41.085(4) when the decedent’s estate had previously attempted but failed to succeed on a wrongful death claim under NRS 41.085(5).

The Perils Of Productivity, Emily Spottswood

Scholarly Publications

This Essay urges that those who seek to minimize delay in litigation should proceed with greater caution. Productivity reform proponents usually assume that an increase in case processing speed can be purchased at little cost to other procedural values, but this may not be the case. Such reforms may lower the quality of lawyers’ case preparation and worsen the quality of judicial decisions. The extent of these effects is unclear because the proponents of such changes have not made an effort to establish that increases in speed can be achieved without undermining the accuracy of litigation outcomes. Relatedly, it is …

In Personam And Beyond The Grasp: In Search Of Jurisdiction And Accountability For Foreign Defendants, Andrew F. Popper

Catholic University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Utah: Impact Of The Revisions To Rule 26 On Discovery Practice In The Utah District Courts, Final Report, Paula Hannaford-Agor, Cynthia G. Lee

Faculty Publications

On November 1, 2011, the Utah Supreme Court implemented a set of revisions to Rule 26 and Rule 26.1 of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure designed to address concerns regarding the scope and cost of discovery in civil cases. Funded in part by a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) conducted an empirical evaluation of the short-term and long-term impacts of the Rule 26 revisions. The evaluation consists of five components: an analysis of trends in aggregate filings; a comparison of case-level characteristics for cases filed before …

Summary Of Huckabay Props., Inc. V. Nc Auto Parts L.L.C., 130 Nev. Adv. Op. 23, Michael Bowman

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court determined three issues: (1) whether precedential uniformity requires a reinstatement of appeals; (2) whether failure to follow court rules is grounds for dismissing a civil appeal; and (3) whether failure to serve each attorney with a motion to dismiss is grounds for en banc reconsideration.

Summary Of Liu V. Christopher Homes, Llc, 130 Nev. Adv. Op. 17, Allison Vitangeli

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court clarified two issues: (1) Sandy Valley Associates v. Sky Ranch Estates Owners Association’s and Horgan v. Felton’s effect on the law regarding the recovery of attorney fees as special damages; and (2) the extent to which Horgan retreated from Sandy Valley’s discussion about the grounds for recovering attorney fees as special damages.

Summary Of The Power Co. V. Henry, 130 Nev. Adv. Op. 21, Laura Guidry

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court determined two issues:1) whether NRCP 41(e)’s provision requiring dismissal for want of prosecution applies to an action in which the parties entered into a written and signed settlement agreement before NRCP 41(e)’s five-year deadline expired; and 2) whether the district court erred in reducing the parties’ settlement agreement to judgment. Summary written by Laura Guidry.

Curtailing The First Amendment Protection To Discovery, Silvia Durri

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Determining The Location Of Injury For New York's Long Arm Statute In An Infringement Claim, Stefan Josephs

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Jury As A Political Institution: An Internal Perspective, Robert P. Burns

William & Mary Law Review

In this Essay, I will briefly describe some of the more obvious ways in which the jury has been considered a political institution. I will then discuss the senses in which we can understand the term “political” in the context of the American jury trial. I will describe the senses in which Hannah Arendt, perhaps the most important political philosopher of the twentieth century, tried to distinguish between “the political” and the “the legal” and the limitations of any such distinction. I will then turn to the heart of this Essay, a description of the ways in which the American …

Blackstone's Curse: The Fall Of The Criminal, Civil, And Grand Juries And The Rise Of The Executive, The Legislature, The Judiciary, And The States, Suja A. Thomas

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Juries As Regulators Of Last Resort, Stephan Landsman

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Embedded Experts On Real Juries: A Delicate Balance, Shari Seidman Diamond, Mary R. Rose, Beth Murphy

William & Mary Law Review

“Experts” appear in the modern American courtroom on the jury as well as in the witness box, posing a dilemma for the legal system by offering a potentially valuable resource and an uncontrolled source of influence. Courts give ambiguous guidance to jurors on how they should handle their expertise in the deliberation room. On the one hand, jurors are told that they should “decide what the facts are from the evidence presented here in court.” By direct implication, then, jurors should not use outside information to evaluate the evidence. Jurors are also told, however, that they should “consider all of …

Opening Remarks, Akhil Reed Amar

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Jury Ignorance And Political Ignorance, Ilya Somin

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Second-Order Diversity Revisited, Jeffrey Abramson

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.