Common Law Commons^™

The World Moved On Without Me: Redefining Contraband In A Technology-Driven World For Youth Detained In Washington State, Stephanie A. Lowry

Seattle University Law Review

If you ask a teenager in the United States to show you one of their favorite memories, they will likely show you a picture or video on their cell phone. This is because Americans, especially teenagers, love cell phones. Ninety-seven percent of all Americans own a cell phone according to a continuously updated survey by the Pew Research Center. For teenagers aged thirteen to seventeen, the number is roughly 95%. For eighteen to twenty-nine-year-olds, the number grows to 100%. On average, eight to twelve-year-old’s use roughly five and a half hours of screen media per day, in comparison to thirteen …

Judicial Ethics And The Eradication Of Racism, Dontay Proctor-Mills

Seattle University Law Review

In 2020, the Washington Supreme Court entrusted the legal community with working to eradicate racism from its legal system. Soon after, Washington’s Commission on Judicial Conduct (hereinafter the Commission) received a complaint about a bus ad for North Seattle College featuring King County Superior Court Judge David Keenan. Along with a photo of Judge Keenan’s face, the ad included the following language: “A Superior Court Judge, David Keenan got into law in part to advocate for marginalized communities. David’s changing the world. He started at North.” The Commission admonished Judge Keenan for violating the Code of Judicial Conduct, in part …

A Path Forward: Litigating The Treaty-Based Claims Of Children Sexually Abused In The Indian Health Service System, Peter B. Janci, Stephen F. Crew, Zachary Pangares

Seattle University Law Review

In 1855, representatives for the United States traveled to the Great Plains with orders to seek peace with Blackfoot Nation so the westward expansion of “civilized” white settlers could continue without interruption. After weeks of negotiations, the United States plan materialized. The terms of these promises were memorialized on October 17, 1855, in a treaty between the United States government and Blackfoot Nation.

One hundred and sixty-seven years later, representatives for the United States and the Blackfoot Nation convened in Rapid City, South Dakota to discuss the U.S. government’s breach of the treaty’s terms. Eight Native men, including three from …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Why Corporate Boards Should Include Lgbtq+ People, Jeremy Mcclane, Darren Rosenblum

Seattle University Law Review

Corporate boardrooms sit at the heart of most of society’s most consequential decisions but fall far short of the diversity of our society. The current movement toward board diversification aims to remedy the underrepresentation of marginalized groups on corporate boards. More recently, some efforts have included LGBTQ+ people, even though the basis for their inclusion on corporate boards remains largely unstated. This Article examines both the normative and instrumental bases for LGBTQ+ inclusion in board diversity initiatives, articulating unspoken assumptions and linking LGBTQ+ people to the broader inclusion effort. In so doing, it begins to surface the unique issues LGBTQ+ …

The Common Law And The Self-Driving Car, Mbilike M. Mwafulirwa

University of San Francisco Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Rejection Of Absolutist Duties As A Barrier To Creditor Protection: Facilitating Directorial Decisivness Surrounding Insolvency Through The Business Judgment Rule, Philip Gavin

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

This Article draws attention to the difficulties that directors may face when seeking to discharge their duties as a corporation approaches insolvency, in particular when directors must discern the point at which a corporation has become insolvent. It argues that discretion allowed to directors by the business judgment rule will be crucial to overcoming these difficulties. To do this, this article examines the nature of duties owed by directors both before and after insolvency, and accepts the stance taken by Delaware courts in recent years towards an expansive understanding of a corporation’s interests upon insolvency. It then considers unresolved issues …

Accountability For Employers Or Independence For Contractors? Accomplishing Ab5’S Labor Classification Goals In The Gig Economy, Chelsea Rauch

Seattle University Law Review

U.S. employment law traditionally classifies workers as either employees or independent contractors; each worker under this traditional legal rubric can only be classified as one or the other—there can be no ambiguity or overlap. An employee is generally defined as “a person hired for a regular, continuous period to perform work for an employer who maintains control over both the service details and the final product.” In contrast, an independent contractor is generally defined as “a worker who performs services for others, usually under contract, while at the same time retaining economic independence and complete control over both the method …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Choice Of Law And The Preponderantly Multistate Rule: The Example Of Successor Corporation Products Liability, Diana Sclar

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Most state rules of substantive law, whether legislative or judicial, ordinarily adjust rights and obligations among local parties with respect to local events. Conventional choice of law methodologies for adjudicating disputes with multistate connections all start from an explicit or implicit assumption of a choice between such locally oriented substantive rules. This article reveals, for the first time, that some state rules of substantive law ordinarily adjust rights and obligations with respect to parties and events connected to more than one state and only occasionally apply to wholly local matters. For these rules I use the term “nominally domestic rules …

Directors’ Duty Of Care In Times Of Financial Distress Following The Global Epidemic Crisis, Leon Yehuda Anidjar

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

The global COVID-19 pandemic is causing the large-scale end of life and severe human suffering globally. This massive public health crisis created a significant economic crisis and is reflected in a recession of global production and the collapse of confidence in the functions of markets. Corporations and boards of directors around the world are required to design specific strategies to tackle the negative consequences of the crisis. This is especially true for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that suffered tremendous economic loss, and their continued existence as ongoing concern is under considerable risk. Given these uncertain financial times, this Article …

Dispute Settlement Under The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement: A Preliminary Assessment, Olabisi D. Akinkugbe

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA) will add a new dispute settlement system to the plethora of judicial mechanisms designed to resolve trade disputes in Africa. Against the discontent of Member States and limited impact the existing highly legalized trade dispute settlement mechanisms have had on regional economic integration in Africa, this paper undertakes a preliminary assessment of the AfCFTA Dispute Settlement Mechanism (DSM). In particular, the paper situates the AfCFTA-DSM in the overall discontent and unsupportive practices of African States with highly legalized dispute settlement systems and similar WTO-Styled DSMs among other shortcomings. Notwithstanding the transplantation of …

Enough Is As Good As A Feast, Noah C. Chauvin

Seattle University Law Review

Ipse Dixit, the podcast on legal scholarship, provides a valuable service to the legal community and particularly to the legal academy. The podcast’s hosts skillfully interview guests about their legal and law-related scholarship, helping those guests communicate their ideas clearly and concisely. In this review essay, I argue that Ipse Dixit has made a major contribution to legal scholarship by demonstrating in its interview episodes that law review articles are neither the only nor the best way of communicating scholarly ideas. This contribution should be considered “scholarship,” because one of the primary goals of scholarship is to communicate new ideas.

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

The Heavy Hand Of Amazon: A Seller Not A Neutral Platform, Edward J. Janger, Aaron D. Twerski

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

Since the adoption of Section 402A of the Second Restatement of Torts, every party in a product’s distribution chain has been potentially liable for injuries caused by product defects. Consumers who buy from reputable sellers are almost always guaranteed to have a solvent defendant if injured by a product defect. Amazon, though responsible for a vast number of retail sales, has sought to avoid liability by claiming that it is not a seller but a neutral platform that merely facilitates third-party sales to consumers. With two significant exceptions, most courts have sided with Amazon and concluded that Amazon is not …

Fmc Corp. V. Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, Seth T. Bonilla

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In 1998, FMC Corporation agreed to submit to the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes’ permitting processes, including the payment of fees, for clean-up work required as part of consent decree negotiations with the Environmental Protection Agency. Then, in 2002, FMC refused to pay the Tribes under a permitting agreement entered into by both parties, even though the company continued to store hazardous waste on land within the Shoshone-Bannock Fort Hall Reservation in Idaho. FMC challenged the Tribes’ authority to enforce the $1.5 million permitting fees first in tribal court and later challenged the Tribes’ authority to exercise civil regulatory and adjudicatory jurisdiction over …

Attorney–Client Privilege In Bad Faith Insurance Claims: The Cedell Presumption And A Necessary National Resolution, Klien Hilliard

Seattle University Law Review

Attorney–client privilege is one of the most important aspects of our legal system. It is one of the oldest privileges in American law and is codified both at the national and state level. Applying to both individual persons and corporations, this expanded privilege covers a wide breadth of clients. However, this broad privilege can sometimes become blurred in relationships between the corporation and the individuals it serves. Specifically, insurance companies and those they cover have complex relationships, as the insurer possesses a quasi-fiduciary relationship in relation to the insured. This type of relationship requires that the insurer act in good …

In Memory Of Professor James E. Bond, Janet Ainsworth

Seattle University Law Review

Janet Ainsworth, Professor of Law at Seattle University School of Law: In Memory of Professor James E. Bond.

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Introduction, Kim Brooks, Kim Brooks

Dalhousie Law Journal

At Schulich, we see business law in a broad frame and understand that business law and policy includes the role of businesses in environmental protection, sustainable investing, inter-nation equity, and access to justice. We understand that businesses operate in broad social, economic, and political contexts, and as a community of scholars we care about the interactions of business law and policy with technology, governance and stakeholder rights, and economic, social and environmental justice. We hope that this collection advances vital scholarly and policy conversations.

A Survey And Critique Of The “Seller In Possession” Statutory Regimes Of Common Law Canada: An Abc Prequel, Clayton Bangsund

Dalhousie Law Journal

The article examines the various provincial and territorial statutory regimes that apply to resolve title disputes emanating from a “seller in possession” scenario in which an initial buyer leaves bought goods in the possession of a seller who then transfers them to a subsequent bona de purchaser. Presently there are four distinct statutory models in force across common law Canada. Some provinces and territories incorporate modernized electronic personal property registry infrastructure into their statutory priority regimes, while others do not. The author undertakes a comparative assessment of the four models, highlights their strengths and weaknesses, and asserts that Model 2—representative …

Disrupting Business As Usual: Considering Teaching Methods In Business Law Classrooms, Jeffery Hewitt, Shanthi E. Senthe

Dalhousie Law Journal

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC)’s Calls to Action propose signimcant changes to legal education. No law school classroom is exempt, including business law courses. We are two of a growing number ofscholars in the legal academy actively incorporating Indigenous laws, critical race theory and socio-economic perspectives into business law courses as part of our responses to the TRC. This paper explores a field school we developed at Windsor Law as a response to the Calls to Action. In a temporary fusion of two courses, Secured Transactions along with Indigenous Peoples, Art & Human Rights, a synergy emerges …

Manufacturing Consent To Climate Inaction: A Case Study Of The Globe And Mail ’S Pipeline Coverage, Jason Maclean

Dalhousie Law Journal

Canada has long been a climate change policy laggard. Canada is among the world’s poorest-performing countries in terms of climate action—not only is Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions-reduction target under the Paris Agreement insufficiently ambitious, Canada is not even remotely on track to meet it. Canada’s enduring inaction on climate change is legitimized and sustained by its mainstream corporate news media, which contribute to the oil and gas industry’s capture of Canadian climate and energy policy. In this article, I examine how Canada’s leading national newspaper, The Globe and Mail, editorially framed the completion of the controversial expansion of the Trans …

Third-Party Liability Of Directors And Officers: Reconciling Corporate Personality And Personal Responsibility In Tort, Michael Marin

Dalhousie Law Journal

When is a director or of�� cer personally liable in tort to a party who is not the corporation he or she serves? In Canada, there is no clear answer. The law is marked by division both within and between appellate courts, resulting in judgments that are hard to reconcile and verge on arbitrary. This is likely attributable to the mistaken belief that there is a tension between personal liability and corporate personality, as well as the disputed relationship between common law and statutory obligations. To address these challenges, most Canadian courts have followed a threshold corporate law analysis, which …

Reorganizations, Sales, And The Changing Face Of Restructuring In Canada: Quantitative Outcomes Of 2012 And 2013 Ccaa Proceedings, Alfonso Nocilla

Dalhousie Law Journal

This article examines quantitative data on the outcomes of proceedings under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), Canada’s principal statute for resolving large, complex corporate insolvencies. In particular, this article compares the durations, direct costs, and returns to different classes of creditors generated by traditional reorganizations under the CCAA and by “liquidating CCAAs”—that is, proceedings in which the insolvent debtor sells substantially all of its assets rather than reorganizing itself. The article makes a number of contributions to the existing scholarship. Firstly, quantitative data on CCAA proceedings are rare. The data examined here, collected by the author from proceedings initiated …

Evaluating Canadian Tax Remission Orders: A Debt Relief Vehicle For Taxpayers, Samuel Singer

Dalhousie Law Journal

Tax remission orders, although rare, serve important functions in the Canadian tax system. This paper draws from a comprehensive study of federal tax remission orders issued between 1998 and 2017. It presents general findings about remission orders in that time period, including remission order applications, their reported costs, and the number of remission orders issued. The paper identifies the five most common categories of reasons cited for granting remission orders. It then applies tax policy analysis to assess the two most frequent reasons for grating remission orders: to provide debt relief for financial hardship and/or extenuating circumstances, and to provide …

Corporate Risk And Climate Impacts To Critical Energy Infrastructure In Canada, Rudiger Tscherning

Dalhousie Law Journal

Recent climate events such as Hurrican Harvey in Texas foreshadow the dangers that could result from critical energy infrastructure failure in Canada due to physical impacts caused by climate change. This article examines the types of climate impacts that could affect critical energy infrastructure in Canada. The article argues that these impacts translate into three types of corporate risk to the owners and operators of the critical asset: economic risks to the infrastructure asset; management and operational risks to the corporation; and risks arising from corporate disclosure obligations. Applying the theoretical approach of "risk management," the article concludes that, on …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Corporate Duty To Rescue: Biopharmaceutical Companies And Access To Medications, Rebecca E. Wolitz

Indiana Law Journal

Controversies regarding the pricing of biopharmaceutical products are pervasive. Patients must choose between treatment and rent, prescriptions go unfilled, and health systems are forced to restrict access to life-saving medications— all because of cost. Though there is often consensus that these issues are problematic, there is disagreement as to what are appropriate solutions and who has responsibility to bring about those solutions. Most efforts to address biopharmaceutical pricing concerns focus on governmental regulation. This Article has a different focus. It provides a legal and normative analysis of a form of corporate self-regulation that could help address access and pricing concerns—a …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

No abstract provided.