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Seattle University Law Review

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Seattle University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Getting Money Out Of Politics By Putting Money Into Politics: A Few Modest Proposals To Reform Seattle’S Democracy Voucher Program, Decker O’Donnell

Seattle University Law Review

Seattle’s Democracy Voucher Program offers an unconventional response to the growing influence of money in American elections: rather than restricting political spending, it seeks to amplify the participation of ordinary voters by providing publicly funded vouchers that residents may assign to participating candidates. This Article examines the program’s development, operation, and constitutional foundation within the modern campaign-finance framework established by Buckley v. Valeo and subsequent Supreme Court decisions. It argues that democracy vouchers provide a constitutionally viable means of broadening participation in campaign financing while mitigating the influence of wealthy donors. The Article identifies two weaknesses in the current system: …

Legal Malpractice In Washington: Use Of The Rules Of Professional Conduct, Angelo Tadrous

Seattle University Law Review

Legal malpractice claims are difficult to prove. They are difficult to prove because many jurisdictions require that a plaintiff prove that, but for the lawyer’s misconduct, the client would have fared better. Thus, in a malpractice suit, a plaintiff must try a case within a case. Despite this difficulty, many jurisdictions prohibit the use of the Rules of Professional Conduct when litigating a malpractice case. Washington State is one of these jurisdictions. The Washington Supreme Court held in Hizey v. Carpenter that the Rules of Professional Conduct may not be referred to during trial. This Note argues that this prohibition …

Converting Buildings Is Hard: Why Seattle’S Municipal Government Should Streamline Commercial-To-Residential Conversions, Tyler M. King

Seattle University Law Review

The conversion of commercial buildings into housing is a promising solution to the growing housing crisis in many urban areas. However, despite its potential benefits, the process of repurposing commercial spaces is often stymied by complex zoning codes, high conversion costs, and bureaucratic hurdles. This Article argues that the local and state governments in Seattle should adopt more streamlined policies and offer greater incentives to developers to facilitate these conversions. By reforming zoning regulations and providing targeted financial support, municipalities can reduce the barriers to conversion and unlock the potential of underutilized commercial properties. This article examines the legal and …

Who Decides The Dead? Interpreting Washington’S Disposition Of Remains Statute, Wyatt Young

Seattle University Law Review

Washington’s disposition-of-remains statute, RCW 68.50.160, is designed to honor a decedent’s expressed wishes regarding the control and disposition of their body after death. Yet recent litigation reveals a critical gap between the statute’s intent-centered design and its practical enforceability. In Larotonda v. Blackburn, a trial court acknowledged that irreparable harm would occur if a decedent’s burial wishes were ignored but nonetheless denied relief on the grounds that the individual designated to carry out those wishes lacked standing. The result was a legal paradox: a statute that recognizes decedent autonomy in theory but withholds any meaningful mechanism for its enforcement …

Angel Gutierrez-Zacatenco V. Rosa Herrera, 142 Nev. Adv. Op. 52 (Aug. 13, 2026), Sana Azim

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Incomplete medical records can be authenticated for admissibility purposes through a sufficient fact-specific demonstration of authenticity.

Lessons Learned For The Independent Panel For Evidence For Action Against Amr From Previous International Science Panels: Stakeholder Views From The 2025 Lagos Workshop, Iruka N. Okeke, Anthony Mcdonnell, Ayodele A. Akinyele, Javier Guzman, Kevin Outterson

Faculty Scholarship

In September, 2024, the UN General Assembly assigned the Quadripartite Joint Secretariat on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) the task of establishing an Independent Panel for Evidence for Action against AMR (IPEA). To promote stakeholder views and input around the constitution and functioning of this Panel, which could feed into the Quadripartite Joint Secretariat’s consultation process, we independently commissioned seven papers to examine the lessons that could be learned from other high-level scientific panels. We then convened 85 stakeholders, primed with the background papers. The Workshop, held in Lagos, Nigeria in April, 2025, drew representation from around the world, particularly low-income or …

Dentistry And The Law: Is A Lake Of Understanding Of Billing Procedures Fraud?, Daniel Schulte Jd

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This legal column addresses whether improper dental billing resulting from misunderstanding plan requirements constitutes fraud. The author explains the legal elements necessary to establish fraud, including knowledge, intent, and damages. The article distinguishes billing errors and contract violations from fraudulent conduct and encourages dentists to review participation agreements and billing policies to minimize compliance risks.

J Mich Dent Assoc August 2026

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Each month, the Journal of the Michigan Dental Association delivers news, information, and features about Michigan dentistry to our state's oral health community and the MDA's 6,200-plus members. It remains the main publication reaching Michigan dentists and is available worldwide through ADA Commons.

The August 2026 (Volume 108, No. 8) issue of the Journal is published in print format to provide updates and insights for Michigan's oral health community and MDA members. Print editions occur every other month beginning with January.

The August 2026 issue of the Journal of the Michigan Dental Association explores clinical, professional, legal, leadership, and public …

The Power Of The Tripartite: Defending Fluoridation Together, Sarah Stuefen Dds

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This article describes a successful grassroots effort to preserve community water fluoridation in Vinton, Iowa. The author details how local dental professionals, state dental associations, the American Dental Association, public health experts, and community stakeholders collaborated to educate decision makers and advocate for evidence-based public health policy. The experience demonstrates the importance of coordinated advocacy and organized dentistry in protecting oral health initiatives.

Paediatricians' Liability To Patients' Parents For Negligent Genetic Testing, Anthony Sangiuliano

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has recently held that a paediatrician might owe a duty of care to a patient’s parents when performing genetic testing on the patient and communicating test results to the parents. The parents may be able to claim damages against the paediatrician for breach of this duty if, in reliance on a miscommunication about the test results, they conceive a subsequent child who is later born with a disability. I call the tort alleged by the parents in these circumstances a subspecies of “paediatric triangular torts.” In this article, I demonstrate the conceptual feasibility of …

Brief Of Public Health And Health Law Scholars As Amici Curiae Urging Affirmance In Support Of Plaintiffs-Appellees, Rachel L. Zacharias, Zeinab Bakhet, Kevin Costello, Maya Manian

Amicus Briefs & Court Filings

INTRODUCTION: Physicians’ use of their judgment and expertise to prescribe drugs and devices for purposes other than those approved by the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”)—colloquially known as off-label use—is an indispensable feature of modern medicine. The FDA approves drugs as “safe and effective for specific indications.” Christopher M. Wittich, Christopher M. Burkle & William L. Lanier, Ten Common Questions (and Their Answers) About OffLabel Drug Use, 87 Mayo Clinic Procs. 982, 982 (2012). Federal law then generally leaves prescribing decisions, including off-label use of FDA-approved drugs and devices for a patient’s particular indication, to physicians acting under state law …

Can Laws Be Flexible? Rethinking Legislation For Innovation, Nicholson W. Price Ii, Nick K. Schneider, Ariel Dora Stem, Jochen K. Lennerz

Articles

Agile legislation adapts principles from agile software development to lawmaking, emphasizing iteration, multi-stakeholder feedback, and embedded revision. We outline this learning-oriented governance model using three case studies: Germany’s stepwise digital health legislation, the EU AI Act, and U.S. FDA user-fee reauthorization. These examples highlight legislative designs that enable structured generation of real-world data and evidence during implementation, informing regulatory interpretation and iterative refinement in rapidly evolving technological domains.

Litigating The Youth Mental Health Crisis: Mechanisms To Regulate Addictive Social Media Design, Talia Elliott

Washington and Lee Law Review

While social media offers real benefits to users, such as providing access to information and facilitating the free exchange of ideas, excessive social media use is associated with increases in anxiety, depression, and other serious mental-health harms. Social media platforms are designed to maximize profit by capturing user attention, resulting in interfaces that are dangerously addictive and prone to exposing users to harmful content. Currently, social media users alone bear the burden of navigating the dangers of social media. This is untenable. Young users, whose less developed brains leave them more vulnerable to addictive design features, find self-regulation especially challenging. …

The Law Of Health Equity, Govind Persad

Utah Law Review

Since 2025, health equity has faced increasing hostility from federal courts, agencies, and the executive branch. Yet health equity’s promise— to narrow stark health gaps along racial, economic, and other lines— remains urgent and widely endorsed by states, localities, and nongovernmental actors. Evaluating how health equity efforts might falter under or surmount these challenges requires understanding their legal underpinnings: the law of health equity.

This Article is the first in legal scholarship to comprehensively examine federal, state, and private sector health equity commitments. It reveals sustained societal recognition of health equity’s importance, while highlighting the need for more precise and …

Abortion (Re)Federalization, Gerald S. Dickinson

Utah Law Review

 This Article examines how the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision has opened an unconventional pathway for the development of a new form of “bottom-up constitutionalism” that could reshape federal abortion rights in the future. Traditionally, federal constitutional law has exerted a dominant influence over state laws and state court jurisprudence. The uniformity in abortion protections nationwide for decades was a product of the Roe v. Wade era of federal supremacy. However, Dobbs reversed this dynamic by dramatically curtailing federal constitutional authority over abortion, thereby leaving states as primary rights regulators. This Article focuses on the …

Pragmatic Conceptualism, Public Nuisance, And The American Opioid Litigation, Benjamin C. Zipursky

Washington and Lee Law Review

Public nuisance as a part of American tort law has been as high profile in the first decades of this century as products liability law was in the last several decades of the twentieth century. The American opioid litigation over the past decades is a spectacular example, filling headlines and generating billions of dollars of settlements. There is a plausible argument, however, that the doctrinal core of the opioid litigation is meritless because there simply is no “interference with public right” as required by public nuisance law. The first aim of this Article is to articulate and assess that argument. …

July 2026 Mda At Your Service — Who Can Supervise Dental Assistant Radiography Training In Michigan?, Mda Membership Department Staff

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This Q&A feature provides practical guidance on common professional and licensing questions for Michigan dentists. It clarifies that any licensed dentist can supervise required dental assistant radiography training, highlighting the MDA's online program. The article also offers advice for new dentists looking to connect with colleagues through local societies and the "New Doc Connection" online hub. Additionally, it outlines the mandatory steps for updating a professional license after a legal name change and directs members to valuable MDA resources for navigating dental insurance contracts and third-party payer agreements.

July 2026 Dentistry And The Law — Can Unlicensed People Own A Dental Practice? Who Is Enforcing The Law?, Daniel Schulte Jd

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This legal column addresses the complexities of dental practice ownership in Michigan, clarifying that only licensed dentists can legally own a practice through professional corporations or professional limited liability companies. It explains the "Corporate Practice of Medicine Doctrine," which aims to ensure licensed professionals, rather than profit-motivated lay persons, control health service delivery. The article details how management companies often operate legally as landlords or service providers without technically owning the practice itself. Finally, it notes that only the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs and the attorney general have the authority to enforce these regulations.

Preemption Of State Fraudulent Transfer Law By The Bankruptcy Code, David G. Carlson

Articles

The article argues that state law tort claims based on fraudulent transfers are preempted by the Bankruptcy Code. It contends that allowing such tort claims to persist interferes with a bankruptcy trustee's ability to achieve universal settlements and recover assets, as the trustee cannot guarantee immunity from third-party tort liabilities.

Bodies In The Beds: How Reits, Private Equity Firms, And County Hospitals Monetize Nursing Home Residents As Real Estate Acquisitions, Daniel L. Hatcher

All Faculty Scholarship

Nursing home residents have become monetized targets of real estate acquisitions. Established in 1960, Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) were envisioned as allowing individuals to invest in commercial real estate without owning properties. That seemingly innocuous investment idea has led to the growth of a behind-the-scenes empire of little-understood conglomerates of REITs buying up nursing homes and other healthcare facilities across the country. Capitalizing on tax-exempt income incentives, exploiting “triple-net” leasebacks, funneling profits through subsidiaries, and shielding ownership and assets from the liability of operations, the corporatized owners extract cash from facilities and leave harm in their wake. And to …

Privacy, Paternalism, And Standing In Health Professions Regulation, Anthony Sangiuliano

Dalhousie Law Journal

When investigating whether a doctor has behaved unethically while treating a patient, professional regulatory colleges may search patients’ confidential medical records without patients’ consent. I argue that this practice is not paternalistic, nor does it usurp patients’ standing to decide for themselves whether to sacrifice their privacy to hold the doctor to account for professional wrongdoing. College investigations that non-consensually invade patient privacy do not express disrespect for patients’ agency because they aim to mitigate harm to the broader public. Unlike criminal prosecutions of doctors which uphold moral values pervading the public at large, college investigations enforce ethical standards within …

A Qualitative Study Of Key “Regulatory” Factors Influencing Patient Access To Medical Assistance In Dying In Canada, Ruthie Jeanneret, Eliana Close, Jocelyn Downie, Ben P. White

Dalhousie Law Journal

Medical assistance in dying (“MAiD”) was legalized federally in Canada after the landmark case, Carter v Canada (AG), 2015 SCC 5. Bill C-14 introduced a federal legislative framework for MAiD in 2016, which was amended by Bill C-7 in 2021. Some Bill C-7 amendments directly responded to the decision in Truchon c Canada (PG), 2019 QCCS 3792. Other amendments responded to several factors identified as barriers to patient access, including the requirement for two independent witnesses, the 10-day reflection period, and the requirement to provide final consent at the time of administration of MAiD medication. However, emerging literature identifies that …

Living In The Past: The Corporate Practice Of Medicine Doctrine’S Misguided Revival In An Era Of Private Equity, John Palmer

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Treatment Sentences, Evelyn Lia Malavé

BYU Law Review

One of the most common mandates of a non-incarceratory sentence is to submit to treatment. Across the criminal legal system, from problem-solving courts to probation, millions of defendants sentenced to non-incarceratory sentences—including people not diagnosed with a substance abuse disorder—are required to attend drug treatment programs. After decades of policies that criminalized drug use, non-incarceratory sentences that match people with treatment may appear to be a step forward—or at least not the most pressing problem.

But criminal law scholarship has not fully reckoned with the harms of treatment sentences, including the harms of mandated treatment itself. Analysis of treatment sentences …

Bleeding Into Human Rights Law: The Need For A Special Procedure On The Right To Menstrual Health, Hunter Tarry

BYU Law Review

Menstruation, a fundamental biological process experienced by nearly half of the global population, remains shrouded in stigma and silence despite its critical role in sustaining human life. Many women and girls face inadequate menstrual health management and education, undermining their ability to experience a full range of human rights. While menstruation has gained increased public visibility in recent years, the United Nations (UN)—the cornerstone of the global human rights system—has been slow to meaningfully integrate this issue into its agenda. The time is now for the UN to formally recognize menstrual health as a human right by advancing global advocacy …

Rbr Management, Llc V. Eighth Judicial District Court [State Of Nevada], 142 Nev., Adv. Op. 44 (June 18, 2026), Erika Loveland

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Emergency medical service providers and ambulances are not "provider[s] of health care" under NRS 41A.017, so claims against them are not professional negligence claims and require no expert affidavit.

Escaping Quarantine: Marine Hospitals, The Constitution Act, 1867 And Canada’S First Federal Health Care Program, Dan Dwyre

Dalhousie Journal of Legal Studies

Previous scholarship has argued that the enumeration of marine hospitals as a federal head of power in the Constitution Act, 1867 reflected a national concern over immigration and quarantine. This article disputes that. Using primary sources, this paper demonstrates that Canadian marine hospitals were established in port communities to provide for the general health of itinerant merchant sailors, who would otherwise be a burden on local hospitals and charitable organizations. The article concludes that marine hospitals can be viewed in retrospect as one of Canada’s first federal health care programs.

Navigating The Legal Waters Of Privatized Commodities And Human Rights: An Exploration Of The Tension Between Water As A Human Right And Water As Investment Property Under International Law, Ella Capen

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

This Note examines the clash between domestic law and international law within the context of Chile’s 2022 modification to the 1981 Water Code as the country transitions from treating water as a privatized commodity to water as a public good. Chile’s 1981 Water Code emerged against the backdrop of a neoliberal economic regime and privatization scheme enabled by the United States and enforced by dictator Augusto Pinochet. This Note reveals the potential difficulties in unraveling established economic and legal foundations, and the conflicts between bilateral investment treaties and local legislation that mutually govern property rights. By examining Chile’s domestic Law …