Litigation Commons^™

Sanctions, Symmetry, And Safe Harbors: Limiting Misapplication Of Rule 11 By Harmonizing It With Pre-Verdict Dismissal Devices, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

With only a small risk of overstatement, one could say that sanctions in civil litigation exploded during the 1980s, with the 1983 amendment to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11 acting as the principal catalyst. From 1938 until the 1983 amendment, only two dozen or so cases on Rule 11 were reported, with courts rarely imposing sanctions. Although a few cases were notable by virtue of sanction size, prestige of the firm sanctioned, or publicity attending the underlying case, the legal profession largely regarded Rule 11 as a dead letter. In addition, other sanctions provisions, such as Federal Rule of …

Civil Rights Conundrum, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

As a case study of the impediments imposed by the revised F.R.C.P. Rule 11 in civil rights litigation, Professor Tobias relates the story of the Robeson County, N.C. prosecution of Eddie Hatcher and Timothy Jacobs, their subsequent civil rights action, and the ensuing Rule 11 sanctions imposed upon their counsel, as reported in In re Kunstler, 914 F.2d 505 (4th Cir. 1990).

Rule 11 Recalibrated In Civil Rights Cases, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

The United States Supreme Court promulgated the 1983 amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure out of growing concern about abuse of the civil litigation process. The most controversial aspect of the implementation of these revisions has been judicial enforcement of amended Rule 11 (the Rule) in ways that disadvantage or "chill" civil rights plaintiffs and attorneys. As the federal judiciary enters its eighth year of implementing the Rule, courts apparently have improved their application of it by becoming more solicitous of the needs of civil rights plaintiffs and their counsel, in recognition of the important social function that …

Symmetries Of Access In Civil Rights Litigation: Politics, Pragmatism And Will, Gene R. Shreve

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Proving Discrimination After Price Waterhouse And Wards Cove, Candace Kovacic-Fleischer

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

INTRODUCTION Anyone involved in litigation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 19641 or similar state statutes may wonder what is entailed in proving or disproving discrimination after the United States Supreme Court's October 1988 Term. In fact, in the pending Civil Rights Act of 1990, Congress is considering reversing some of what the Supreme Court did during that Term. One of the issues that the Supreme Court addressed during the 1988 Term involved allocating burdens of proof in two major types of Title VII claims, dis- parate-treatment and disparate-impact. Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, dealt with a disparate-treatment …

What Shapes Perceptions Of The Federal Court System?, Theodore Eisenberg, Stewart J. Schwab

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Two hundred years is a long time. It is too long after formation of a court system to ask such basic questions as (1) what cases occupy the system, and (2) whether even informed professionals have a reasonable picture of what goes on within the system. Nonetheless, continuing debate about the volume and makeup of litigation in general and of federal court litigation in particular requires legal scholars to address these questions. Professor Marc Galanter's work on the litigation explosion questions central assumptions about the nature and growth of the federal docket. Our prior work undermines widely held views about …

Litigation Models And Trial Outcomes In Civil Rights And Prisoner Cases, Theodore Eisenberg

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

In ideal circumstances, court cases are won or lost on their merits. But litigation does not proceed free from external social factors or from the characteristics of the participants. Factors other than the merits of cases, therefore, may help explain litigation outcomes and selection of disputes for trial. Possible factors include judge or jury bias, regional influence, the type of case, the quality of counsel, and the nature and resources of plaintiffs and defendants.

This Article uses both impressionistic conjecture about litigation and formal litigation theory to develop and test hypotheses about factors affecting outcomes in civil rights and prisoner …

Section 1983, Martin A. Schwartz, Honorable George C. Pratt, Leon Friedman

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Employment Discrimination, Charles Stephen Ralston, Paul Kamenar, William Bradford Reynolds, Gail Wright-Sirmans

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Housing Discrimination, Richard F. Bellman ,Esq., Richard Cahn ,Esq.

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Johnson V. Transportation Agency: The United States Supreme Court Weighs Statistical Imbalance In Favor Of Affirmative Action, 21 J. Marshall L. Rev. 593 (1988), Denise C. Hockley-Cann

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Washington's Retreat From Civil Rights Enforcement—Meyer V. University Of Washington, 105 Wn. 2d 847, 719 P.2d 98 (1986), Jack Warner Widell

Washington Law Review

Congress passed the Civil Rights Attorneys' Fees Awards Act of 1976 (the Fees Act) to provide fees sufficient to attract competent counsel for civil rights plaintiffs, and thereby to promote private enforcement of civil rights laws. Ten years later, in Meyer v. University of Washington, the Washington Supreme Court transformed the Fees Act into a shield for civil rights violators which will deter bona fide civil rights claims. This Note reviews the history of the Fees Act, critiques the Meyer court's analysis of the Act, and proposes alternate methods of evaluating claims of prevailing defendants. The Meyer court misinterpreted the …

The History Behind Hansberry V. Lee, 20 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 481 (1987), Allen R. Kamp

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

This Article provides the factual background to Hansberry v. Lee, the famous class action case. During the early 1900's, Chicago's black population was kept effectively segregated, primarily through the use of racially restrictive covenants. However, in the 1930's, this system began to break down. The growth of the black population caused an increased demand for black housing, while the Depression reduced the market for white housing. It was at this time that Carl Hansberry bought a house that was covered by a restrictive covenant, generating a lawsuit to have the covenant enforced and the Hansberrys evicted.

Tracing the lawsuit as …

Beyond Busing: Inside The Challenge To Urban Segregation, Lawrence T. Gresser

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Beyond Busing: Inside the Challenge to Urban Segregation by Paul R. Dimond

Can Mental Health Professionals Predict Judicial Decisionmaking? Constitutional And Tort Liability Aspects Of The Right Of The Institutionalized Mentally Disabled To Refuse Treatment: On The Cutting Edge, Michael L. Perlin

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Wrongful Death Actions And Section 1983, Steven H. Steinglass

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This article examines the use of 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 in cases in which violations of federal law by state or local officials result in a death and the rules that govern the existence of the cause of action and the available damages. State remedies for the protection of individual rights from official misconduct are often inadequate, and public protection is frequently unavailing. Thus, many plaintiffs seek alternative remedies, and in recent years the estates, personal representatives and survivors of victims of wrongful killings have increasingly turned to federal law and federal courts. Section 1983, however, is a threadbare statute, …

Reconciling The Age Discrimination In Employment Act And Federalism-Constitutional Balancing Or Judicial Sleight Of Hand: Eeoc V. Wyoming, Jeffrey B. Hays

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Civil Rights Class Actions In The 1980'S: The Burger Court's Pragmatic Approach To Problems Of Adequate Representation And Justiciability, C. Douglas Floyd

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Fee Awards Act Of 1976: Examining The Foundation For Legislative Reform Of Attorney's Fees Shifting, 18 J. Marshall L. Rev. 77 (1984), Randall R. Rader

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Attorney-Client Conflicts Of Interest And The Concept Of Non-Negotiable Fee Awards Under 42 U.S.C. § 1988, Emily M. Calhoun

Publications

No abstract provided.

Notice To Class Members Under The Fair Labor Standards Act Representative Action Provision, Thomas Ashby

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Federal courts currently apply different standards concerning the permissibility of notice. Although the Ninth Circuit forbids notice and the Seventh Circuit grants plaintiffs a right to send notice, the Second Circuit permits notice only in appropriate cases. This Note advocates that plaintiffs in FLSA and ADEA actions should be allowed to notify potential class members in appropriate cases. Part I analyzes inherent court powers, statutes, legislative history, and federal policies relating to notice. It concludes that enactment of FLSA and ADEA remedies did not alter the inherent power of federal courts to permit or prohibit notice. On the contrary, only …

Standing To Challenge The Tax-Exempt Status Of Racially Discriminatory Private Schools: Wright V. Regan, Jamie D. Scott

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Survey Of Developments In The Fourth Circuit: 1981

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Numbers Game: Statistical Inference In Discrimination Cases, David H. Kaye

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Statistical Proof of Discrimination by David Baldus and James Cole

The Proper Role Of Res Judicata And Collateral Estoppel In Title Vii Suits, Charles C. Jackson, John H. Matheson, Thomas J. Pikorski

Michigan Law Review

The Article proceeds from the premise, established in Part I, that federal courts must apply preclusion principles unless Congress clearly indicates otherwise. Part II considers a number of indicators of Congress's intent, and finds no evidence to rebut the presumption that federal courts must give preclusive weight to certain state decisions. Part III then proposes general guidelines for the application of preclusion doctrines in title VII litigation.

Survey Of Developments In The Fourth Circuit: 1980

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Use Of Collateral Estoppel By A Private Party In Suits Against Public Agency Defendants, John Kelly, David Rothenberg

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Collateral estoppel has been defined as "the facet of the doctrine of judicial finality that deals with a judgment's conclusive effect in a suit on another cause of action." It precludes relitigation of a previously decided issue when that same issue arises in the context of a subsequent suit based on a different claim.

Traditionally, a party seeking to assert collateral estoppel must establish three elements: (1) identity with an issue actually and necessarily litigated in the prior case, (2) mutuality of parties, that is, the same parties or their privies in the second case as in the first, and …

Civil Rights Litigation: An Investigation, Preparation & Trial Manual, P. Kent Spriggs

Florida State University Law Review

By Andrew J. Ruzicho.1 Cincinnati: Anderson Publishing Co., 1976. Pp. xvii, 372. $35.00.

The Tentative Settlement Class And Class Action Suits Under Title Vii Of The Civil Rights Act, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note will examine the potential utility of a tentative settlement class (TSC) in suits initiated under title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The advantages and disadvantages of the TSC will be discussed in the context of analyzing whether the use of a TSC is valid under rules 23(a) and 23(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The discussion of the merits of the TSC in the title VII context will illustrate the problems inherent in the use of a tentative class for encouraging settlements of any class action.

The Effect Of Diversity Jurisdiction On State Litigation

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.