Litigation Commons^™

Turning From Tort To Administration, Richard A. Nagareda

Michigan Law Review

My objective here is to challenge the notion that the recent mass tort settlements - for all their novel qualities in the mass tort area - are truly sui generis in the law. Rather, I contend that the rise of such settlements in tort mirrors the development of public administrative agencies earlier in this century - that, in both instances, powerful new institutions emerged outside preexisting channels of control to wield significant power over human lives and resources. I argue that courts usefully may draw upon familiar doctrines of judicial review in administrative law to form a conceptual framework for …

Litigation Outcomes In State And Federal Courts: A Statistical Portrait, Theodore Eisenberg, John Goerdt, Brian Ostrom, David Rottman

Seattle University Law Review

"U.S. Juries Grow Tougher on Plaintiffs in Lawsuits," the New York Times page-one headline reads. The story details how, in 1992, plaintiffs won 52 percent of the personal injury cases decided by jury verdicts, a decline from the 63 percent plaintiff success rate in 1989. The sound-byte explanations follow, including the notion that juries have learned that they, as part of the general population, ultimately pay the costs of high verdicts. Similar stories, reporting both increases and decreases in jury award levels, regularly make headlines. Jury Verdict Research, Inc. (JVR), a commercial service that sells case outcome information, often is …

Attempted Cap On Punitive Damages Continues To Spark Debate, Susan J. Becker

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

The debate surrounding federal product liability law has not been silenced by recent compromises reached by the House and Senate regarding appropriate boundaries for such laws. To the contrary, President Clinton's threatened veto of Congress's Common Sense Product Liability Reform Act of 1996 and continued opposition by the ABA Section of Litigation and other groups to parts of the Act guarantee that the 20-year-old debate will continue to rage.

Another Early Chapter: Attorney Malpractice And The Trial Within A Trial: Time For A Change, 19 J. Marshall L. Rev. 275 (1986), Donald G. Weiland

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Don't Try: Civil Jury Verdicts In A System Geared To Settlement, Samuel R. Gross, Kent D. Syverud

Articles

If it is true, as we often hear, that we are one of the most litigious societies on earth, it is because of our propensity to sue, not our affinity for trials. Of the hundreds of thousands of civil lawsuits that are filed each year in America, the great majority are settled; of those that are not settled, most are ultimately dismissed by the plaintiffs or by the courts; only a few percent are tried to a jury or a judge. This is no accident. We prefer settlements and have designed a system of civil justice that embodies and expresses …

The Flexible Doctrine Of Spoliation Of Evidence; Cause Of Action, Defense, Evidentiary Presumption And Discovery Sanction, Robert L. Tucker

Akron Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Complex Litigation Project's Choice Of Law Rules For Mass Torts And How To Escape Them, Fred I. Williams

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Optimal Issue Separation In Modern Products Liability Litigation, James A. Henderson Jr., Fred Bertram, Michael J. Toke

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Settlement Class Actions And The Limits Of Adjudication, James A. Henderson Jr.

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This paper is the Comment for a symposium on Individualized Justice, Mass Torts, and "Settlement Class Actions."

Mass Torts And The Rhetoric Of Crisis, John A. Siliciano

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Techniques And Tactics In Personal Injury Trials, Oregon Law Institute, Jodie Anne Bushman, Jeffrey S. Mutnick, Frank A. Moscato, Stephen F, English, Bruce R. Powell, Robert D. Dames Jr., Diana I. Stuart, Gerald C. Doblie, Craig C. Murphy, Judy D. Snyder

Oregon Law Institute, 1995

Course Materials from the April 14, 1995 Program in Portland

Ex Post ≠ Ex Ante: Determining Liability In Hindsight, Kim A. Kamin, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Participants in three conditions (foresight, hindsight, and a modified hindsight condition designed to ameliorate the hindsight effect) assessed whether a municipality should take, or have taken, precautions to protect a riparian property owner from flood damage. In the foresight condition, participants reviewed evidence in the context of an administrative hearing. Hindsight participants reviewed parallel materials in the context of a trial. Three quarters of the participants in foresight concluded that a flood was too unlikely to justify further precautions—a decision that a majority of the participants in hindsight found to be negligent. Participants in hindsight also gave higher estimates for …

Rock-A-Bye Lawsuit: Can A Baby Sue The Hand That Rocked The Cradle, 28 J. Marshall L. Rev. 429 (1995), Geoffrey A. Vance

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Vexatious Litigation As Unfair Competition And The Applicability Of The Noerr-Pennington Doctrine, Robert L. Tucker

Akron Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Perceptions Of Civil Justice: The Litigation Crisis Attitudes Of Civil Jurors, Valerie P. Hans, William S. Lofquist

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Public perceptions that the civil justice system is in crisis are apparently widespread, but little is known about the causes or correlates of such views. This article analyzes the litigation crisis attitudes of a sample of civil jurors. Like the public, jurors endorsed a number of statements suggesting that there is a litigation crisis. Factor analysis identified two independent components: general concern over excessive litigation, and criticism of the civil jury. Litigation crisis views were found in all demographic and attitudinal subgroups. However, attitudes about the civil justice system were related to the respondent's political efficacy, claims consciousness, belief in …

Defamation By Will: Theories And Liabilities, 27 J. Marshall L. Rev. 749 (1994), Paul T. Whitcombe

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Recovery For Economic Loss Following The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, Victor P. Goldberg

Faculty Scholarship

The physical cleanup following one of the worst oil spills in history, that of the Exxon Valdez, is done. The legal cleanup, however, has barely begun. Over 100 law firms participating in over 200 suits in federal and state courts involving more than 30,000 claims are presently engaged in litigation. Fishermen, cannery workers, fishing lodges, tour boat operators, oil companies whose shipments were delayed, and even California motorists facing higher gasoline prices have filed claims against Exxon and its fellow defendants.

Most claimants face a formidable roadblock, the so-called Robins doctrine. Under Robins Dry Dock & Repair Co. v. Flint …

Prior Written Notice Statutes In New York State: The Resurrection Of Sovereign Immunity, Lewis J. Lubell

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Differing Treatment Of Efficiency And Competition In Antitrust And Tortious Interference Law, Gary Myers

Faculty Publications

During the last twenty years, there has been a revolution in antitrust law. As a result of extensive scholarly and judicial analysis, a new learning has developed concerning the content, role, and effect of antitrust doctrines. This trend has focused primarily on the primacy of consumer welfare and economic efficiency. Most commentators now assume that these two interrelated goals are the principal, if not exclusive, concerns of antitrust law. The United States Supreme Court has responded to these new approaches by modifying or altering antitrust law in a long series of cases. Similarly, the new learning has affected the focus …

Will A New Restatement Help Settle Troubled Waters: Reflections, Aaron Twerski, J. A. Henderson

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

From A Defense Attorney's Perspective: "There Is No Free Lunch", Michael Crofton

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Punitive Damages: A Primer For Utah, Crookston V. Fire Insurance Exchange, David F. Burrett

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

In Support Of Huber, Jon F. Merz

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

The author takes exception to two recent reviews of GALILEO'S REVENGE.

Loitz V. Remington Arms Co.: The Illinois Supreme Court Sets A Tougher Standard For Reviewing Punitive Damage Awards In Products Liability Cases, 25 J. Marshall L. Rev. 427 (1992), Eric P. Loukas

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Prejudgement Interest In Personal Injury Claims: A Proposal For The Illinois General Assembly, 25 J. Marshall L. Rev. 595 (1992), Jeffrey R. Sandler

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Why Vosburg Comes First, James A. Henderson Jr.

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Jurors' Judgments Of Business Liability In Tort Cases: Implications For The Litigation Explosion, Valerie P. Hans, William S. Lofquist

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Criticisms of the civil jury, including charges that the jury is biased against business, have been central to debates over the litigation explosion and demands for tort reform. This article seeks to inform these ongoing controversies by examining tort jurors' accounts of how they reached decisions in cases with business parties. Interviews and questionnaire data showed that jurors were skeptical of plaintiff tort cases against businesses, organized their accounts more on the actions and motivations of plaintiffs than on the responsibilities of business, and spoke often of the litigation crisis and the importance of limiting awards.

Litigation & Inequality: Federal Diversity Jurisdiction In Industrial America, 1870–1958, Edward A. Purcell Jr.

Books

Through the prism of litigation practice and tactics, Purcell explores the dynamic relationship between legal and social change. He studies changing litigation patterns in suits between individuals and national corporations over tort claims for personal injuries and contract claims for insurance benefits. Purcell refines the "progressive" claim that the federal courts favored business enterprise during this time, identifying specific manners and times in which the federal courts reached decisions both in favor of and against national corporations. He also identifies 1892-1908 as a critical period in the evolution of the twentieth century federal judicial system.

Meta-Evidence: Do We Need It?, Christopher B. Mueller

Publications

No abstract provided.

Stargazing: The Future Of American Products Liability Law, James A. Henderson Jr., Aaron Twerski

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.