Litigation Commons^™

Brand X And The Wireline Broadband Report And Order: The Beginning Of The End Of The Distinction Between Title I And Title Ii Services, J. Steven Rich

Federal Communications Law Journal

This Article traces the development of the FCC's distinction between "telecommunications services" subject to common carrier services under Title II of the 1934 Communications Act and "information services" regulated under Title I of the Act from the Computer Inquiry line of cases through the Brand X decision and recent Wireline Broadband Report and Order. The Author pays particular attention to the Brand X decision and the FCC's Wireline Broadband Order and its implications, suggesting that the Order may be subject to reversal when it is challenged in court and proposing how the Commission might react to a reversal. The Author …

A Taxonomy Of Obesity Litigation, Theodore H. Frank

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Setting The Stage For Public Health: The Role Of Litigation In Controlling Obesity, Jason A. Smith

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Detailing Daubert, The Hon. E Richard Webber, Dana M. Malkus

All Faculty Scholarship

When Justice Blackmun wrote Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 509 U.S. 579 (1993), the assignment was to reconcile the standards governing the admissibility of expert testimony with Federal Rule of Evidence 702. As Justice Blackmun recognized, Frye v. United States, 293 F. 1013 (D.C. Cir. 1923), had long served as the polestar for determining the admissibility of expert testimony in litigation. Although the test developed by the Frye court was ultimately rejected when the Supreme Court announced new rules regarding the admissibility of expert testimony, the Frye court’s recognition of the purpose behind admitting expert testimony remains instructional: …

What's Wrong With Being Creative And Aggressive?, W. Bradley Wendel

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

When I tell people that I am a law professor specializing in legal ethics, they usually have one of two reactions: “Legal ethics—that’s an oxymoron!” or “I bet you always have a lot to do.” The second reaction is the more interesting of the two, because it rightly implies that legal ethics is a fascinating field, in part because lawyers are always thinking of new ways to get into trouble. Many run-of-the-mill lawyer disciplinary cases involve simple wrongdoing, such as stealing from client funds, which does not present conceptually interesting issues. Contemporary high-profile legal ethics scandals, by contrast, are made …

Information, Litigation, And Common Law Evolution, Keith N. Hylton

Faculty Scholarship

It is common in the legal academy to describe judicial decision trends leading to new common law rules as resulting from conscious judicial effort. Evolutionary models of litigation, in contrast, treat common law as resulting from pressure applied by litigants. One apparent difficulty in the theory of litigation is explaining how trends in judicial decisions favoring one litigant, and biasing the legal standard, could occur. This article presents a model in which an apparent bias in the legal standard can occur in the absence of any effort toward this end on the part of judges. Trends can develop favoring the …

Reverse Bifurcation, Dru Stevenson

ExpressO

Reverse bifurcation is a trial procedure in which the jury determines damages first, before determining liability. The liability phase of the trial rarely occurs, because the parties usually settle once they know the value of the case. This procedure is already being used in thousands of cases – nearly all the asbestos and Fen-phen cases – but this is the first academic article devoted to the subject. This article explains the history of the procedure and analyzes why it encourages settlements, simplifies jury instructions, and produces better outcomes for the parties.

The Overlapping Magisteria Of Law And Science: When Litigation And Science Collide, William G. Childs

ExpressO

The Supreme Court’s 1993 decision in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals transformed courts’ evaluation of expert testimony. Many courts, applying Daubert, focus extensively on whether the purported expert’s methodology has been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

This focus on peer review results in two unintended consequences that have triggered criticism: litigation-driven scholarship and litigants taking discovery into the peer review process. Critics contend that litigation-driven scholarship is irredeemably biased and that peer review discovery is too often an effort to intimidate scholars from speaking on subjects of public concern.

In this Article, I explore these phenomena and the criticisms of …

The Dutch Auction Myth, Peter B. Oh

ExpressO

The initial public offering process is under assault. Critics of this process have woven a complex set of interconnected objections to the orthodox method for conducting IPOs, pricing of shares, and allocating them to preferred investors. These critics instead point to online auctions as an alternative IPO method that can provide more equitable access, efficient prices, and egalitarian allocations. These claims rest on Google’s recent IPO and W.R. Hambrecht + Co.’s OpenIPO mechanism, conventionally regarded as impure variants of what is known as a descending-bid or Dutch auction (Dutch IPO).

This article assesses the empirical and theoretical case for Dutch …

An Idea Whose Time Has (Sort Of) Come: Bapcpa Provides Direct Appeals From Bankruptcy Courts To Circuit Courts In Limited Situations, David George

ExpressO

This article deals with a provision in the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 that allows direct appeals from bankruptcy courts to circuit courts. For years, many have sought direct appeals to circuit courts, contending that it will increase certainty in bankruptcy proceedings and make them more efficient. This article describes the new direct-appeal provision and discusses the procedures that are being developed.

The Action Bias In American Law: Internet Jurisdiction And The Triumph Of Zippo Dot Com, Richard Greenstein

ExpressO

American law reflects the stories we tell ourselves about who we are as a nation. To illustrate the effect of America’s stories on the law, I identify and describe in this essay a particular characteristic of American law: an “action bias” – a propensity to bestow disproportionately greater legal significance upon affirmative acts than on failures to act – and I argue that this bias reflects, in turn, a powerful myth at the core of the self-image of the United States, a myth I call the “Immigrant’s Tale.”

To illustrate this thesis, I give a number of instances of the …

Joinder & Severance Of Offenses, Paul C. Giannelli

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Closing Argument: Prosecution Misconduct, Paul C. Giannelli

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Joinder & Severance Of Defendants, Paul C. Giannelli

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Just Say "No Fishing": The Lure Of Metaphor, Beth Thornburg

ExpressO

The phrase “fishing expedition” is widely used in popular culture and in the law. In the case of metaphorical “fishing” in the law, reliance on the metaphor can act as a substitute for rigorous analysis, disguising the factors that influence a result. When used by the court, it is uninformative. Worse, the fishing metaphor may itself shape the way the court thinks about the kind of issue or claim involved. Accusations of “fishing” also affect the language and position of the litigants. Parties arguing against pleadings or discovery use the metaphor as a rhetorical weapon, stigmatizing their opponents, instead of …

Choosing Tribal Law: Why State Choice-Of-Law Principles Should Apply To Disputes With Tribal Contacts, Katherine J. Florey

ExpressO

This article considers a problem in Indian law that has been much commented upon but little explored: When a state court exercises jurisdiction over a case with tribal contacts, what law should govern? While the Supreme Court has developed a detailed set of rules dictating whether cases with tribal contacts should be heard in a state or tribal forum, it has devoted almost no attention to the question of which law should apply once a forum has been chosen. Thus, many state courts have simply assumed, without explicit consideration of the issue, that state law should apply to any case …

Barriers To Accessible Housing: Enforcement Issues In "Design And Construction" Cases Under The Fair Housing Act, Robert G. Schwemm

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Significant Association Between Punitive And Compensatory Damages In Blockbuster Cases: A Methodological Primer, Theodore Eisenberg, Martin T. Wells

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This article assesses the relation between punitive and compensatory damages in a data set, gathered by Hersch and Viscusi (H-V), consisting of all known punitive damages awards in excess of $100 million from 1985 through 2003. It shows that a strong, statistically significant relation exists between punitive and compensatory awards, a relation that replicates similar findings in nearly all other analyses of punitive and compensatory damages. H-V's claim that no significant relation exists between punitive and compensatory awards in these data appears to be an artifact of questionable regression methodology.

Introduction To Secrecy In Litigation (Symposium Editor), Nancy S. Marder

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Due Process And Punitive Damages: The Error Of Federal Excessiveness Jurisprudence, A. Benjamin Spencer

ExpressO

The Supreme Court, in a line of several cases over the past decade, has established a rigorous federal constitutional excessiveness review for punitive damages awards based on the Due Process Clause. As a matter of substantive due process, says the Court, punitive awards must be evaluated by three “guideposts” set forth in BMW of North America v. Gore: the degree of reprehensibility of the defendant's conduct, the ratio between punitive and compensatory damages, and a comparison of the amount of punitive damages to any “civil or criminal penalties that could be imposed for comparable misconduct.” Following up on this pronouncement …

Train Our Jurors, Jonathan Koehler

Faculty Working Papers

Lay jurors are often legally and logically unprepared for trial. In response, it is recommended that jurors receive training in how to make better legal decisions. This chapter suggests that jurors should receive comprehensive training in critical legal doctrines and in how to reason with legal evidence. Jurors who cannot be trained to achieve minimal levels of competence (in the law or in basic reasoning) should be excused from jury service. Suggestions are given as to how policy makers and researchers who are interested in jury reform may wish to proceed.

Daubert Challenges To Fingerprints, Paul C. Giannelli

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

What Would Make Atticus Finch Flinch?, Robert Westley

Florida A & M University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Celotex Trilogy Revisited: How Misapplication Of The Federal Summary Judgment Standard Is Undermining The Seventh Amendment Right To A Jury Trial, David H. Simmons, Stephen J. Jacobs, Daniel J. O'Malley, Richard H. Tami

Florida A & M University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Secrecy In Context: The Shadowy Life Of Civil Rights Litigation, Minna J. Kotkin

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Navigating Residential Attorney Approvals: Finding A Better Judicial North Star, 39 J. Marshall L. Rev. 171 (2006), Debra Pogrund Stark

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Uruguay Paper Pulp Mill Dispute: Highlighting The Growing Importance Of Ngos And Public Protest In The Enforcement Of International Environmental Law, Michael K. Lee

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Native Americans Confront Mercury Threat To Health, Culture, Abigail Okrent

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Recent Epa Ruling May Increase Brownfield Financing, Mark Wilson

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Toxic Trains: Chemical Transportation Regulation, Terrorism, And The U.S Capitol, Chris Mcchesney

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.