Litigation Commons^™

Reflections On Reform Litigation: Strategic Intervention In Arizona's Ethnic Studies Ban, 47 J. Marshall L. Rev. 1181 (2014), Jean Stefancic

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Seeing Is Believing: The Anti-Inference Bias, Eyal Zamir Prof., Ilana Ritov, Doron Teichman

Indiana Law Journal

A large body of studies suggests that people are reluctant to impose liability on the basis of circumstantial evidence alone, even when this evidence is more reliable than direct evidence. Current explanations for this pattern of behavior focus on factors such as the tendency of fact finders to assign low subjective probabilities to circumstantial evidence, the statistical nature of such evidence, and the fact that direct evidence can rule out with greater ease any competing factual theory regarding liability. This Article describes a set of four new experiments demonstrating that even when these factors are controlled for, the disinclination to …

The Feasibility Of Litigation Markets, Jonathan T. Molot

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Doomed Steamers And Merged Fires: The Problem Of Preempted Innocent Threats In Torts, Anthony M. Dillof

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Tsilhqot'in Nation V. Bc: Reconfiguring Aboriginal Title In The Name Of Reconciliation, Constance Macintosh

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

In the text that follows, I start by explaining how Canada's behaviour in the Tsilhqot'in litigation undercuts, rather than fosters, the potential for a relationship of trust, which is foundational for reconciliation. In particular, I argue that Canada's behaviour suggests federal disregard for the state roles and responsibilities that the Supreme Court of Canada has found are mandated by the recognition and affirmation of Aboriginal and treaty rights in section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982. I then focus on the judgment of the Court of Appeal. As discussed below, the Court of Appeal upheld the trial judge's decision, but …

The Ethical Obligations Of Defence Counsel In Sexual Assault Cases, Elaine Craig

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The treatment of sexual assault complainants by defence counsel has been the site of significant debate for legal ethicists. Even those with the strongest commitment to the ethics of zealous advocacy struggle with how to approach the cross-examination of sexual assault complainants. One of the most contentious issues in this debate pertains to the use of bias, stereotype and discriminatory tactics to advance one’s client’s position. This paper focuses on the professional responsibilities defence lawyers bear in sexual assault cases. Its central claim is as follows: Defence counsel are ethically obligated to restrict their carriage of a sexual assault case …

Uncovering The Silent Victims Of The American Medical Liability System, Joanna Shepherd

Faculty Articles

A frequently overlooked problem with the current medical liability system is the vast number of medical errors that go uncompensated. Although studies indicate that 1% of hospital patients are victims of medical negligence, fewer than 2% of these injured patients file claims. In this Article, I explain that many victims of medical malpractice do not file claims because they are unable to find attorneys willing to take their cases.

I conducted the first national survey of attorneys to explore medical malpractice victims' access to the civil justice system. The results from the survey indicate that the economic reality of litigation …

Training The New Litigator: Some Assembly Required, Leonard M. Niehoff

Articles

The financial crisis of 2008 brought the legal profession to a crossroads. Indeed, it brought the profession to so many crossroads that we awoke to find ourselves in a surreal cityscape that seemed to consist of nothing but dangerous intersections. Law firms faced tough decisions about which way to go: Should we get smaller, or stay the course, or take advantage of the buyer's market for new and lateral hires? Should we jettison struggling clients or stand beside them? Should we cut budgets for business development, or do we need them now more than ever? Should we pursue some practice …

Private Policing Of Mergers & Acquisitions: An Empirical Assessment Of Institutional Lead Plaintiffs In Transactional Class And Derivative Actions, David H. Webber

Faculty Scholarship

Transactional class and derivative actions have long been controversial in both the popular and the academic literatures. Yet, the debate over such litigation has thus far neglected to consider a change in legal technology, adopted in Delaware a dozen years ago, favoring selection of institutional investors as lead plaintiffs in these cases. This Article fills that gap, offering new insights into the utility of mergers and acquisitions litigation. Based on a hand-collected dataset of all Delaware class and derivative actions filed from November 1, 2003 to December 31, 2009, I find that institutional investors play as large of a role …

Profit For Costs, Morris A. Ratner, William B. Rubenstein

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

A Continuing War With Asbestos: The Stalemate Among State Courts On Liability For Take-Home Asbestos Exposure, Meghan E. Flinn

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Asbestos Wars: In Three Parts, David Partlett

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Realigning Parties, Debra Lyn Bassett, Rex R. Perschbacher

Utah Law Review

The doctrine of realignment—which permits a federal court to change a party’s litigating position from plaintiff to defendant or vice versa—has been virtually ignored in federal procedure scholarship. This stark neglect is genuinely astonishing because the federal circuit courts are split as to the appropriate standard. The source of the standard—and the circuit courts’ confusion—is a 1941 U.S. Supreme Court decision, City of Indianapolis v. Chase National Bank. In that decision, rather than focusing on realignment’s purpose, the Supreme Court focused unduly on the specific context in which the realignment issue arose. The result was a muddled articulation of the …

Cy Pres And The Optimal Class Action, Jay Tidmarsh

Journal Articles

This Article, prepared for a symposium on class actions, examines the problem of cy pres relief through the lens of ensuring that class actions have an optimal claim structure and class membership. It finds that the present cy pres doctrine does little to advance the creation of optimal class actions, and may do some harm to achieving that goal. The Article then proposes an alternative “nudge” to induce putative class counsel to structure class actions in an optimal way: set attorneys’ fees so that counsel is compensated through a combination of an hourly market rate and a percentage of the …

Where Is Home Depot “At Home”? Daimler V. Bauman And The End Of Doing Business Jurisdiction, Tanya J. Monestier

Journal Articles

In January 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Daimler AG v. Bauman. The case was supposed to resolve a very important question that had divided courts for decades: when, for jurisdictional purposes, can the contacts of a subsidiary be imputed to its parent? The Supreme Court dodged this question. Instead, it answered a different, but equally important, question: under what circumstances is a corporation “at home” such that a state has general jurisdiction over it? The Court had introduced the “at home” language to the discourse on general jurisdiction a few years earlier in Goodyear Dunlop Tires Operations, S.A. …

A Response, Fay Faraday, Eric Tucker

Articles & Book Chapters

Faraday and Tucker respond to criticism about their work Constitutional Labour Rights in Canada: Farm Workers and the Fraser Case (2012).

The Structure Of Stockholder Litigation: When Do The Merits Matter, Minor Myers, Charles R. Korsmo

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Rise And Fall Of Unconscionability As The 'Law Of The Poor', Anne Fleming

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

What happened to unconscionability? Here’s one version of the story: The doctrine of unconscionability experienced a brief resurgence in the mid-1960s at the hands of naive, left-liberal, activist judges, who used it to rewrite private consumer contracts according to their own sense of justice. These folks meant well, no doubt, much like present-day consumer protection crusaders who seek to ensure the “fairness” of financial products and services. But courts’ refusal to enforce terms they deemed "unconscionable” served only to increase the cost of doing business with low-income households. Judges ended up hurting the very people they were trying to help. …

Machine Learning And Law, Harry Surden

Publications

This Article explores the application of machine learning techniques within the practice of law. Broadly speaking “machine learning” refers to computer algorithms that have the ability to “learn” or improve in performance over time on some task. In general, machine learning algorithms are designed to detect patterns in data and then apply these patterns going forward to new data in order to automate particular tasks. Outside of law, machine learning techniques have been successfully applied to automate tasks that were once thought to necessitate human intelligence — for example language translation, fraud-detection, driving automobiles, facial recognition, and data-mining. If performing …

Comment: Knowledge Circles And The Duty Of Care, Jill M. Fraley

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Front Matter, Jtaa Editors

Suffolk Journal of Trial and Appellate Advocacy

No abstract provided.

Masthead, Jtaa Editors

Suffolk Journal of Trial and Appellate Advocacy

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents, Jtaa Editors

Suffolk Journal of Trial and Appellate Advocacy

No abstract provided.

Editor's Note, Luke J. Rosseel

Suffolk Journal of Trial and Appellate Advocacy

No abstract provided.

Massachusetts Statutes Of Limitations: A User Guide, Joseph W. Glannon

Suffolk Journal of Trial and Appellate Advocacy

No abstract provided.

Taxpayer Beware: A Jurisdictional Examination Of Deference Owed To Revenue Rulings And The Case For Congressional Action, Colin Barrett

Suffolk Journal of Trial and Appellate Advocacy

No abstract provided.

The Ultra Sound-Off: The Ultrasound Mandate Debate And A Litigator's Guide To Overcoming Obstacles To A Woman's Right To Abortion, Kimberly A. Prior

Suffolk Journal of Trial and Appellate Advocacy

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Law - What Constitutes An Objectively Unreasonable Reaction - Tolan V. Cotton, Matthew R. O'Connor

Suffolk Journal of Trial and Appellate Advocacy

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Law - Don't Take Your Guns To Town: Maryland's Good-And-Substantial-Reason Requirement For Handgun Permits Passes Intermediate Scrutiny - Woollard V. Gallagher, Lincoln A. Rose

Suffolk Journal of Trial and Appellate Advocacy

No abstract provided.

Evidence-Testimonial Statements And Unavailable Child Witnesses: Why The Cognitive Awareness Of The Child-Declarant Should Be The Determinative Factor In Defining An Ongoing Emergency - Commonwealth V. Allshouse, Gemma R. Ypparila

Suffolk Journal of Trial and Appellate Advocacy

No abstract provided.