Litigation Commons^™

Apocalypse Now?, Richard L. Marcus

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Agent Orange on Trial: Mass Toxic Disasters in the Courts by Peter H. Schuck

The Costs Of Complexity, Stephen B. Burbank

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Complex Litigation: Cases and Materials on Advanced Civil Procedure by Richard L. Marcus and Edward F. Sherman

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 Civil Jury--An Endangered Species, John Feikens

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

George Bernard Shaw, the Irish dramatist and arch gadfly, once said, "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. "

With this tantalizing opener, let me say that I will attempt to point out to you my deep concern about the gradual elimination of jury trials in civil cases in our country.

The American Advantage: The Value Of Inefficient Litigation, Samuel R. Gross

Articles

In a recent article, The German Advantage in Civil Procedure,1 Professor John Langbein claims that the German system of civil litigation is superior to the American; in an earlier article he makes a parallel claim about German criminal procedure.2 Roughly, Professor Langbein argues that by comparison to the German process, American litigation is overly complex, expensive, slow, and unpredictable - in short, inefficient.3 Professor Langbein is not the first and will not be the last to criticize American legal institutions in these terms, but he expresses this criticism particularly well: he is concise and concrete, he describes American practice by …

Institutionalizing An Experiment: The Extension Of The Equal Access To Justice Act -- Questions Resolved, Questions Remaining, Claire Elizabeth Winold

Florida State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Precluding Government Relitigation Of Statutory Interpretations: Clark-Cowlitz Joint Operating Agency V. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Bradley Bishop Jones

Seattle University Law Review

This Note explores the issue of the applicability of the preclusion doctrines against the government. Specific focus is placed upon the doctrines’ application in cases where the government has previously litigated a question of statutory interpretation. The exploration begins with the recent case of Clark-Cowlitz Joint Operating Agency v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Clark-Cowlitz), a classic factual setting for analyzing this issue. The Note then briefly examines the historical developments of the preclusion doctrines and the United States Supreme Court’s recent and continuing struggle with the application of the doctrines against the government. It is the position of …

Litigation, J. Wheaton

California Regulatory Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

How To Avoid Increased Damages And Attorneys' Fees: The Duties Of The Accused Infringer And The Patent Owner, 20 J. Marshall L. Rev. 433 (1987), Kirk M. Hartung

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Judicial Perspective On Expert Discovery Under Federal Rule 26(B)(4): An Empirical Study Of Trial Court Judges And A Proposed Amendment, 20 J. Marshall L. Rev. 377 (1987), David S. Day, Charvin Dixon

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Eyewitness Identifications And Expert Testimony, Paul C. Giannelli

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

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 …

Personal Jurisdiction And The Stream Of Commerce, A. Kimberley Dayton

Faculty Scholarship

This article evaluates the stream of commerce theory of personaljurisdiction in light of existing precedent and the constitutionalimperative of due process. Part II briefly describes the factualbackground of Asahi and the various opinions rendered in the case.Part m outlines the development of jurisdictional doctrine since International Shoe, emphasizing the meaning of "purposeful availment" and its fluid role in the due process equation governing statecourt jurisdiction. Part IV then traces the evolution of the stream of commerce theory since International Shoe. Part V examines and rejects criticisms of the stream of commerce theory, and concludes that under any reasonabre interpretation of …

Mass And Repetitive Litigation In The Federal Courts, Edward H. Cooper

Articles

The topic of "Mass and Repetitive Litigation in the Federal Courts" is even more vast and unwieldy than the complex litigations it brings to mind. The implicit assignment to address the topic by contemplating the events that may occur over the next century is still more daunting. One hundred years bring untellable changes to all of our social and political institutions, judicial and otherwise. Rather than attempt to meet the challenge by uttering bold prophecies of the circumstances that will confront our successors of the future, I will follow an easier course. This paper will select a few illustrations of …

What Your Opening Statement Should And Shouldn't Do: Some Surprising Advice, Steven H. Goldberg

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Prosecutors and criminal defense attorneys would do well to consider how civil trial lawyers fashion their opening statements. As with any other part of the trial, the primary question to be answered in constructing an opening statement is: What do I want to accomplish? In civil cases the answer is almost always that each lawyer wants to persuade the jurors that the lawyer's version of the dispute is more likely to be correct than the opponent's. Opening statements in criminal trials, however, do not usually sound as if they were constructed with that goal in mind. Most fall into two …

Civil Practice, Jay C. Carlisle

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

During the Survey year, legislation was enacted relating to twenty-seven of the sixty-five articles of the CPLR. Additionally, there have been significant developments in the decisional law of res judicata. These and other areas should be of interest to the practitioner.

Contribution, Claim Reduction, And Individual Treble Damage Responsibility: Which Path To Reform Of Antitrust Remedies?, Edward D. Cavanagh

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

Antitrust violations traditionally have been viewed as statutory torts, yet tort principles of damage allocation, including contribution and claim reduction, have not been extended by analogy in the federal courts to antitrust cases. Moreover, the principle of joint and several liability, made applicable to antitrust conspirators by judicial fiat some eighty years ago, has gone largely unchallenged. While the federal antitrust laws are nearly a century old, the damage allocation debate is of recent vintage, emerging in the wake of the Electrical Equipment Cases, when the private treble damage remedy came into its own.

The recent emergence of …

“Syndrome” Evidence, Paul C. Giannelli

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Computer Software Copyright Infringement: The Second Generation, Jeffrey A. Berkowitz

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Child Witness: Techniques For Direct Examination, Cross-Examination, And Impeachment, John E.B. Myers

McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Detrebling Antitrust Damages: An Idea Whose Time Has Come?, Edward D. Cavanagh

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

Since the passage of the Sherman Act in 1890, successful plaintiffs in private antitrust actions have been entitled to recover three times the actual damages awarded. Originally embodied in section 7 of the Sherman Act, the mandatory treble damages provision was later incorporated into section 4 of the Clayton Act and made applicable to all actions in which private plaintiffs sought recovery under the federal antitrust laws. In the century since the Sherman Act became law, the antitrust debate has concentrated largely on issues of substantive liability. While the desirability of the mandatory treble damages remedy has been challenged …

Legal Factors In The Acquisition Of A United State Corporation: Litigation By Hostile Targets, Johan E. Droogmans

LLM Theses and Essays

Acquisitions of United States corporations have become increasingly complex takeover contests, where bidders and target corporations are forced into offensive and defensive litigation strategies to protect their respective interests. Targets often assert that the bidders have violated federal or state securities laws, federal antitrust laws, federal margin regulations, federal and state regulatory systems, and federal anti-racketeering laws. These lawsuits are primarily based on the principal federal regulation of takeovers in section 14(a) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 and the Williams Act. Target litigation is customary, but entails certain disadvantages; a lawsuit rarely stops an offer, is expensive, …

Prosecutorial Misconduct: Quelling The Tide Of Improper Comment To The Jury, Frank D. Celebrezze

Cleveland State Law Review

The United States Supreme Court, in Darden v. Wainwright, stated that where the error is forensic in nature, appellate courts should reverse a conviction when the prosecutor's misconduct "so infected the trial with unfairness as to make the resulting conviction a denial of due process." Therefore, except in the most egregious cases, appellate courts are placed in the uncomfortable position of condemning the prosecutor's behavior while affirming the conviction, thus fostering what an appellate judge once called "a deplorably cynical attitude towards the judiciary. This article will focus on one aspect of prosecutorial misconduct which has been chronicled with alarming …

Appealability, Under The Collateral Order Doctrine, Of Orders Denying Motions For Appointment Of Counsel In Federal Civil Litigation After Richardson-Merrell, Inc. V. Koller, Kevin G. Dumbach

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

On-The-Job Training In Appellate Litigation Skills: A Comparative Study, Michael F. Noone Jr.

Scholarly Articles

Each year, hundreds of federal attorneys brief and argue criminal cases before courts of appeal, but the only federally- sponsored training programs in appellate advocacy are devoted primarily to civil appeals. Conversations with members of the staff of the Practicing Law Institute and the Federal -and American Bar Associations established that short courses in appellate litigation skills are not routinely offered. Therefore, we can conclude that most government attorneys involved in criminal appeals learn or improve their appellate litigation skills on the job.

This article is about their training. While there is a wealth of legal literature on appellate advocacy …

Use Of Comparative Risk Methods In Regulatory And Common Law, Michael S. Baram

Faculty Scholarship

Several persistent problems afflict risk decisionmaking. In the regulatory context, agencies confront the problems of how to prioritize risks for best use of their limited resources and how to determine "how safe is safe enough," or a risk limit, when action is to be taken on a particular risk.

In the trial courts hearing toxic tort actions, the jury must often determine whether an activity is "unreasonably dangerous" or a product is "defective" because of its risk attributes.

To resolve these problems, many have proposed the use of risk comparisons. Now that we can quantify risks, why not compare them …

Federal Venue Under Section1392(A): The Problem Of The Multidistrict Defendant, Brent E. Johnson

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that a broad construction of section 1392(a) which would allow Aunt Bea to bring suit in the Southern District of California where Mayberry alone resides is preferable to a narrow construction which would restrict Bea to the Northern District where both defendants reside. Part I of this Note maintains that the language of section 1392(a) is ambiguous and does not indicate the clear intent of Congress, despite assertions to the contrary by proponents of both the broad and narrow constructions of the statute. Part II demonstrates that a superficially relevant Supreme Court decision tending to support the …

Rico: Limiting Suits By Altering The Pattern, Edward Lee Isler

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Target Litigation, Michael Rosenzweig

Michigan Law Review

In Part I, I explore the motives of litigious target managers. I briefly examine the takeover defense literature and empirical evidence regarding the frequency of target litigation, both of which indicate that target managers usually sue bidders in order to defeat unwanted takeover attempts. I also suggest that judicial reactions to target lawsuits largely confirm this hypothesis.

I then discuss, in Part II, target management's conflict of interest in control contests and the particular strategic considerations that lead target managers to sue hostile bidders. I argue that target litigation is peculiarly likely to be frivolous and, based on a study …

Epa Regulation Of Mining Wastes Under Rcra And Cercla, Robert E. Walline

Getting a Handle on Hazardous Waste Control (Summer Conference, June 9-10)

9 pages.