Litigation Commons^™

Effect Of Representation On A Claimant's Success Rate -- Three Study Designs, William D. Popkin

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Proposed Citizens Right To Standing Act-Finding The Keys To Unlock The Courthouse Doors, Harold W. Wood, Jr.

Seattle University Law Review

Recent Supreme Court decisions severely restrict the right of citizens to litigate in federal courts. The Court's standing requirements not only limit the ability of citizens to successfully invoke federal court jurisdiction, but also confuse lower courts and litigants attempting to apply the requirements. Standing requirements have met with increasing criticism. And Congress is now considering legislative modification of standing doctrine. Unfortunately, the Court's employment of constitutional foundations in establishing current standing requirements imposes substantial roadblocks Congress must avoid to enact remedial standing legislation. This comment examines the constitutional and pragmatic difficulties of statutory modification of standing requirements and recommends …

Character Evidence, Paul C. Giannelli

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Book Review, Elaine W. Shoben

Scholarly Works

Quantitative Methods in Law represents the efforts of one legal scholar to apply mathematical probability and statistics to the solution of a wide range of legal problems. Michael O. Finkelstein has republished in book form a collection of his articles, beginning with his most famous and most widely cited: the application of mathematical probability to jury discrimination cases. After leading the reader through a series of fascinating applications of statistical problem solving to an impressively wide range of legal situations, the book concludes with the final words of one of the most engaging battles among legal scholars in recent years: …

A Practitioner's Guide To The Management And Use Of Expert Witnesses In Washington Civil Litigation, Thomas V. Harris

Seattle University Law Review

The Washington litigation process places a premium on the skillful management of expert witnesses. Testimony presented by such witnesses is both readily admissible and virtually unlimited in scope. Washington's adoption of the new Rules of Evidence can only serve to reinforce the current practice. Since most litigated cases involve substantial factual disputes, the development and presentation of expert testimony should be a major concern of all trial attorneys. The importance of trial examination has never been underrated. That part of the litigation process is one that all attorneys relish. The skillful management of expert witnesses, however, involves far more than …

Defenses To Products Liability In Illinois Arising Out Of Plaintiff's Conduct, Anthony J.M. Kiselis

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Court-Awarded "Reasonable" Fees: Forcing A Segregated Public Interest Bar?, Paul L. Robert

Fordham Urban Law Journal

In ensuring that each citizen has free and unabated access to the legal system, it is important to strengthen the public interest sector of the legal community. To allow for solo practitioners and firms to engage in public interest cases, it is vital that the court system apply consistent standards for fee awards so as to incentivize and adequately compensate attorneys for their work. This comment looks to the importance of reasonable fees in ensuring the availability of counsel and more importantly, the availability of effective counsel.

Summary Judgements In Antitrust Conspiracy Litigation, C. Paul Rogers Iii.

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Civil Litigation And Jura Novit Curia, Lawrence G. Baxter

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Right To Trial By Jury In Complex Litigation, Kathy E. Davidson

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Punitive Surcharges Against Disloyal Fiduciaries--Is Rothko Right?, Richard V. Wellman

Michigan Law Review

This Article criticizes the award of a penalty surcharge in the name of appreciation damages. Contrary to the statements in the Rothko opinions, neither precedent nor treatises offers clear support for the shocking awards made against Rothko's disloyal executors. Furthermore, even if appreciation damages were to be viewed, against the thesis here advanced, as an appropriate remedy for some kinds of fiduciary breach, the measure is inappropriate for cases which, like Rothko, involve hidden conflicts of interest. This is so because the threat of severe penalties in hidden-conflict cases adds unacceptable legal costs to honest administrations-costs that cannot be …

Glosses On Dworkin: Rights, Principles, And Policies, Donald H. Regan

Articles

A great many people have attempted to explain what is wrong with the views of Ronald Dworkin. So many, indeed, that one who read only the critics might wonder why views so widely rejected have received so much attention. One reason is that, whatever may be wrong in Dworkin's theories, there is a good deal that is right in them. But what is right is not always clear. Important passages in Dworkin can be distressingly obscure, or tantalizingly incomplete. This essay is a set of loosely connected observations on themes from Dworkin. While I shall add some criticisms of my …

Improving On The Contingent Fee, Kevin M. Clermont, John D. Currivan

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Two basic fees--contingent and hourly--dominate the variety of fees that lawyers charge clients for pursuing damage claims. Each of these two types has its advantages; each is plagued with substantial disadvantages. This Article proposes a new type of fee, one that preserves the respective advantages of the two present fees while minimizing their distinct disadvantages.

In essence, the proposed fee calls for the payment, on a contingent basis, of an amount computed by adding one component tied to hours worked and another component linked to amount recovered. The preferability and feasibility of this proposed fee argue for the abolishment, or …

A Probabilistic Analysis Of The Doctrine Of Mutuality Of Collateral Estoppel, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Part I of this Note lays the foundation for the conclusions suggested above by setting forth some elementary probabilistic notions and establishing a measure of trial efficacy. The next part reviews some of the early suggested limitations on the application of Bernhard and, by analyzing the mutuality requirement and the Bernhard doctrine in probabilistic terms, demonstrates that the concerns underlying those initial reservations were not only sound, but require rejection of Bernhard.

Although the primary purpose of this Note is to expose the flawed analysis underlying Bernhard, a secondary . purpose is to demonstrate how probability theory can …

Credibility Of Witnesses, Paul C. Giannelli

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Eyewitness Identifications, Paul C. Giannelli

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Rules Pertaining To Witnesses, John W. Reed

Book Chapters

Article VI of the Michigan Rules of Evidence contains the rules dealing with witnesses. Trials bring to mind testimonial evidence. There surely are other kinds of evidence, such as docmnents, guns, automobile tires, chemical substances, and the like. But most evidence comes from the mouths of witnesses, and even demonstrative evidence usually is admitted only after a witness has taken the stand and testified to foundation facts. So it is important and appropriate that we turn to the provisions of the rules that deal with qualifications and credibility of witnesses. I would like to direct your attention to MRE 601 …

Polygraph Evidence, Paul C. Giannelli

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Texas V. United States Steel Corp. And Illinois V. Sarbaugh: The Disclosure And Use Of Grand Jury Transcripts In Private Antitrust Litigation, Stephen Paul Juech

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Opinions And Expert Testimony, John W. Reed

Book Chapters

Article VI of the Michigan Rules of Evidence contains the rules dealing with witnesses. Trials bring to mind testimonial evidence. There surely are other kinds of evidence, such as docmnents, guns, automobile tires, chemical substances, and the like. But most evidence comes from the mouths of witnesses, and even demonstrative evidence usually is admitted only after a witness has taken the stand and testified to foundation facts. So it is important and appropriate that we turn to the provisions of the rules that deal with qualifications and credibility of witnesses. I would like to direct your attention to MRE 601 …

Jurors' Impeachment Of Verdicts And Indictments In Federal Court Under Rule 606(B), Christopher B. Mueller

Publications

No abstract provided.

Review On A Virginia Cause, William Hamilton Bryson

Law Faculty Publications

A book review on A Virginia Cause by B. Lamb.

Attorney’S Affidavit In Litigation Proceedings, John H. Garvey

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Some Comments On The Litigation Explosion, John W. Wade

Vanderbilt Law Review

My comment must start with a strong commendation of Attorney General Bell for recognizing the crisis created by the current "litigation explosion" in our courts and for providing leadership in seeking means for alleviating and perhaps even solving it. I am sure that the Justice Department's new Section on Improvement in the Administration of Justice will prove invaluable, both as an originator and a clearinghouse for compiling and evaluating new ideas and as a means for putting them into effect. Dan Meador makes an ideal selection as assistant attorney general to head it. I also must commend the Justice Department …

Young Adults As A Cognizable Group In Jury Selection, Donald H. Zeigler

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Assumption Of Risk In A Comparative Negligence System-- Doctrinal, Practical, And Policy Issues, Daniel O. Conkle

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The adoption of a new principle of law invariably impinges upon related legal concepts, raising issue that were not considered when the law was changed. The adoption of comparative negligence, a drastic departure from the long-held principle of contributory negligence, has forced courts to consider how the related concept of assumption of risk is affected by the change. Because there are different types of assumption of risk, and various doctrinal, practical, and policy issues, a proper determination of the role for assumption of risk in a comparative negligence system depends upon a thorough examination of many relevant considerations. Unfortunately, two …

Prison Reform In The Federal Courts, Rebecca P. Dick

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Corroboration Instructions In A Rape Case On Experimental Juries, Valerie P. Hans, Neil Brooks

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The rules of evidence have evolved, in the main, to protect the jury from being misled, prejudiced or confused by certain types of evidence which might be presented to it. The rules attempt to achieve this purpose by utilizing a number of techniques, which were fashioned by common law judges. First, evidence which gives rise to these dangers might be excluded from the jury's consideration altogether. Secondly, such evidence might have to be corroborated by other evidence before the jury is permitted to reach a verdict in the case. Thirdly, the judge might be compelled to instruct the jury that …

Book Reviews, Daniel H. Benson, Maxwell Bloomfield, Donald E. Schwartz

Vanderbilt Law Review

THEY CALL IT JUSTICE: COMMAND INFLUENCE AND THE COURT-MARTIAL SYSTEM. By Luther C. West. New York: The Viking Press, 1977. Pp.xii, 302. $12.95.

Reviewed by Daniel H. Benson

In his book West is dealing with a subject that is difficult to discuss without generating hostility, misunderstanding, and, occasionally, incredulity. He is attacking the classic military understanding of the basic purpose of the court-martial system. He asks the reader to accept his word and assurances concerning the accuracy of the problems he describes, over the assurances of the military justice establishment that all is well. In doing all of this, West …

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.