Litigation Commons^™

Government Discretion Advised (Even If It’S Unconstitutional): How The Eleventh Circuit Has Expanded The United States’S Immunity From Tort Suits, John Rodriquez

Mercer Law Review

Mackie Shivers, a sixty-four-year-old man, was stabbed in the eye by his mentally-ill cellmate with a pair of scissors. Although the attack left Shivers permanently blind, he received no legal remedy to compensate him for his injuries. This result is due, at least in part, to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit’s decision to interpret the discretionary function exception to the Federal Torts Claim Act (FTCA) in a broader way than virtually all of its sister circuits. The holding by the Eleventh Circuit in Shivers v. United States bars FTCA claims under the exception even for …

So Help Me, God, Decide This Case: The Eleventh Circuit’S New Standard For Dismissing Religious Jurors During Deliberations, Amanda Claxton

Mercer Law Review

You are on trial for a crime. Maybe you did precisely what the government claims, though perhaps not. However, a judge will not decide your fate because you exercised your constitutional right to a jury trial. During deliberations, you hear that a juror practices a religion condemning those who commit the crime you are accused of. You feel the juror would unfairly prejudice your chances of walking away freely. To your dismay, the judge refuses to dismiss the juror. You ask whether allowing this prejudicial juror to determine your fate is legal. After United States v. Brown, it is. …

Foreign Antisuit Injunctions And The Settlement Effect, Connor Cohen

Northwestern University Law Review

International parallel proceedings, which are concurrent identical or similar lawsuits in multiple countries, often ask courts to balance efficiency and fairness against the speculative fear of insulting foreign nations. Some litigants abuse foreign duplicative litigation to exhaust their opponents’ resources and pressure them into settling out of court. This Note provides the first empirical evidence of such abuse of international parallel proceedings: when courts deny motions to enjoin foreign parallel litigation, the settlement rate rises significantly. Considering the results of this empirical project and its limitations, I encourage future studies on international parallel proceedings and settlement. I also argue for …

Prison And Jail Civil Rights/Conditions Cases: Longitudinal Statistics, 1970-2021, Margo Schlanger

Law & Economics Working Papers

These tables relating to prison and jail civil rights litigation in federal court update prior-published versions, using data available as of April 6, 2022.

The Tables show longitudinal statistics about case filings, features, and outcomes, for jail/prison civil rights and conditions cases and for the entire federal civil docket, grouped by case category.
List of tables:
Table A: Incarcerated Population and Prison/Jail Civil Rights Filings, FY1970–FY2021
Table B: Pro Se Litigation in U.S. District Courts by Case Type, Cases Terminated Fiscal Years 1996–2021
Table C: Outcomes in Prisoner Civil Rights Cases in Federal District Court, Fiscal Years 1988–2021
Table D: …

Upper Missouri Waterkeeper V. Epa, Clare Ols

Public Land & Resources Law Review

State water quality standards developed under the Clean Water Act play a key role in curtailing the negative environmental, economic, and human health impacts of water pollution. Under the state water quality regulatory framework, EPA may grant variances to state standards should the state demonstrate the compliance with its standards is infeasible for a certain pollutant discharger or waterbody. Montana DEQ developed a variance for nutrients based on evidence that compliance with those standards would cause economic harm. EPA approved Montana's nutrient pollutant variance, and Upper Missouri Waterkeeper challenged EPA's approval on the grounds that the variance violates the Clean …

Memorandum Of Amici Curiae Doug Rendleman & Caprice Roberts In Support Of Plaintiff: Estate Of Henrietta Lacks V. Thermo Fisher Scientific, Doug Rendleman, Caprice Roberts

Scholarly Articles

This brief addresses the law of unjust enrichment and its relationship to restitution has failed to state a valid cause of action for restitution relief. Defendant incorrectly insists that plaintiff must plead a tort to seek restitution remedies as well as Both arguments belie the basic tenets of unjust enrichment law. Simply, plaintiff may seek restitution remedies based either a separate tort nor an allegation of the lack of bona fide purchaser status is required to survive these challenges.

The Ping-Pong Olympics Of Antisuit Injunction In Frand Litigation, King Fung Tsang, Jyh-An Lee

Michigan Technology Law Review

In the past two years, antisuit injunctions (ASIs) and subsequent legal proceedings associated with standard-essential patents (SEPs) subject to fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) commitments have proliferated in multiple jurisdictions. This phenomenon reveals not only the transnational nature of technical standards and FRAND-encumbered SEPs but also the jurisdictional tension between different national courts. This Article explains the emergence of ASIs in FRAND scenarios and recent developments in six jurisdictions with major interests in standard development and adoption. Countries have developed different approaches to ASIs based on their own domestic rules and interests. We believe that to promote technical compatibility and …

Groups And Rights In Institutional Reform Litigation, David Marcus

Notre Dame Law Review

Lawsuits pursue institutional reform when plaintiffs ask courts to issue broad, systemic remedies to improve the performance of malfunctioning government programs. Once thought in decline, this litigation persists. Plaintiffs continue to seek judicial protection from dysfunctional prisons, immigration enforcement regimes, foster care systems, and other institutions. But an important aspect of the substantive law that institutional reform litigation involves has gone overlooked. This substantive law often vests rights in groups. An institutional reform lawsuit does not always—or even often—bundle large numbers of individual rights violations. Rather, a group of incarcerated people or children in foster care sues to vindicate a …

The Objection Exception Is Overruled! The Georgia Supreme Court Makes A Course Correction By Reviving The Contemporaneous Objection Rule, Ryan Read

Mercer Law Review

What comes to mind when you think of evidence being presented at jury trials? Typically, both sides prevent evidence to the jury, and both sides fight hard to make sure no prejudicial evidence is allowed in that would bias the jury against their client. Both sides also work hard to prepare persuasive openings and closings to further affect the jury’s perception of their client, the opposition, and the evidence that has been presented. So, when an attorney on one side makes prejudicial statements about the opposing counsel’s client, one would naturally expect an objection to be made, right? Well, in …

The Future Of Testamentary Capacity, Reid Kress Weisbord, David Horton

Washington and Lee Law Review

Recently, the #FreeBritney saga cast a harsh spotlight on state guardianship systems. Yet despite their serious flaws, guardianship regimes have benefited from waves of reform. Indeed, since the 1970s, most jurisdictions have taken steps to protect the autonomy of people with cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities (CIDD). Likewise, lawmakers are currently experimenting with supported decision-making (SDM): an alternative to guardianship designed to help individuals with CIDD make their own choices. These changes are no panacea, but they have modernized a field that once summarily denied “idiots” and “lunatics” power over their affairs.

However, in a related context, the legal system’s …

The Party Respectfully Requests A Jury Trial On All Issues So Triable: What Issues Are Triable To A Jury And What Issues Should Be Triable To A Jury? A Comment On The Right To A Jury Trial, With A Focus On Civil Trials, And When The Right Exists, Michael Downing

Mercer Law Review

“In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed . . . .” But what about civil prosecutions? What about prosecutions under state law, not federal? What does the universally expected “right to a jury trial” really mean or afford the parties to a trial?

Under federal law and the United States Constitution, by the time the Bill of Rights was drafted, the ideal of an accused’s right to a jury trial was already deeply rooted within …

Family Feuds And Circuit Splits: A Clash Between Corporate Cousins Causes The Eleventh Circuit To Revisit The “Long-Lost” Burford Abstention Doctrine, William Wheeler

Mercer Law Review

Corporate litigation is often a highly complex process. The rules and regulations surrounding shareholder demands, derivative lawsuits, review committees, and corporate dissolution create a convoluted procedural web that can be exceedingly difficult to untangle. Due to this complexity, federal court is an attractive choice for many civil litigants; federal forums have predictable and established rules of procedure and federal judges tend to have more time to give each case individualized consideration. These factors can accelerate and smooth the litigation process. However, throughout the last two decades, litigants in corporate dissolution actions have had no choice but to seek relief in …

The Best Of Both Worlds: Reconciling Tradition With Evolution Under The Ohio And Federal Right To A Civil Jury Trial, Jacob Hoback

University of Cincinnati Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Way Lawyers Worked, Michael Risch, Mike Viney

University of Cincinnati Law Review

Court and litigation operations are opaque in the best of times, and the lack of explanatory Nineteenth Century legal records makes it even more difficult to learn how lawyers and judges went about their business. This may be one of the reasons there are so few accounts detailing the nuts and bolts of 1800s law practice. This Article illuminates the development of litigation and the law in the middle of the Nineteenth Century by examining archival court and Patent Office records.

Most accounts of the time focus either on judicial opinions or the relationship of the parties, but few articles …

The Prudential Standing Quandary When Discriminatory, Facially Neutral Laws Allegedly Cause Collateral Damage, Richard Luedeman

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

International Litigation, Aaron Marr Page, Jonathan I. Blackman, Carmine D. Boccuzzi, Theodore J. Folkman, Phillip B. Dye Jr., Matthew D. Slater, Howard S. Zelbo, Igor V. Timofeyev, Charles A. Patrizia, Joseph R. Profaizer

The Year in Review

No abstract provided.

National Scenic Trails, Pipelines, & Ferc: Examining Pipeline Certification After United States Forest Service V. Cowpasture River Forest Preservation Association, Caitlin M. Doak

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

Pulling The Trigger On Hunting Regulations For Lead Ammunition, Lydia Shields

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

Tijuana River Valley Pollution: How The Environmental Protection Agency Expects To End A Ninety-Year Environmental And Public Health Crisis, Andrew Simmons

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

Endnotes

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Climate Migration Beyond The Refugee Framework: Creating Bridges Between Human Rights And International Climate Law, Mara Elisa Andrade

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Accounting For Climate Change In United States Regional Ocean Planning: Comparing The Obama And Trump National Ocean Policies To A Climate-Forward Approach, Taylor Goelz

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Swallowing The Rule: Why Ferc’S “Immediate Need Exemption” Frustrates Competitive And Climate-Smart Electricity Sector Transmission Planning Under Order No. 1000, Philip Killeen

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

“At What Cost?’: The Future Of Securities Enforcement In Climate Change Litigation, Angela Washington

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

About Sdlp

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

The Sustainable Development Law & Policy Brief (ISSN 1552-3721) is a student-run initiative at American University Washington College of Law that is published twice each academic year. The Brief embraces an interdisciplinary focus to provide a broad view of current legal, political, and social developments. It was founded to provide a forum for those interested in promoting sustainable economic development, conservation, environmental justice, and biodiversity throughout the world.

Because our publication focuses on reconciling the tensions found within our ecosystem, it spans a broad range of environmental issues such as sustainable development; trade; renewable energy; environmental justice; air, water, and …

Editor's Note, Keanu Bader, Alexis Bauman

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Endnotes

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

Endnotes

Risk Regulation And Management Against Illegal Wildlife Trade: Europe And America, Olonyi Bosire

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

Introduction

The source or initial crime in the illegal wildlife trade chain is mostly committed beyond the shores of North America and Europe. However, the two regions continue to be massive destination markets and key transit hubs for illegal wildlife products. Illegal trade networks are shadowy and therefore problematic to study. This helps explain the wide valuation of illegal wildlife trade currently estimated by the Global Environment Facility (“GEF”) as ranging between 7 and 23 billion dollars per annum.

Policies and strategies to pre-empt or respond to illegal wildlife trade keep evolving as appreciation grows for the previously underestimated complexities, …

The Truth Is Always In Style: Targeting Greenwashed Advertising In The Fashion Industry, Sydney Helsel

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

H&M’s 2019 “Conscious Collection” promotional images juxtapose lush green gardens with a hazy city skyline in the background. The collection, which advertises itself as “[t]he short cut to sustainable choices,” is just one example of many fashion brands’ attempts to capitalize on the increased demand for sustainable products. Each year, the fashion industry consumes approximately ninety-three billion cubic meters of water and produces an estimated ten percent of the world’s carbon emissions. The environmental effects of the fashion industry can be seen in images of the dried up Aral Sea in Uzbekistan and in the dye and chemical filled black …

The Overfished Pacific Bluefin Tuna: The Tragedy Of A Highly Migratory Fish Species, Theresa Geib

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

Introduction

The ocean is an abundant resource; however, overutilization is becoming an increasing threat to biodiversity. Approximately 90% of the ocean’s fisheries are overexploited, fully exploited, or have collapsed entirely. The issue of overfishing arose in the mid-1900s after the industrialization of the fishing industry. Once dominated by local fishermen, the industry now features commercial fleets with the technology to locate, extract, and process large numbers of specific fish species. An early 2000s study reported that only 10% of large ocean fish remained after years of industrial fishing, including the highly migratory Pacific Bluefin Tuna (“PBT”).

In 2016, the PBT …