State and Local Government Law Commons^™

The Promise Of State Constitutionalism: Can It Be Fulfilled In Shef V. O'Neill?, Gayl S. Westerman

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article reflects on the anomaly of the superior court's decision in Sheff in light of this recent history and recommends that the Connecticut Supreme Court use an alternative, analytical framework based on the Connecticut Constitution to decide the Sheff appeal. This independent approach is equally available to all state courts seeking to resolve fundamental issues under their own constitutions. Only by speaking in a clear, state voice can state courts balance the constitutional vision of the federal courts and fulfill the promise of the state constitutional law movement.

Suspended Over The Abyss: A City's Quest For Local Autonomy In Institutional Reform Litigation, Michelle S. Simon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article examines the conflict between preserving local autonomy and remedying constitutional violations in the context of school desegregation. Part I articulates the problem by exploring the role of the city and its part in institutional reform. The first section explains what is meant by local autonomy. The second section examines what constitutes institutional reform. The third section discusses an example of the clash between local autonomy and institutional reform in the context of the ongoing struggle in Kansas City, Missouri. Part II examines how the Supreme Court has viewed the relationship between the remedial powers of district courts and …

The Erosion Of Home Rule Through The Emergence Of State-Interests In Land Use Control, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The conventional wisdom is that New York's failure to adopt a comprehensive state-wide land use system is due to reluctance of the state legislature to diminish local control of land use. The purpose of this article is to explore that assumption as part of a larger examination of the proper course of land law reform in New York. The case and statutory law that have developed since the experiences of the early 1970s indicate that local “home rule” authority is neither a legal nor a political barrier to effective land use legislation in the broader state interest. Part II briefly …

Torts, Ralph Michael Stein

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article surveys the most significant torts cases decided in the courts of New York State during the Survey year. Only cases which challenged existing law, modified longstanding doctrine, or announced new decisional law have been included. While 1989 was not a year of signal change for the law of torts, a number of cases deserve examination and analysis.

Shattering The Myth Of Municipal Impotence: The Authority Of Local Government To Create Affordable Housing, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

In the absence of any guidance from the legislature, local officials, in confronting the problem of affordable housing, look to the courts to define the extent of their responsibility and power. While not providing specific direction, the New York Court of Appeals has clearly outlawed zoning designed to exclude affordable housing. The judiciary has voiced doubts, however, that municipal governments can, through zoning alone, require the development of affordable housing. The view that municipalities lack such power is erroneous. Zoning alone is competent to induce such development. Furthermore, local governments have considerable additional power to induce the creation of such …

Absolute Immunity For State-Law Torts Under Westfall V. Erwin: How Much Discretion Is Enough?, Karl R. Rábago

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The plaintiff who seeks to maintain an action in tort against a federal employee has basically two choices. First, after complying with various procedural requirements, the plaintiff may initiate suit under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) against the United States. The act is a waiver of sovereign immunity and, in spite of the existence of exceptions to its coverage, has generally been interpreted broadly.

The other alternative available to the plaintiff is a suit against the employee in his individual capacity based upon either state-law or constitutional tort. One of the employee's first lines of defense against such actions …

Torts, Ralph Michael Stein

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

During the 1986 Survey year, a number of cases of interest to practitioners were decided by the courts of New York. There have been several new legislative enactments which will also have a direct impact upon the practice of tort law. These enactments are analyzed elsewhere in this Survey volume. Following past practice, cases of the greatest significance will be highlighted, as well as those oddities which make tort law a stage for the human comedy.

Torts, Ralph Michael Stein

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

While the last several years have witnessed significant change in the field of tort law, viewed as advancement by some and regression by others, 1985 was a relatively stable year, at least in the courtroom. With a sometimes real, sometimes imagined, crisis in the liability insurance field, the drive to change, reform, improve, and re-package the law of civil wrongs has been in full swing. A myriad of legislative proposals followed a continued public debate, fueled by high pressure advertising campaigns, about the societal cost of the common law tort system. Local governments threatened to close parks and police departments; …

Review Of Regulating Paradise: Land Use Controls In Hawaii, Ralph Michael Stein

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Torts, Ralph Michael Stein

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

About the only thing a teacher of tort law can be sure of is that each year he or she will witness new efforts, some successful and most not, to extend the reach and effect of the law of private wrongs. Last year's Survey article analyzed a wide range of tort issues and while New York courts handed down fewer tort opinions of broad implication this Survey year, there is much to study and to apply in future litigation. As always, tort law is a somewhat quixotic but nonetheless valid barometer of shifting societal and judicial values about the nature …

Torts, Ralph Michael Stein

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Tort law remains the most exciting and challenging area of private law to teach and practice. Tort law reflects, sometimes elegantly, often crudely, the evolving standards of civil conduct. New York courts last year were, as usual, confronted with litigants seeking to broaden the scope of duty and expand the range of damages. Most decisions conservatively preserved the legal status quo, some ventured forth intellectually. Most of the decisions were sound, but a few cases were wrongly decided.

Seqra's Siblings: Precedents From Little Nepa's In The Sister States, Nicholas A. Robinson

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The technique of environmental impact assessment has emerged as the principal regulatory tool for assuring that each person acts "so that due consideration is given to preventing environmental damage." Just as the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires that each of the federal government's agencies assure that its decisions will be environmentally sound, so have many of the various states decreed that their agencies and political subdivisions shall maximize environmental protection.

The Juvenile Offender Act: Effectiveness And Impact On The New York Juvenile Justice System, Merril Sobie

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The Juvenile Offender Act of 1978 incorporates the most radical and perhaps the most controversial amendments to New York's juvenile delinquency statutes in several decades. For the first time since 1909, children accused of committing serious offenses are subject to prosecution in the criminal courts. The gradual decriminalization of delinquency, which began a century and a half ago, has been reversed. This report analyzes and evaluates the Act and its implementation. The first two sections summarize the historical development of juvenile delinquency legislation and compare present New York provisions to those in other states. Sections III and IV will evaluate …

Drinking Water Regulation, Nicholas A. Robinson

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

As 1974 drew to a close, President Ford signed legislation extending federal jurisdiction into a new realm: the quality of public drinking water supplies. This Safe Drinking Water Act is an interesting piece of legislation. It probably will become one more bit of data for the MOLDS System, and the Act, fortunately, has provisions which meet some of the criteria which Luther Avery set forth. Before describing the Act, I want to present a few statistics and background facts about this innocent bit of H2O.