Torts Commons^™

The Four Phases Of Promissory Estoppel, Eric Mills Holmes

Seattle University Law Review

Case law accurately delineates the four evolutionary stages of promissory estoppel. As an overview, promissory estoppel has evolved in American case law in four developmental stages: (1) Estoppel Phase, consisting initially of “defensive equitable estoppel” to estop contract defenses based on statutes of limitations and the statute of frauds. In the second part of this first phase, courts have extended “estoppel” based on representations of facts to “promissory” representations and enforced the promissory basis of the representation, thereby creating an affirmative theory of relief. Thus, this first phase of promissory estoppel consists of defensive equitable estoppel and offensive equitable estoppel. …

Tort In A Contractual Matrix, John G. Fleming

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

This article addresses one aspect of the interface between tort and contract: the way tort law is affected, whether by extending or contracting its reach, by the parties coming together against a contractual structure. Two basic situations are considered. The first concerns the effect of a contractual limitation clause on the tort liability of, or to, a third party such as a subcontractor's to the building owner. The second considers what effect to attribute to a plaintiff's failure to protect himself or herself in advance by contracting against the risk

Warranties And Remedies On Breach: Proposed Revision Of Article 2 And Related Proposals Concerning Products Liability Law, Richard E. Speidel, James J. White

Other Publications

The following materials contain (1) the warranty provisions, §§2-313 through 2-318, from the October, 1995 Draft of Revised Article 2, Sales, with selected Reporter's Notes; (2) Discussion questions on warranties; and (3) A comparison of Revised Article 2 and the ALl's Products Liability Restatement (Tent. Draft #2, March 13, 1995), with discussion problems.

They Came From "Beyond The Pale": Security Interests In Tort Claims, Harold R. Weinberg

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

"[B]eyond the pale" is how the drafters of Article Nine of the Uniform Commercial Code regarded tort claims. They considered tort claims to be noncommercial assets inappropriate for inclusion as collateral within the scope of a commercial financing statute. Tort claims may not be out-of-bounds much longer. The Article Nine Study Committee of the Permanent Editorial Board for the Uniform Commercial Code recommends expansion of the Article's scope to encompass security interests in claims arising out of tort. This recommendation is significant. Tort causes of action comprise an ever-expanding universe of civil wrongs for which courts afford redress. The owners …

How To Negotiate A Sales Contract, James J. White

Articles

A. Introduction 1. In my experience, lawyers begin negotiating only after the business people have decided upon the description and quality of the product, the time of delivery, and the mode and amount of payment. The lawyers are left with the pathological problems - who gets what in case of trouble. 2. Most of those pathological problems relate to the seller's responsibility if the product does not conform to the contract or otherwise fails to please the buyer. These failures can cause economic loss to the buyer, economic loss to a remote purchaser, or personal injury or property damage to …

Job Security: Protecting At-Will Employees With Good Cause Legislation, Mayumi Yokoyama

LLM Theses and Essays

Recent decades have witnessed significant developments in employment termination law in the United States. In particular, the long-standing “at-will” doctrine, under which employers can fire employees for good, bad, or no reason at all, has experienced great erosion and wide variations in law from state to state. There has been a movement of statutory and common law restrictions limiting an employer’s freedom to terminate at will, which reflects the increasing consciousness of job security by society and workers. This paper analyzes the problem of job security by tracing the origin of the at-will doctrine to 19th century principles favoring economic …

Critical Rules In Negotiating Sales Contracts: The Lawyer's Job, James J. White

Other Publications

In my experience, lawyers begin negotiating only after the business people have decided upon the description and quality of the product, the time of delivery, and the mode and amount of payment. The lawyers are left with the pathological problems--who gets what in case of trouble. Most of those problems relate to the seller's responsibility if the product does not conform to the contract or otherwise fails to please the buyer. These failures can cause economic loss to the buyer, economic loss to a remote purchaser, or personal injury or property damage to immediate or remote parties. Third parties may …

The Emerging Article 2: Remedies For Breach Of The Contract For Sale, Richard E. Speidel, James J. White

Other Publications

Article 2, Sales is being revised by a Drafting Committee of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. To date, the Drafting Committee has held eight meetings and two more are scheduled for early 1995 . The first reading of revised Article 2 occurred at the annual meeting of NCCUSL in August, 1994. A target completion date for the Article 2 project is August, 1996 .

Introduction, The Congress, The Courts And Computer Based Communications Networks: Answering Questions About Access And Content Control, Symposium, Henry H. Perritt Jr.

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Differing Treatment Of Efficiency And Competition In Antitrust And Tortious Interference Law, Gary Myers

Faculty Publications

During the last twenty years, there has been a revolution in antitrust law. As a result of extensive scholarly and judicial analysis, a new learning has developed concerning the content, role, and effect of antitrust doctrines. This trend has focused primarily on the primacy of consumer welfare and economic efficiency. Most commentators now assume that these two interrelated goals are the principal, if not exclusive, concerns of antitrust law. The United States Supreme Court has responded to these new approaches by modifying or altering antitrust law in a long series of cases. Similarly, the new learning has affected the focus …

Reconceptualizing Sovereign Immunity, Harold J. Krent

Vanderbilt Law Review

The United States generally is immune from suit without its con- sent. Accordingly, neither Congress nor the executive branch need pay damages' for any contract breached, any tort committed, or any constitutional right violated by the federal government. Although the doctrine of sovereign immunity persists, it persists subject to near unanimous condemnation from commentators. Many have rejected the underlying theory that the "King can do no wrong" as oddly out of place in our republican governments and many have noted as well that sovereign immunity was never applied as comprehensively in the past as it is today. Presently, there seems …

Section 1983 And The Collateral Source Rule, Linda L. House

Cleveland State Law Review

This note examines the different approaches to the application of the collateral source rule among federal and state courts entertaining §1983 actions and the principles which should be applied by courts to resolve the choice of law problem raised by the rule. The first section discusses the common law collateral source rule and recent state legislative alterations and abrogation of it. The second section explores current applications of the collateral source rule in federal and state courts entertaining §1983 actions. The third section suggests principles which should guide courts in their applications of the collateral source rule. This section further …

Litigation & Inequality: Federal Diversity Jurisdiction In Industrial America, 1870–1958, Edward A. Purcell Jr.

Books

Through the prism of litigation practice and tactics, Purcell explores the dynamic relationship between legal and social change. He studies changing litigation patterns in suits between individuals and national corporations over tort claims for personal injuries and contract claims for insurance benefits. Purcell refines the "progressive" claim that the federal courts favored business enterprise during this time, identifying specific manners and times in which the federal courts reached decisions both in favor of and against national corporations. He also identifies 1892-1908 as a critical period in the evolution of the twentieth century federal judicial system.

Morguard Investments Limited: Reforming Federalism From The Top, Peter Finkle, Simon Coakeley

Dalhousie Law Journal

Nations are not only unified markets, but usually they are at least that. In most discussions about national unity, adequate account is taken of the importance of the free movement of goods, capital and people. Rarely, though, does the discussion encompass the necessity of legally assuring such movement in the domestic marketplace through the practical modality of secure remedies for breaches of obligations in contracts and tort. De Savoye v. Morguard Investments Ltd is a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of Canada that considers the extent of jurisdiction that provincial courts may exercise and the associated concern with the …

Privity, Products Liability, And Ucc Warranties: A Retrospect Of And Prospects For Illinois Commercial Code 2-318, 25 J. Marshall L. Rev. 177 (1991), Steven Bonanno

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Recovery For Pure Economic Loss In Tort: Another Look At Robins Dry Dock V. Flint, Victor P. Goldberg

Faculty Scholarship

In Robins Dry Dock and Repair Co. v. Flint, the Supreme Court laid down the general proposition that claims for pure economic loss are not recoverable in tort. Although courts have sometimes ignored or distinguished Robins, its holding is still a central feature of tort law. In a recent en bane decision regarding claims by those injured by a chemical spill in the Mississippi River, the Fifth Circuit engaged in an extensive debate over the continued vitality of Robins and concluded (despite five dissenters) that it remained good law.

The Robins rule is overbroad, lumping together a number of …

Professor Weinrib's Coherence, Alan Brudner

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Genuinely Distressing: Illinois' Failure To Allow A Cause Of Action For Emotional Injuries Caused By Negligent Mishandling Of A Corpse, 23 J. Marshall L. Rev. 353 (1990), Kevin E. Bry

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Legal Malpractice: Is It Tort Or Contract?, Blanche M. Manning Honorable

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Drug Testing Of Student Athletes: Some Contract And Tort Implications, Leroy Pernell

Journal Publications

No abstract provided.

Nelson V. Logan Motor Sales, Inc.: Providing Damages For Breach Of The Implied Warranty Of Merchantability, Chad A. Cicconi

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Contingent Fees Without Contingencies: Hamlet Without The Prince Of Demark?, Lester Brickman

Articles

According to conventional wisdom virtually all contingent fee percentages exceeding fifty percent are illegal and excessive, but most lower percentages are valid. This Article challenges the conventional wisdom, an amalgam of the unassailability of the standard one-third rate, notions of fairness versus price gouging, lawyer effort versus lawyer' reward, and the right of a lawyer to contract freely for a fee. It advances instead two propositions for determining the legitimacy of contingent fees. The first is that for a contingent fee to be valid, there must be an actual contingency, which means a realistic risk of nonrecovery. Though this proposition …

Exception Clauses And Negligence-The Influence Of Contract On Bailment And Tort, Andrew B.L. Phang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Judgments at first instance have rarely been the subject of comment.' The recent decision of Steyn J in Singer Co (UK) Ltd v Tees and Hartlepool Port Authority,2 however, merits consideration for at least three reasons. First, it focuses upon important issues in the law of bailment, at least one of which has hitherto only been considered at first instance in any event. Secondly, the decision provokes thought on the much broader issue of the effect of exception clauses upon the general duty of care in tort, in particular whether the reasoning in the bailment context could be extended and …

Flypaper Contracts And The Genesis Of Modern Tort, Peter Huber

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Hegel And Modern Contract Theory: A Comment On Benson And Rosenfeld, Jay M. Feinman

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Rowe V. State Bank Of Lombard: The Key To Unlocking A Landlord's Duty To Provide Security, 23 J. Marshall L. Rev. 131 (1989), Jeffrey Fowler

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Warranty Of Quality In Sale Of Goods Under The Perspective Of The American And French Law, Renaud Baguenault De Puchesse

LLM Theses and Essays

While the United States’ common law system is characterized by diversity due to each state having its own set of rules, in certain areas there are nationwide legislative attempts of unification and standardization. One such attempt is the adoption of the Uniform Commercial Code which governs the sale of goods law in the United States. The French civil law system generally differs greatly from the American system in that it is primarily based upon statutes and codes. However, the American Uniform Commercial Code and the French Civil Code provide tangible, comparable bases to assess similarities and differences between American and …

Hiring Ruled Contractual, Bill Gore, Douglas A. Kahn, Stan Shields

Articles

On December 29, 1988, the California Supreme Court decided Foley vs. Interactive Data Corp., perhaps the most eagerly awaited state supreme court decision in years. The Foley ruling, which immediately was hailed as a tremendous victory for California employers, eliminated punitive damage awards for many wrongfully terminated employees. That was good news for the employers. The decision, however, also provided employers with sobering news. Most significantly, the court ruled that employment relationships essentially are contracts, with terms created by the reasonable expectation of the parties. Thus, the majority of California employees now have a right to sue for breach …

Lenders' Liability - The Shift From Contract To Tort Doctrine Deters Banks From Enforcing Unjustified And Detrimental Contract Provisions, 21 J. Marshall L. Rev. 369 (1988), Donna B. Wallace

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Computer Malpractice And Other Legal Problems Posed By Computer Vaporware, Ronald N. Weikers

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.