Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Discipline
-
- Civil Law (22)
- Litigation (13)
- Civil Procedure (12)
- Medical Jurisprudence (12)
- Constitutional Law (8)
-
- Courts (8)
- Insurance Law (6)
- Agency (5)
- Contracts (5)
- Health Law and Policy (4)
- Legal Remedies (4)
- Labor and Employment Law (3)
- Law and Society (3)
- Admiralty (2)
- Civil Rights and Discrimination (2)
- Consumer Protection Law (2)
- Evidence (2)
- First Amendment (2)
- Food and Drug Law (2)
- Fourteenth Amendment (2)
- Human Rights Law (2)
- International Law (2)
- Land Use Law (2)
- Law and Gender (2)
- Law and Race (2)
- Law of the Sea (2)
- Workers' Compensation Law (2)
- Administrative Law (1)
- Keyword
-
- Torts (23)
- Negligence (18)
- Liability (11)
- Medical malpractice (8)
- Tort (8)
-
- Strict liability (5)
- Common law (4)
- Comparative negligence (4)
- Agency (3)
- Charitable immunity (3)
- Damages (3)
- Duty (3)
- Emotional distress (3)
- Foreseeability (3)
- Governmental immunity (3)
- Immunity (3)
- Personal injury (3)
- Physicians (3)
- Product liability (3)
- Products liability (3)
- Punitive damages (3)
- Race (3)
- Tort law (3)
- Tort liability (3)
- Tortfeasors (3)
- Admissibility (2)
- Beaulieu (2)
- Catholic church (2)
- Clergy (2)
- Coca cola (2)
- Publication Year
- Publication Type
Articles 31 - 60 of 82
Full-Text Articles in Torts
Stacked Recovery Under Maine's Uninsured Motorists Statute: Connolly V. Royal Globe Insurance Company, Edward R. Benjamin Jr.
Stacked Recovery Under Maine's Uninsured Motorists Statute: Connolly V. Royal Globe Insurance Company, Edward R. Benjamin Jr.
Maine Law Review
Foremost among the problems of automobile travel facing state legislatures may be that of ensuring adequate compensation for injuries and deaths suffered in traffic accidents. Frequently an injured party wins an award of damages against a negligent motorist, only to find the negligent party unable to meet the financial burden which the judgment imposes. The injured party, though innocent of any wrongdoing, may receive little or no compensation for injuries suffered. State legislatures have attempted to prevent such situations by enacting mandatory liability insurance laws, creating victim compensation funds, or requiring uninsured motorist coverage. Inherent weaknesses exist, however, in both …
Proof Of Causation In A Private Action For Acid Rain Damage, Patrick J. Scully
Proof Of Causation In A Private Action For Acid Rain Damage, Patrick J. Scully
Maine Law Review
The acid rain problem has become one of the major environmental issues of our day. Each new report on the subject is more disturbing than the last, documenting serious and often irreversible effects of acid rain on lakes and streams, fish and other aquatic life, forests, soils, buildings, and even human health. Present federal legislation is inadequate to deal with acid rain effectively. Proposed legislation could help ameliorate the problem, but even if adopted the effects of such proposals will not be felt until early in the next century. Furthermore, the current administration, particularly the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has …
Aviation Law: Owner-Lessor Liability—The Need For Uniformity, Ann T. Hollyday
Aviation Law: Owner-Lessor Liability—The Need For Uniformity, Ann T. Hollyday
Maine Law Review
General aviation—aviation involving both private and business aircraft—is a substantial and growing industry which comprises a fleet of 211,000 planes. The number of general aviation aircraft is expected to increase to 300,000 by 1991. Moreover, there are over 760,000 private pilots in the United States. Because of the varying sources of aviation liability law among the states, there is a lack of uniformity regarding whether the owner-lessor will be held vicariously liable for the negligent acts of the pilot. The lack of uniformity concerning owner-lessor liability in the aviation context is problematic because the owner is unable to predict what …
Hanover Insurance Co. V. Hayward: Imposition Of Punitive Damages In Addition To Criminal Sanctions, David P. Silk
Hanover Insurance Co. V. Hayward: Imposition Of Punitive Damages In Addition To Criminal Sanctions, David P. Silk
Maine Law Review
In Hanover Insurance Co. v. Hayward, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, addressed the issue whether punitive damages may be awarded against a defendant who has been criminally convicted for the conduct giving rise to the punitive damages claim. Although it affirmed the superior court's decision not to allow the award of punitive damages, the Law Court concluded that the imposition of criminal sanctions did not by itself bar punitive damages. Instead, the court indicated that criminal punishment is merely one factor to consider in determining whether an award of punitive damages would serve a meaningful …
Comparative Negligence: The Multiple Defendant Dilemma, Karen P. O'Sullivan
Comparative Negligence: The Multiple Defendant Dilemma, Karen P. O'Sullivan
Maine Law Review
Maine's comparative negligence statute provides that a plaintiff who is partly at fault for his or her own injury may recover so long as he or she is not "equally at fault." The statute is simple to apply when there is only one defendant. In cases that involve two or more defendants, however, neither the Maine Supreme Judicial Court nor the Legislature has indicated whether the plaintiff's fault is compared with the fault of each defendant individually or all defendants combined.
The Government Contract Defense: Should Manufacturer Discretion Preclude Its Availability?, John D. Pelletier
The Government Contract Defense: Should Manufacturer Discretion Preclude Its Availability?, John D. Pelletier
Maine Law Review
The government contract defense developed in cases involving suits against private contractors for damages arising out of the performance of government public works projects. These cases held private contractors immune from liability for damages necessarily incident to the performance of such projects. In several recent cases, manufacturers have been allowed to raise the government contract defense as a bar to liability for injuries caused by design defects in military products supplied to the United States government. In two of these cases, the defense barred liability on behalf of military suppliers who merely executed the government's mandatory design specifications. In subsequent …
Burns V. Smith: Assessing The Sufficiency Of Affidavits Supporting Prejudgment Attachments In Medical Malpractice Actions, Margaret Christie Kenney
Burns V. Smith: Assessing The Sufficiency Of Affidavits Supporting Prejudgment Attachments In Medical Malpractice Actions, Margaret Christie Kenney
Maine Law Review
The process of attachment allows a plaintiff to request that the court bring a defendant's property into the court's custody for the purpose of satisfying any subsequent judgment that the plaintiff may obtain. In Maine, a plaintiff may proceed either with notice to the defendant or ex parte. In order to proceed ex parte, by which only the plaintiff appears before the court without notice to the defendant, the plaintiff must satisfy the requirements of Rule 4A of the Maine Rules of Civil Procedure. Rule 4A embodies two distinct safeguards for defendants whose property a plaintiff seeks to attach ex …
Tuttle V. Raymond: Drawing The Line On Punitive Damages, Elting H. Smith
Tuttle V. Raymond: Drawing The Line On Punitive Damages, Elting H. Smith
Maine Law Review
In Tuttle v. Raymond, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, reconsidered the appropriateness of Maine's common law doctrine of punitive damages. Under the doctrine, punitive or exemplary awards are permitted in tort actions, at the factfinder's discretion, for the purpose of deterring wrongful conduct. Prior to Tuttle, a plaintiff raised a claim for such an award if he proved by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant was guilty of intentional, wanton, malicious, reckless, or grossly negligent behavior. Because of the doctrine's uncertain justification and vague standards, however, punitive damages had become the subject of …
Beyond The Equity Power Of Bankruptcy Courts: Toxic Tort Liabilities In Chapter 11 Cases, Kaighn Smith
Beyond The Equity Power Of Bankruptcy Courts: Toxic Tort Liabilities In Chapter 11 Cases, Kaighn Smith
Maine Law Review
In 1982, three asbestos product manufacturers filed voluntary petitions for business reorganization under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. The common reason for each of these filings was that tort liabilities threatened the financial survival of the corporation. Never, in the history of United States bankruptcy law, had any business sought bankruptcy relief for such a reason. By 1985, two more firms, another asbestos product manufacturer and a pharmaceutical company, filed Chapter 11 petitions for the same reason. The torts of these "debtors" in bankruptcy are similar; they extend from the manufacture and wide-spread marketing of products that …
Improved Regulation Of Maine Physicians: One Solution To The Medical Malpractice Crisis, Joanne Buttolph Steneck
Improved Regulation Of Maine Physicians: One Solution To The Medical Malpractice Crisis, Joanne Buttolph Steneck
Maine Law Review
Maine began regulating allopathic and osteopathic physicians around the turn of the century with the passage of two statutes, in 1895 and 1919, commonly referred to as the Medical Practice Acts. As originally enacted, these statutes provided for the establishment of boards, composed of physicians, and empowered the boards to examine and license all persons seeking to practice as physicians and surgeons within the state. The boards were also responsible for investigating complaints of noncompliance with, or violations of, the Acts' provisions, and for revoking licenses for such violations. The boards were left to undertake these licensing and review functions …
Ending The Never-Ending Medical Malpractice Crisis, Allen Redlich
Ending The Never-Ending Medical Malpractice Crisis, Allen Redlich
Maine Law Review
Another nationwide outbreak of what is commonly called the medical malpractice "crisis" is spreading. Once again, as during prior episodes, the public hears of dramatic increases in the cost of malpractice insurance, of growing numbers of multimillion dollar awards, and of increases in the number of suits filed. Already several states have passed statutes in attempts to resolve the crisis. This crisis atmosphere resembles the crisis of the mid-seventies when every state enacted so-called "remedial" statutes, which failed to solve the crisis. A physician would define a "crisis" as a turning point in the course of a disease; nonmedical definitions …
Affirmative Judicial Case Management: A Viable Solution To The Toxic Product Litigation Crisis, Patrick Francis Harrigan
Affirmative Judicial Case Management: A Viable Solution To The Toxic Product Litigation Crisis, Patrick Francis Harrigan
Maine Law Review
With increasing frequency, federal courts throughout the nation have confronted a multiplicity of "toxic tort" claims, claims for relief arising from chronic and latent illnesses or diseases allegedly caused by toxic substances. Toxic substances are substances whose manufacture, processing, distribution, use, or disposal presents or will present an unreasonable risk of injury to a person's health or to the environment. Because many of these unreasonable health risks are caused by consumer and industrial products, many toxic tort claims are actually "toxic product" claims. Examples of toxic product claims include those arising from the use, exposure to, or consumption of chemicals …
From "Maine Law" To Model Act: Liquor Liability In Maine, William P. Shumaker
From "Maine Law" To Model Act: Liquor Liability In Maine, William P. Shumaker
Maine Law Review
With the passage of the Maine Liquor Liability Act by the 112th Legislature, the State of Maine has completed a thorough reexamination of its public policy in the area of liability for injuries resulting from the use of alcoholic beverages. For 130 years the state's policy in this area was expressed by the statute commonly known as the dram shop act, the essential provisions of which had remained unchanged for over a century. This statute held sellers and other providers of alcoholic beverages strictly liable to any third party injured as a result of the intoxication of the recipient of …
Joy V. Eastern Maine Medical Center: Extension Of A Physician's Duty To Third Parties, Timothy H. Norton
Joy V. Eastern Maine Medical Center: Extension Of A Physician's Duty To Third Parties, Timothy H. Norton
Maine Law Review
In Joy v. Eastern Maine Medical Center, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, held that a claimant may sue a physician to recover damages for injuries that were caused by a negligently treated patient. The Law Court focused its analysis on the concept of duty and reasoned that a physician's duty to his patient extends to third parties whose injuries are a foreseeable result of negligent treatment. The Joy case sets forth a broad rule that provides a new and untested means of recovery against physicians and hospitals. This Note examines the new rule against the …
Maine Recognizes The Independent Tort Of Negligent Infliction Of Emotional Distress: Gammon V. Osteopathic Hospital, Jaye E. Rooney
Maine Recognizes The Independent Tort Of Negligent Infliction Of Emotional Distress: Gammon V. Osteopathic Hospital, Jaye E. Rooney
Maine Law Review
Gerald Gammon opened his deceased father's hospital bag, expecting to find his personal effects. Instead, he discovered a bloodied leg, severed below the knee and bluish in color. Recoiling in horror, he yelled, "Oh my God, they have taken my father's leg off.” His aunt later recalled at trial that "he was as white as a ghost" and she thought he was going to have a heart attack. Gerald received a call on November 7, 1982, from the Osteopathic Hospital of Maine informing him that his father, Linwood Gammon, had succumbed to cancer that morning. A funeral home employee picked …
Maine Refuses To Recognize A Cause Of Action For Loss Of Parental Consortium: Durepo V. Fishman, Nancy Wanderer Mackenzie
Maine Refuses To Recognize A Cause Of Action For Loss Of Parental Consortium: Durepo V. Fishman, Nancy Wanderer Mackenzie
Maine Law Review
In Durepo v. Fishman, two minor children filed suit to recover for the loss of parental consortium resulting from injuries allegedly suffered by their mother when she was negligently treated by a physician. The defendant moved to dismiss the claim for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. The trial court granted the motion, and the plaintiffs appealed to the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, sitting as the Law Court. The case invited the Law Court to declare for the first time in Maine whether a minor child should possess an independent right of action for …
Milton V. Cary Medical Center: A Viable Fetus Is Not A Person Under Maine's Wrongful Death Statute, Stan Piecuch
Milton V. Cary Medical Center: A Viable Fetus Is Not A Person Under Maine's Wrongful Death Statute, Stan Piecuch
Maine Law Review
In Milton v. Cary Medical Center, a sharply divided Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, refused to recognize a right of action for the wrongful death of a viable fetus. The court held that a viable fetus is not a person for purposes of applying Maine's wrongful death statute and that, consequently, the mother of a stillborn child could not maintain an action for the child's death. The court determined that the legislative history of the statute indicated that the Legislature did not intend the remedy to apply in the case of a child not born alive. …
Construing "Consideration" In Maine's Recreational Use Statute: Robbins V. Great Northern Paper Co., Russell B. Pierce Jr.
Construing "Consideration" In Maine's Recreational Use Statute: Robbins V. Great Northern Paper Co., Russell B. Pierce Jr.
Maine Law Review
Since 1961, when the Legislature enacted the original version of Maine's "recreational use statute," the Maine Supreme Judicial Court has had little opportunity to construe the statute's several components. The recent case of Robbins v. Great Northern Paper Co., however, allowed the court to interpret the "consideration" exception of the statute for the first time. In a 4-3 decision, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, ruled that a $95.00 annual rental fee for noncommercial, recreational use of a lot on the defendant's property did not constitute "consideration" so as to fall within the exception to landowner …
Constitutional Challenges To Caps On Tort Damages: Is Tort Reform The Dragon Slayer Or Is It The Dragon?, Kathryn L. Vezina
Constitutional Challenges To Caps On Tort Damages: Is Tort Reform The Dragon Slayer Or Is It The Dragon?, Kathryn L. Vezina
Maine Law Review
Liability insurance consumers are convinced the dragon is only sleeping. Because insurance has become a near necessity for businesses, professionals, and municipalities, it is no surprise that fears of the return of insurance unavailability and prohibitive cost cause the boldest policyholders to break out in a cold sweat. In many states, this fear has prompted legislative changes in the civil justice system—tort reform, as a sure-fire way to kill the insurance-crisis dragon. One such tort reform is a statutory limitation on tort damages. In Maine, a legislative proposal capping noneconomic tort damages in medical negligence cases at $250,000 has received …
In Pursuit Of The Appropriate Standard Of Liability For Defective Product Designs, Christina M. Moylan
In Pursuit Of The Appropriate Standard Of Liability For Defective Product Designs, Christina M. Moylan
Maine Law Review
Since the advent of strict products liability with the holding in Greenman v. Yuba Products Co. in 1963 and the promulgation of section 402A of the Restatement [Second] of Torts ("Restatement") in 1965, courts have struggled to strike an appropriate balance between competing social policies with respect to liability for defective products. On the one hand, those injured by defective products should not be burdened by the contractual intricacies of the law of sales or the onerous (virtually insurmountable in products cases) evidentiary obstacles of negligence. On the other hand, most courts agree that manufacturers and distributors should not be …
Our Biggest Fans: Nuisance Immunity For Grid-Scale Wind Energy Projects In Maine, Andrew D. Hersom
Our Biggest Fans: Nuisance Immunity For Grid-Scale Wind Energy Projects In Maine, Andrew D. Hersom
Maine Law Review
Global climate change and its attendant impacts threaten to change life on Earth as we know it. The sea level rise that comes with rising temperatures is an issue of particular importance to coastal states like Maine. Thankfully, continued investment in renewable energy technology is beginning to make certain renewable energy sources competitive with their nonrenewable counterparts. This Comment highlights wind energy as a particularly effective option for meeting Maine’s energy needs while significantly reducing the harmful greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. Despite its many benefits, wind energy technology still has its detractors. Wind energy projects (especially …
Patient Decision Aids Improve Patient Safety And Reduce Medical Liability Risk, Thaddeus Mason Pope
Patient Decision Aids Improve Patient Safety And Reduce Medical Liability Risk, Thaddeus Mason Pope
Maine Law Review
Tort-based doctrines of informed consent have utterly failed to assure that patients understand the risks, benefits, and alternatives to the healthcare they receive. Fifty years of experience with the doctrine of informed consent have shown it to be an abject catastrophe. Most patients lack an even minimal understanding of their treatment options. But there is hope. Substantial evidence shows that patient decision aids (PDAs) and shared decision making can bridge the gap between the theory and practice of informed consent. These evidence-based educational tools empower patients to make decisions with significantly more knowledge and less decisional conflict than clinician-patient discussions …
A Better Interpretation Of The Wrongful Death Act, Dennis M. Doiron
A Better Interpretation Of The Wrongful Death Act, Dennis M. Doiron
Maine Law Review
A viable fetus is not a person under the wrongful death act, declared the Maine Law Court in a controversial decision in 1988. To reach this conclusion, the court employed one traditional and one new rule of statutory interpretation, and one traditional rule of law. The traditional rule of interpretation-that the wrongful death act is to be strictly construed because it is in derogation of the common law-dates from the earliest wrongful death cases heard by the court. The new rule of interpretation-that the death statute must be harmonized with the Maine Uniform Probate Code-derives from the enactment of the …
Nevor V. Moneypenny Holdings, Llc: Availability Of Prejudgment Interest For Mixed Maritime Law And Jones Act Claims, Adam S. Bohanan
Nevor V. Moneypenny Holdings, Llc: Availability Of Prejudgment Interest For Mixed Maritime Law And Jones Act Claims, Adam S. Bohanan
Ocean and Coastal Law Journal
In maritime personal injury cases, courts have traditionally seen prejudgment interest as part of the compensation due to a prevailing plaintiff. The goal of ensuring the fullest compensation possible has long been recognized as a basic principle of admiralty law. However, federal appellate courts are split over whether to award prejudgment interest on a mixed claim under general maritime law and the Jones Act. This Note explores this issue in Nevor v. Moneypenny Holdings, LLC, which was the first time the question had been raised in the First Circuit. The Fifth and Sixth Circuits have held that because prejudgment interest …
Employees Or Independent Contractors: A Call For Revision Of Maine's Unemployment Compensation "Abc Test", Christopher J. Cotnoir
Employees Or Independent Contractors: A Call For Revision Of Maine's Unemployment Compensation "Abc Test", Christopher J. Cotnoir
Maine Law Review
The Maine Employment Security Law governs whether one person performing services for another is an independent contractor or an employee for unemployment tax purposes. It requires many employers to pay unemployment taxes on individuals who, under the usual common law rules governing the employer-employee relationship, are independent contractors. This result, caused partly by the structure of the statute and partly by judicial interpretation, has the effect of discouraging business expansion, limiting entrepreneurial opportunities, and ultimately, hampering statewide economic development. This Comment first provides the historical background of unemployment compensation legislation at the federal and state levels. Employer liability and employee/independent …
Maine Physician Practice Guidelines: Implications For Medical Malpractice Litigation, Jennifer S. Begel
Maine Physician Practice Guidelines: Implications For Medical Malpractice Litigation, Jennifer S. Begel
Maine Law Review
This Article assesses the use of physician practice guidelines as a vehicle for medical malpractice tort reform and focuses upon the State of Maine's legislation incorporating physician practice parameters into the defense of medical malpractice litigation. The Maine Medical Liability Demonstration Project (the “Demonstration Project”) legislatively adopts practice guidelines in four different medical specialties and allows physicians in those specialties to assert compliance with the applicable guideline as an affirmative defense. The affirmative defense of compliance with such guidelines has been touted as a means of protecting physicians from, and decreasing the costs associated with, medical malpractice litigation. While the …
Protecting Discretion: Judicial Interpretation Of The Discretionary Function Exception To The Federal Tort Claims Act, Donald N. Zillman University Of Maine School Of Law
Protecting Discretion: Judicial Interpretation Of The Discretionary Function Exception To The Federal Tort Claims Act, Donald N. Zillman University Of Maine School Of Law
Maine Law Review
In 1996 the Federal Tort Claims Act turns fifty. Few statutes reach the half-century mark only slightly amended and with their primary purposes still intact. The Federal Tort Claims Act is one such rare statute. The purpose of the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) was to make the United States liable for the torts of its employees committed in the scope of their employment. Today that sounds commonplace. Half a century ago, however, a considerable legislative effort was needed to overturn the doctrine of sovereign immunity that forbade the recovery of tort damages against the United States. Congress's rejecting sovereign …
The Unsettling Effect Of Maine Law On Settlement In Cases Involving Multiple Tortfeasors, Arlyn H. Weeks
The Unsettling Effect Of Maine Law On Settlement In Cases Involving Multiple Tortfeasors, Arlyn H. Weeks
Maine Law Review
When more than one person or entity causes injury to another, the multiple tortfeasors are jointly and severally liable to the injured party under Maine law. Maine has also provided since 1965 for comparison of the negligence of plaintiffs and defendants so that a plaintiff may not recover if his causative negligence is found to have equaled or exceeded that of the defendant. In addition, title 14, section 156 of the Maine Revised Statutes gives to each defendant the right to request that the jury allocate percentages of fault “contributed by each defendant.” Finally, title 14, section 163 of the …
Domestic Violence And Gender Equality: Recognition, Remedy, And (Possible) Retrenchment, Jennifer Wriggins
Domestic Violence And Gender Equality: Recognition, Remedy, And (Possible) Retrenchment, Jennifer Wriggins
Faculty Publications
This paper is based on the author's presentation at the gender equality symposium. Professor Wriggins connects domestic violence and gender equality before tuming to some significant reforms of the U.S. legal system concerning domestic violence-all of them relatively recent. Moving on, she discusses her reflections on the 12 year law practice that informs her expertise before becoming a law professor and also her long involvement in the movement for LGBTQ equality. Drawing on that experience, Professor Wriggins shares firsthand views of some of the consequences of not having legal protections. Outlining some of the shortcomings and critiques of the reforms, …
A Day In The Life Of Tort Law, Douglas H. Cook
A Day In The Life Of Tort Law, Douglas H. Cook
Maine Law Review
What would one day's worth of tort law look like? We usually receive our doses of the law in measures other than per diem: by the case, by the brief, by the article, or by the treatise. There is, of course, a unity in each of those units; each one collects only those authorities that bear upon certain focused aspects of the law. For example, an appellate brief or a law review article is often a compendium of cases dealing within a narrow topical range, cases drawn from a span of many different days, years, or even decades. One way …