Torts Commons^™

Valuation In Veterinary Malpractice, Rebecca J. Huss

Law Faculty Publications

This article begins with a description of veterinarians and the status of veterinary malpractice. Next, the article considers the elements and key issues involved in veterinary malpractice. The article then analyzes the current law relating to damages available in veterinary malpractice suits. Finally this paper considers whether the way current damage calculations are being made is apprpriate and advocates the the adoption of statutory provisions allowing capped non-economic damages in these cases.

Lessons For The Hague: Internet Jurisdiction In Contract And Tort Cases In The European Community And The United States, 23 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 1 (2004), Moritz Keller

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

With the increasing use of the Internet, all on-line users, web site owners, e-commerce companies and consumers alike, feel the need to be able to rely on clear standards for a potential contract or tort lawsuit following the Internet presence that could lead to multinational litigation. This goal could be achieved if the negotiations of the Hague Convention on international jurisdiction and enforcement of foreign judgments in civil and commercial matters succeed in harmonizing the rules of the different legal systems around the globe, or at least create a minimum standard for legal cases which would benefit greatly e-commerce and …

The Foggy Road For Evaluating Punitive Damages: Lifting The Haze From The Bmw/State Farm Guideposts, Steven L. Chanenson, John Y. Gotanda

Working Paper Series

In light of increasing punitive damages awards, the United States Supreme Court formulated criteria for evaluating whether a punitive damages award is so unreasonably large that it violates substantive due process. Unfortunately, these "guideposts," which were first erected in BMW v. Gore and applied last term in State Farm v. Campbell, are difficult to use and have resulted in inconsistent decisions. Indeed, Justice Scalia stated that they "mark a road to nowhere." The authors argue that the problems with the guideposts can be fixed by refining the third guidepost, which compares the punitive damages award to the criminal (or civil) …

A Faith-Based Perspective On Tort Causation, Douglas H. Cook

St. Thomas Law Review

Causation is among the more difficult concepts dealt with in the law of torts. "There is perhaps nothing in the entire field of law which has called forth more disagreement .... Nor, despite the manifold attempts which have been made to clarify the subject, is there yet any general agreement as to the best approach."' The law has, however, settled into at least a few basic concepts. There is general agreement that a defendant's act will not be regarded as a cause of a plaintiffs harm unless it is true that "but for" the defendant's conduct, the plaintiff would not …

Front Matter

St. Thomas Law Review

Front Matter includes Masthead and Table of Contents for St. Thomas Law Review Volume 16, Issue 4, Summer 2004.

International Implications Of The Alien Tort Statute, Gary C. Hufbauer, Nicholas K. Mitrokostas

St. Thomas Law Review

In this article, we briefly review the history and development of ATS (Alien Tort Statute) case law, including the expansive reading courts have applied to the statute. Then we discuss potential ATS target countries and estimate the damage to foreign direct investment and trade with those countries. We conclude that unless the Supreme Court narrows the statute's scope, the Congress must amend the ATS to avert its potentially devastating effects on international trade and investment.

The Alien Tort Statute: An Emerging Threat To National Security, Mark E. Rosen Jagc

St. Thomas Law Review

The American judicial system has been remarkably well insulated from the pressures of international law. Consequently, when federal judges try to apply international principles in domestic cases there are mistakes and collateral damage. This is a story of how some federal courts have taken the relatively obscure Alien Tort Statute ("ATS"), a two hundred year old law, and applied it in such a bizarre fashion that it threatens the overseas activities of most U.S. companies. It also threatens U.S. security operations, since the Department of Defense ("DOD") relies heavily on contractors for essential combat support services in foreign theaters of …

The Alien Tort Claims Act: A Tool For Repairing Ethically Challenged U.S. Corporations, Sonia Jimenez

St. Thomas Law Review

Any good business person knows the best way to increase profit is to reduce overhead without compromising the quality of the product. With this in mind, many U.S. corporations have established business operations abroad, particularly in lesser developed countries. While lesser developed countries may not be attractive to tourists, they are attractive to industries and corporations for a number of reasons. Leaders of lesser developed countries can offer such corporations inexpensive materials, untapped natural resources, a cheap, yet highly productive, labor force, and there is virtually no regulation of business practices. Oftentimes, the leaders of such regions are just as …

Corporate Liability For Human Rights Violations On Foreign Soil: A Historical And Prospective Analysis Of The Alien Tort Claims Controversy, Gabriel D. Pinilla

St. Thomas Law Review

Breakthrough decisions in Federal Circuit Court have allowed foreign plaintiffs to successfully bring claims against U.S. corporations for egregious human rights violations perpetrated by foreign governments in furtherance of corporate initiatives abroad. This comment analyzes the Alien Tort Claims Act controversy, from the Act's obscure roots through its modem evolution, paying particular attention to developmental cases and critical legal arguments. Though the ATCA has its origins in the Judiciary Act of 1789, a relatively minimal body of recent case law has developed revealing the Act's use as a weapon in the enforcement of international human rights norms. This string of …

Flawed Justice: Limitation Of Parental Remedies For The Loss Of Consortium Of Adult Children, William S. Bailey

Articles

This article presents the inherent contradiction between a parent-child relationship that has steadily evolved from the early 20th Century to the present and the multitude of court decisions on damages that remain studiously ignorant of this shift.

Part I of the article will set forth the common law origins of restrictions on recovery for wrongful death within the context of a shifting view of children from economic units to objects of adoration. Part II will examine the devastating impact that the loss of an adult child has on parents both from their perspectives and from now existing research.

In the …

The Boundary Of Personal Jurisdiction: The "Effects Test" And The Protection Of Crazy Horse's Name, 38 J. Marshall L. Rev. 381 (2004), Scott Fruehwald

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Tick Of The Statute Of Limitations Clock: How The Frcd Preempts The State Law Accrual Date In Freier V. Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Karen S. Nabholz

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

“Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds”: Airline Liability For Checked-In Jewelry, Eloisa Rodriguez-Dod

Faculty Publications

It is expected that when you arrive at an airport you most likely will have to check in a bag or two. What is not expected, however, is that someone would rummage through your baggage and take your belongings. Unfortunately, this happens frequently. A passenger packs her jewelry in her luggage, checks that luggage in, boards her flight, and never sees that jewelry again. Once she discovers the missing jewelry, her options for recovering the loss are quite limited.

This article examines the history and current state of the law regarding airline liability for passengers’ lost belongings on domestic as …

Are Talebearers Really As Bad As Talemakers?: Rethinking Republisher Liability In An Information Age , Jennifer L. Del Medico

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Comment critiques the legal landscape surrounding republisher liability for defamation and ultimately calls for a more reaching approach to protect against such liability. Historically at common law republishers could be held liable for defamation regardless of whether they attributed the source of the material. However, starting in 1933 courts articulated the “wire service defense” that sought to eliminate liability for republishers when they “republished a wire story from a generally recognized reliable source of daily news.” Subsequent to the 1933 Florida court’s articulation of the defense many jurisdictions have adopted it. New York stands out as one of the …

This One's For The Children: The Time Has Come To Hold Guardians Ad Litem Responsible For Negligent Injury And Death To Their Charges, Inga Laurent

Cleveland State Law Review

Absolute immunity has historic justifications but it also represents one of the major failures of the modem child welfare system. Attorneys who act as guardians are granted absolute immunity, which serves as a shield that excuses them from being accountable for the consequences of their actions. Without presentation of a defense, all the parties involved are left to speculate as to whether the guardian adequately performed the necessary duties to protect the child. Immunity also perpetuates maintenance of the status quo rather than moving toward improved systems of care and accountability. Section II of this note provides an overview of …

Separations, Blow-Outs, And Fallout: A Treadise On The Regulatory Aftermath Of The Ford-Firestone Tire Recall, 37 J. Marshall L. Rev. 1073 (2004), Kevin M. Mcdonald

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Permitted But Not Intended: Boub V. Township Of Wayne, Municipal Tort Immunity In Illinois, And The Right To Local Travel, 38 J. Marshall L. Rev. 545 (2004), Bruce Epperson

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Joint And Several Liability In Minnesota: The 2003 Model, Michael K. Steenson

Faculty Scholarship

The 2003 amendment to Minnesota’s Comparative Act can be assessed in various ways. Whether it will have the economic impact its proponents suggest it will have is a question that is not susceptible of a ready answer now, or perhaps in the immediate future. From a fairness standpoint, any assessment of the amendment has to take into consideration the full reach of the Comparative Fault Act. It is important to understand that on balance the Act works to the disadvantage of the plaintiff in a variety of ways. The plaintiff cannot recover if the plaintiff’s fault is greater than the …

Her Own Good Name: Two Centuries Of Talk About Chastity, Lisa R. Pruitt

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Taking Another Ride On Flopper: Benjamin Cardozo, Safe Space, And The Cultural Significance Of Coney Island, Robert N. Strassfeld

Faculty Publications

This article examines the history and cultural meaning of Coney Island and its amusement parks, as well as Cardozo's biography, in an effort to discover the basis for that feeling of contempt. It shows that a variety of attributes of Coney Island, most notably its embrace of what was, for its day, a robust and open sexuality and carnival spirit, were alien and threatening to Cardozo's Victorian values. It also shows how this clash of values would have naturally inclined Cardozo to think of Coney Island as a dangerous place and led him to Murphy's assumption of risk analysis. It …

Increasing The Inherent Risks Of Baseball: Liability For Injuries Associated With High-Performance Non-Wood Bats In Sanchez V. Hillerich & (And) Bradsby Co., Amanda M. Winfree

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal (1994 - )

No abstract provided.

La Revision Del Codigo Civil Y La Responsabilidad Civil Extracontractual: Contradiccion En Los Terminos, 73 Rev. Jur. U.P.R. 981 (2004), Alberto Bernabe

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Public Tort Litigation: Public Benefit Or Public Nuisance?, Richard C. Ausness

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

One of the latest developments in products liability law is "public tort" litigation. Public tort or government-sponsored lawsuits are actions by federal, state, or local government entities to recover the cost of public services provided to persons who have been injured as the result of a defendant's alleged misconduct. The best known example is the tobacco litigation of the mid-1990s in which more than forty states brought suit against the leading tobacco companies to recoup the cost of providing health care services to indigent smokers. Eventually, the tobacco companies agreed to pay the states more than $200 billion and also …

Case Note: Tort Law—Shades Of Gray: The Sophisticated Intermediary Defense Is Now Available For Minnesota Industrial Failure To Warn Actions—Gray V. Badger Mining Corp., Kerri Nelson

William Mitchell Law Review

This Note briefly examines the context of Minnesota failure to warn claims against industrial suppliers. It describes the various defenses Gray has made available, particularly the sophisticated intermediary and bulk supplier doctrines. The Note also reviews the various jurisdictional incarnations of the sophisticated intermediary defense, and analyzes the doctrine’s application in Gray. Additionally, the Note attempts to predict Gray’s future, recommending that the sophisticated intermediary defense not be expanded beyond the employment context, and suggesting that the Gray defenses, viewed as a cohesive whole, will quickly get rid of weaker claims while permitting valid claims to go forward. Finally, the …

Summary Of The Doctors Company V. Vincent, 120 Nev. Adv. Op. 71, Justen Ericksen

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appeal by insurer from a district court order approving insurance agent’s settlement with insured. Insurer contended that the district court abused its discretion in approving agent’s settlement which effectively cut off insurer’s claims against agent for contribution and implied indemnity.

The Application Of Finance Theory To Increased Risk Harms In Toxic Tort Litigation, Robert J. Rhee

UF Law Faculty Publications

In toxic tort litigation, a plaintiff has no cause of action for increased risk of harm unless that risk is proven by a preponderance of the evidence to lead to a future physical injury. This rule of law is based on an antiquated concept of uncertainty, and evinces the law's detachment from the knowledge gained from other intellectual disciplines and the everyday workings of the world. This article argues that freedom from increased risk should be a legally cognizable interest, the violation of which gives rise to an independent cause of action. When analyzed under finance theory, increased risk harms …

The Alien Tort Claims Act: Theoretical And Historical Foundations Of The Alien Tort Claims Act And Its Discontents: A Reality Check, Ralph G. Steinhardt

St. Thomas Law Review

This essay offers an overview of the ATCA (Aline Tort Claims Act), including its origins and early history as well as its contemporary use (and limits) as a tool for victims and survivors of human rights abuse to seek compensation from their abusers when they can be found in the United States. The essay also distinguishes between the reasonable and the unreasonable attacks on the ATCA, which have become especially strident in the last few years, with the Bush Administration breaking strongly with prior administrations in the interpretation of the act. The current attack on the statute rests on a …

Corporate Social Responsibility, Unmasked, Terry Collingsworth

St. Thomas Law Review

The scope and future of the Alien Tort Claims Act ("ATCA") may well be decided this term by the Supreme Court in Alvarez-Machain v. United States. However that case is decided, the review process has exposed an extremely critical issue that has great significance to the future of the global economy. The major international business organizations in the United States, including the National Foreign Trade Council ("NFTC"), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the U.S. Council for International Business and the U.S. Business Roundtable, collectively filed an amicus curiae brief in Alvarez-Machain ("NFTC Brief") that explicitly states what those of us …

The Avid Sportsman And The Scope For Self-Protection: When Exculpatory Clauses Should Be Enforced, Robert H. Heidt

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Doing Good, Doing Well Symposium, Howard M. Erichson

Faculty Scholarship

Rather than focusing on the differences between tort lawyers and activists as they ally with each other, this Article focuses on the motivations and explanations of the tort lawyers themselves. Positioned at the intersection of big-money practice and social change litigation, mass torts provide a useful study in multiple motivations. While financial incentives for plaintiffs' lawyers explain much of what happens in mass torts, policy objectives come into play as well, at least in the lawyers' rhetoric. Despite the obvious difficulty distinguishing reasons from rhetoric and rationalization, it is worth exploring the significance of mixed motives for lawyers who are …