Torts Commons^™

Tell Me What You Eat, And I Will Tell Whom To Sue: Big Trouble Ahead For “Big Food"?, Richard C. Ausness

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Overweight consumers are seeking damages from purveyors of fast food for obesity-related health problems. Plaintiffs claim that products that are high in fat, sugar, salt and cholesterol are defective. Other potential liability theories include product category liability, failure to warn, failure to disclose nutritional information, deceptive advertising, and negligent marketing. However, in order to prevail at trial, plaintiffs must overcome problems with causation, duty and proximate cause, shifting responsibility, federal preemption, comparative fault, and assumption of risk. If such litigation is successful, it may induce fast-food companies to produce healthier products. Nevertheless, this Article concludes that the problem of obesity, …

Dispensing With The Public Interest Requirement In Private Causes Of Action Under The Washington Consumer Protection Act, Jonathan A. Mark

Seattle University Law Review

It has been more than eighteen years since the Washington Supreme Court handed down its landmark decision in Hangman Ridge Training Stables v. Safeco Title Insurance Company. This was the final decision in a string of cases in which the court attempted to resolve problems arising from the application and interpretation of the right to a private cause of action under Washington's Consumer Protection Act ("CPA"). This Article explores the application of the public interest requirement since the decision in Hangman Ridge and considers whether the tests devised by the Hangman Ridge court to determine public interest are still …

Special Defenses In Products Liability Law, David G. Owen

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Private Harms In The Cyber-World: The Conundrum Of Choice Of Law For Defamation Posed By Gutnick V. Dow Jones & Co., Shawn A. Bone

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Comment On Private Harms In The Cyber-World, Christopher Wolf

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Health Courts: Panacea Or Palliative?, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Professor Tobias weighs the pros and cons of legislation proposed in several states that would create "health courts" for the handling of medical malpractice cases.

Alvarez-Machain Ii: The Supreme Court's Reliance On The Non-Self-Executing Declaration In The Senate Resolution Giving Advice And Consent To The International Covenant On Civil And Political Rights, Malvina Halberstam

Articles

No abstract provided.

The Current State Of Advance Directive Law In Ohio: More Protective Of Provider Liability Than Patients Rights, Marie Ortman

Journal of Law and Health

Ohio has adopted the Modified Uniform Rights of the Terminally Ill Act which governs the use and execution of written advance directives as expressions of a patient's desire to consent to or refuse future medical treatment. However, the Act also includes a provision that grants both civil and criminal immunity to health care providers who do not comply with a person's written advance directive. Unfortunately, because of the grant of civil and criminal immunity encompassed within the adopted written advance directive statutes, Ohio law today does not afford any greater protection of a patient's right to refuse medical treatment at …

Defamation In The Digital Age: Some Comparative Law Observations On The Difficulty Of Reconciling Free Speech And Reputation In The Emerging Global Village, Ronald J. Krotoszynski, Jr.

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Prescription For Drug Liability And Regulation, Victor E. Schwartz, Phil Goldberg

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Recess Appointments Of Article Iii Judges: Three Constitutional Questions, Edward A. Hartnett

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Law And Liberty In Virtual Worlds, Jack M. Balkin

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Suing Amy: A Love Story, Cameron Stracher

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Loss, Heidi Li Feldman

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Within Republican political circles, numerous state legislatures, and even the U.S. Congress, advocating caps on "noneconomic" damages in tort suits is in vogue, as part of the ongoing politics of "tort reform." Yet, the distinction between "economic" and "noneconomic" damages is nonsensical. It does not originate in the discipline of economics, but seems instead to be purely a rhetorical invention of those who wish to limit damages by any means politically possible. But law reform based on sheer rhetoric should be shunned; unprincipled rhetoric is no substitute for justificatory reasons, and to make laws without reasons exemplifies arbitrariness and injustice. …

Preemption And Regulatory Failure, David C. Vladeck

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This symposium was convened to address the growing and seemingly conflicting jurisprudence governing federal preemption of state damage actions. One way to evaluate the evolution of preemption law is to examine it through the lens of litigation under the preemption provision of the 1976 Medical Device Amendments ("MDA") to the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act - a provision that in many respects is typical of express preemption provisions in regulatory statutes and has spawned a high volume of litigation. The question raised in cases under the MDA is whether the Act's preemption provision nullifies state damage actions based on …

The Global Enforcement Of Human Rights: The Unintended Consequences Of Transnational Litigation, Andrea Boggio

History and Social Sciences Faculty Journal Articles

In the last few years, a growing number of individuals whose basic rights are violated have filed transnational human rights claims in foreign countries. By placing the individual as a holder of basic rights at the core of the process of development, the capability approach, as put forward by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, provides a fertile theoretical framework to assess translational human rights litigation.

The paper shows that transnational claims are problematic in two regards:

1) They undermine development by discouraging foreign companies from investing in countries that are sources of transnational claims and by weakening local governments and …

Damage Caps: Recent Trends In American Tort Law, Mark K. Osbeck

Articles

Damage caps and other limitations on damages have become increasingly important in American tort law during the past thirty years. This trend shows no signs of abating; in fact, it has gained increasing momentum since President Bush took office in 2001. This chapter traces the evolution of damage caps and other limitations on damages and provides a summary of recent developments in this area.

Theory Of Punitive Damages, Benjamin C. Zipursky

Faculty Scholarship

A contemporary theory of punitive damages must answer two questions: (1) what place, if any, do punitive damages have in the civil law of tort, given that they appear to involve an idea of criminal punishment? (2) why are punitive damages subject to special constitutional scrutiny, as in the Supreme Court's decision in BMW v. Gore, if they really are part of the civil law of tort? The article offers a theory that can answer both of these questions. Punitive damages have a double aspect, corresponding to two senses of "punitive." Insofar as they pertain to the state's goal of …

Strictly Speaking About Ephedra: A Baseball Tragedy Helping To Define The Dynamic Between Warning Defect And Design Defect, Michael Kane

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal (1994 - )

No abstract provided.

Spoliation Of Evidence: Why This Evidentiary Concept Should Not Be Transformed Into Separate Causes Of Action, Jason B. Hendren

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Deterrence And Origin Of Legal System: Evidence From 1950-1999, Michael L. Smith

Faculty Articles

This article offers evidence on legal systems' deterrence of acts that may cause harm, which extends law—and finance—literature comparing common law and civil code systems. Fatality rates from two causes are used to gauge deterrence: (1) motor vehicle accidents and (2) accidents other than motor vehicle. Both vary significantly across countries classified by origin of legal system. The data cover 50 years, offering evidence on evolution of differences over time. Findings for accidents other than motor vehicle are evidence on legal system flexibility, as the diffuse set of causes increases the difficulty of specifying harmful actions ex ante.

Enlisting The U.S. Courts In A New Front, Debra M. Strauss

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The time has come to extend the national approach that has been used successfully to dismantle the infrastructure of hate groups to the international realm against terrorist groups. The foundation of this approach is a private right to a cause of action apart from any military or diplomatic efforts by the government. In this Article, Professor Strauss analyzes case precedents under several federal statutes--the Antiterrorism Act of 1991, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, the Torture Victim Protection Act, the Alien Tort Claim Act--as well as state common-law tort claims, including aiding and abetting liability. Professor Strauss …

Tort Au Canadien: A Proposal For Canadian Tort Legislation On Gross Violations Of International Human Rights And Humanitarian Law, Caroline Davidson

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Despite Canada's strong rhetoric on the protection of human rights, Canada lacks a meaningful tort scheme for gross human rights violations akin to that of the United States. This Article argues that legislation to facilitate tort suits for gross violations of international human rights and humanitarian law can be consistent with, and in fact supports, Canada's commitments to human rights, the rule of law and multilateralism. In particular, provincial tort legislation should be one of a panoply of mechanisms in place to punish and deter violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. This Article proposes the shape of the …

Weight-Loss Advertising Too Good To Be True: Are Manufacturers Or The Media To Blame?, Jodie Sopher

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Lessons From The World Trade Center For Open Space Planning Generally And Boston's Big Data Specifically, Mary Clark

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

This paper looks to several land use planning issues at stake in both the World Trade Center redevelopment and Central Artery/ Tunnel Project, offering some lessons for the future of public open space planning with respect to the inºuence of the press, the centrality of politics, the urgency of addressing public and private claims of land ownership, the need to engage the public, and seizing the opportunity to create new public transportation links.

Medical Malpractice Insurance And The Emperor's Clothes, William M. Sage

Faculty Scholarship

Tom Baker and Mark Geistfeld's contributions to this Symposium offer detailed and persuasive analyses of medical malpractice insurance. Their principal contribution to the malpractice reform debate, however, is simple: confirming that liability insurers should not be left to their own devices between malpractice crises or appeased during crisis periods. Instead, liability insurance must be consciously designed to help the health care system work toward its core goals of high quality, broad access, and affordable cost.

In 2000, the IOM issued a follow-up report to its earlier indictment of medical error, calling upon the health care system to become safe, effective, …

Public Medical Malpractice Insurance: An Analysis Of State-Operated Patient Compensation Funds, Frank A. Sloan, Carrie A. Mathews, Christopher J. Conover, William M. Sage

Faculty Scholarship

Compared to major tort and insurance reforms, PCFs have received virtually no attention by scholars. With an exception or two, they are not a major focus of public policy debate either. Because they are small organizations and there have been lengthy periods in which medical malpractice markets are quiescent, they have not attracted much scrutiny. Given a lack of quantitative evidence, our evaluation depended on qualitative evidence. Yet PCFs address the fundamental issues of medical malpractice that have led to reoccurring crises in the availability of medical malpractice insurance coverage and in its premiums for such coverage. As such, PCFs …

Turning From Damage Caps To Information Disclosure: An Alternative To Tort Reform, Kathryn Zeiler

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Medical malpractice damage caps are among the most popular instruments of tort reform at the state level. The Bush administration proposed a federal damage cap on non-economic damages to quell the rise of medical malpractice insurance premiums despite the paucity of empirical evidence demonstrating that damage caps actually decrease premiums. This case study argues that imposing statutory caps on medical malpractice damages is not an effective method of remedying the medical malpractice insurance crisis: therefore, policymakers should consider alternatives to damage caps. In particular, evidence suggests that implementing mandatory disclosure of the contract terms between managed care organizations and physicians …

The Lawlessness Of Aggregative Torts, James A. Henderson Jr.

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Liberalism And Tort Law: On The Content And Economic Efficiency Of A Liberal Common Law Of Torts, Richard S. Markovits

Faculty Scholarship

This Article has three parts. Part I begins by delineating the protocol one should use to determine whether a society is an immoral society, an amoral society, a goal-based society of moral integrity, or a rights-based society of moral integrity (i.e., a society that engages in a bifurcated prescriptive-moral practice that strongly distinguishes moral-rights claims (about the just) from moral-ought claims (about the good), that is committed to the lexical priority of the just over the good, and that fulfills its commitments to some hard-to-specify, requisite extent). Part I then proceeds to outline the protocol one should use to determine …