Torts Commons^™

Riparian Rights In A Polluted World: Property Right Or Tort?, Daniel P. Fernandez

Barry Law Review

No abstract provided.

Trending @ Rwu Law: Deborah Johnson's Post: Now "Defamation" Matters More Than Ever 11-16-2016, Deborah Johnson

Law School Blogs

No abstract provided.

Newsroom: Can Court 'Restore Fundamental Liberties'? 03-23-2016, Sheldon Whitehouse, David A. Logan

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Where's The Sense In Hill V. Gateway 2000?: Reflections On The Visible Hand Of Norm Creation, Shubha Ghosh

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Cognition And Common Sense In Contract Law, Beverly Horsburgh, Andrew Cappel

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Of Contract, Culture, And The Code: Judge Easterbrook And The Cheyenne Indians, John M. Conley

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Common Sense And Contract Law: Fear Of A Normative Planet?, Thomas Joo

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Requiring Plaintiffs To Prove Irreparable Harm: “It Isn’T Right.” (Herb Reed Enters, Llc V. Fla Entm’T Mgmt. Inc. (9th Cir.2013)), Anthony Kremer

The University of Cincinnati Intellectual Property and Computer Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Roadblocks To Remedies: Recently Developed Barriers To Relief For Aliens Injured By U.S. Officials, Contrary To The Founders' Intent, Gwynne L. Skinner

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Corporations As Ships: An Inquiry Into Personal Accountability And Institutional Legitimacy , Art Wolfe

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Vaccines And The Law, Michael Sanzo Ph.D.

Pepperdine Law Review

The last twenty years have seen a sea-change in the area of proving causation in the toxic tort setting, with courts demanding stronger, scientifically tested evidence. At the same time, a closely related debate has been raging about separating cause from coincidence under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act compensation program for injuries that might have been the result of vaccinations. The Vaccine Act created a no-fault compensation fund financed by a tax on childhood vaccines to address harms resulting from those vaccines. Unfortunately, Congress gave little direction with regard to the level of causal certainty that would be required …

Applying Economic Loss Doctrine To Article 2 Transactions: A Doctrine At A Loss, Jennifer S. Martin

St. Thomas Law Review

The purpose of this Essay is to analyze the treatment and the types of tort and strict liability claims that courts are likely to redirect toward the Code's Article 2 remedies. Part I of this Essay examines the typical application of the economic loss doctrine. Part II considers the bargain policy underlying the Code that supports imposition of the economic loss doctrine in a variety of claims touching Article 2 matters. Part III outlines how the principles of the economic loss doctrine are a limited vehicle for resolution of claims that lie at the outer edges of the bargain as …

A New Experiment On Rational Behavior, Myles R. Macdonald

CMC Senior Theses

Behavioral economics is widely recognized as a rising field in economics, one whose discoveries and implications are not yet completed or understood. At the same time, economic theory plays an enormous role in our governmental and legal system. In particular, the Coase Theorem and its implications have affected nearly every area in the field of law and economics. This paper proposes a experimental test of Coasean bargaining in situations using two competitive players whose payoffs depend on minimizing their costs of mitigating the externality. A rational player’s action can be predicted ahead of time, and the rationality of the game’s …

Emotion, Neuroscience, And Law: A Comment On Darwin And Greene, John Mikhail

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Darwin’s (1871) observation that evolution has produced in us certain emotions responding to right and wrong conduct that lack any obvious basis in individual utility is a useful springboard from which to clarify the role of emotion in moral judgment. The problem is whether a certain class of moral judgments is “constituted” or “driven by” emotion (Greene 2008, p. 108) or merely correlated with emotion while being generated by unconscious computations (e.g., Huebner et al. 2008). With one exception, all of the “personal” vignettes devised by Greene and colleagues (2001, 2004) and subsequently used by other researchers (e.g., Koenigs et …

Take Two Of These And Sue Me In The Morning: Efficacy Of The Learned Intermediary Doctrine In Prescription Drug Failure To Warn Cases, Robert J. Friedman

St. Thomas Law Review

Under the Learned Intermediary Doctrine - elaborated below and representing the majority approach to manufacturer liability in prescription drug cases - Rex holds no recourse against the pharmaceutical manufacturer of Drug X. While logic would seem to impose a manufacturer duty to the ultimate user, for purposes of tort liability in prescription drug cases it is the physician, not the patient, deemed to be the consumer. Thus, so long as the manufacturer conveys sufficient warning of possible side effects to the prescribing physician Dr. Pharm alone, a learned intermediary, the pharmaceutical manufacturer is absolved from any liability to Rex - …

What Are The Policy Implications Of Use Of Epidemiological Evidence In Mass Torts And Public Health Litigation, Christopher Ogolla

St. Thomas Law Review

The distinctions between the standards of proof employed in epidemiology and in law inform the central thesis of this paper. This analysis began by describing the role of epidemiology in mass torts and public health litigation. It later argues that because mass torts cover such a wide area, there are several problems related to epidemiology in litigation, particularly scientific uncertainty and inconsistent factual claims. Part II discusses recent cases where epidemiological evidence was raised and debated, distinguishing between vaccine-related and non-vaccine-related cases. Courts have differentiated vaccine-related cases from non-vaccine-related cases, principally because Congress enacted a vaccine act designed to compensate …

What'cha Gonna Do Brother When Hulkmania Runs Wild On You: A Practitioner's Guide To Section 322.09 Of The Florida Statutes, Kansas R. Gooden

St. Thomas Law Review

In the 1980s and 1990s, our generation grew up watching Hulk Hogan in the ring. We would watch in awe as he would rip his yellow and red shirt and scream catchy slogans. He told us to "[t]rain, say your prayers, and eat your vitamins., We watched him star in movies, such as Rocky III and Mr. Nanny. Later, our generation was hooked on Hogan Knows Best, a reality show featuring Hulk Hogan and his family, which aired on VH1. However, on August 26, 2007, the Hogans were forced into the spotlight for another reason. Nick, Hulk Hogan's youngest child, …

Responsibility And The Negligence Standard, Joseph Raz

Faculty Scholarship

The paper has dual aim: to analyse the structure of negligence, and to use it to offer an explanation of responsibility (for actions, omissions, consequences) in terms of the relations which must exist between the action (omission, etc.) and the agents powers of rational agency if the agent is responsible for the action. The discussion involves reflections on the relations between the law and the morality of negligence, the difference between negligence and strict liability, the role of excuses and the grounds of duties to pay damages.

Patient Negligence: The Unreasonableness Of Relying On Trust, Song Richardson

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

This project initiates a conversation about patient negligence and trust in the medical setting and offers a test to determine whether patient negligence should be considered in litigation. The project examines the line at which a physician’s impermissible conduct should become reasonably obvious to a patient and therefore trigger a reasonable response. Absent a reasonable response by patients, this project considers whether comparative negligence attaches. Goodwin and Richardson argue due diligence, an aspect of loyalty, is treated as a value fiduciaries owe their clients, rather than a reasonable step that clients owe themselves.

In this collaboration, the authors imagine and …

Why Care About The Polar Bear?: Economic Analysis Of Natural Resources Law And Policy [Outline], Lisa Heinzerling

The Future of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Summer Conference, June 6-8)

1 page.

"Lisa Heinzerling, Georgetown Law School" -- Agenda

Reflecting On Negligence Law And The Catholic Experience: Comparing Apples And Elephants, Randy Lee

St. Thomas Law Review

At the conclusion of a popular film, a bride's father observes that even between apples and oranges, there is common ground; after all, as different as apples and oranges may be, they are both fruit. Similarly, one might begin the enterprise of comparing torts and Catholicism by expecting to find at least some common ground because despite their differences, they are both law. In functioning as such, both claim to guide people to modes of better behavior, and both are communicated in languages that speak of justice and mercy, good and bad, right and wrong, and even final judgments. Under …

There Are No Bad Dogs, Only Bad Owners: Replacing Strict Liability With A Negligence Standard In Dog Bite Cases, Lynn A. Epstein

Animal Law Review

Should the law treat dogs as vicious animals or loving family companions? This article analyzes common law strict liability as applied to dog bite cases and the shift to modern strict liability statutes, focusing on the defense of provocation. It discusses the inconsistency in the modern law treatment of strict liability in dog bite cases. The article then resolves why negligence is the proper cause of action in dog bite cases. The Author draws comparisons among dog owner liability in dog bite cases, parental liability for a child’s torts, and property owner liability for injuries caused by his property. The …

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 …

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 …