Civil Procedure Commons^™

Trial Practice And Procedure, John O'Shea Sullivan, Leesa M. M. Guarnotta

Mercer Law Review

The 2025 Survey period yielded a range of decisions impacting trial practice in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, from detailed analysis of the constitutional requirements for personal jurisdiction, expounding upon the limited opportunities for interlocutory appeal, and reinforcing pleading standards. This Article analyzes some of this Survey period’s notable opinions on issues of first impression in the Eleventh Circuit, but it is not intended to be an exhaustive discussion of the Eleventh Circuit’s important decisions during the Survey period.

No More Guessing Games: Rebuilding Clarity In Georgia’S Ante Litem Notice Statute, Ethan Debruicker Terrell

Mercer Law Review

Imagine a child’s shape sorter toy—the kind with square, circle, and triangle-shaped holes and equivalent pegs in the same shapes. The toy forms a foundation in a child’s development because, among other things, it teaches the child to problem-solve by (1) recognizing the problem (different-shaped pegs that must go in the sorter a certain way) and (2) solving it (placing each peg in the correct hole to sort the pegs). For simplicity’s sake, let us imagine the toy only has a square and circle-shaped hole with square and circle-shaped pegs. As the child intuitively learns the “rules” of the toy, …

Georgia’S New Direct Action Landscape For Motor Carriers, William M. Davis

Mercer Law Review

A direct action is a lawsuit in which an injured claimant sues the alleged tortfeasor’s liability insurer directly—often joining the insurer as a defendant alongside—or instead of—the insured. Such suits are typically based on a statute or policy provision that authorizes that suit before the claimant has obtained a judgment against the insured.

Direct actions are generally not allowed in Georgia; however, there are specific statutory exceptions permitting direct actions under certain circumstances. One such statutory exemption was made for direct actions against liability insurers of motor carriers. Until the enactment of S.B. 426 in 2024, direct actions against the …

Judgment By The Record: How The Eleventh Circuit Is Shaping Retail Litigation And Regulation, Susan L. Shin, Aubrianna L. Mierow

University of Miami Law Review

The Eleventh Circuit’s 2025 term reinforced a disciplined, text-driven approach to statutory and contractual interpretation and a firm demand for proof: the court vacated an FCC rule that restricted consent beyond what the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) provides. It rejected a constitutional challenge to adjudication by the Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer (OCAHO) while emphasizing the Attorney General’s supervisory role. It required plaintiffs alleging deception through promotional content to identify the specific communication at issue. It denied standing for credit file inaccuracies absent dissemination or real-world effect. It interpreted standard limitation clauses to preserve direct damages under …

The Quiet Revival Of The Effective Vindication Of Rights Doctrine, Myriam Gilles

Fordham Law Review

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in American Express v. Italian Colors Restaurantwas widely seen as the death knell for the “effective vindication of rights” doctrine—a judicially created rule that arbitration agreements are enforceable only “so long as the prospective litigant effectively may vindicate its statutory cause of action in the arbitral forum.” By upholding a class action–banning arbitration provision that rendered arbitration economically irrational, Italian Colors appeared to extinguish any meaningful limits on the enforcement of arbitration agreements.

But reports of the doctrine’s demise were premature. This Article uncovers how, in the decade since Italian Colors, lower …

Foreign Judgments In U.S. Courts, Yanbai Andrea Wang

Fordham Law Review

American law on foreign judgments is at an inflection point. For over a century, the doctrine has been shaped by concerns about outgoing U.S. judgments seeking asset collection in the civil law countries of continental Europe. But shifting trade flows and changing litigation tactics have carved a new landscape, demanding a return to foreign judgments law’s conceptual and doctrinal underpinnings. This Article first maps the new landscape, in which China is rapidly rising as a foremost foreign judgments interlocutor. Meanwhile, litigants are increasingly pursuing parallel litigation in multiple countries. The impact of incoming judgments and the interactions between related litigations …

Diverging Views On Class Certification In The Insurance Industry: Uniform Valuation Methods For Totaled Vehicles, Celine Makhani

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

This comment explores the legal challenges surrounding how insurance companies calculate the "actual cash value" of totaled vehicles . The author focuses on the controversial use of "negotiation adjustments"—deductions insurers apply based on the assumption that buyers typically negotiate car prices downward—which policyholders argue systematically undervalues their claims. The central conflict of the article is a significant circuit split: while the Ninth Circuit in Jama v. State Farm recently allowed these claims to proceed as class actions, the Fifth Circuit in Sampson v. USAA reached the opposite conclusion, requiring individual proof of harm for each policyholder . Makhani analyzes these …

تقييم قانون التنظيم القضائي في ضوء المعايير الدوليّة, رينا قسطنطين

Proche-Orient, Études juridiques

This study examines Lebanon’s Law on the Organization of the Judicial Court System, adopted by the Chamber of Deputies on July 31, 2025, and returned to the Chamber by the President of the Republic for further discussion, on September 5, 2025. It represents one of the most significant judicial reform initiatives since the Taif Agreement of 1989. The study traces the evolution of the Law’s provisions in successive drafts in light of the recommendations of the Venice Commission – the advisory body to the Council of Europe – and international standards regarding both institutional and individual judicial independence. The article …

La Réforme De La Justice Administrative Au Liban, Nadi Abi Rached

Proche-Orient, Études juridiques

The Lebanese administrative judiciary is undergoing a profound crisis, exacerbated by the broader institutional disintegration affecting the country. This crisis appears rooted in deeper and more specific causes: an alleged original illegitimacy of the institution and the recurrent instabilities that have marked its development. Today, this branch of justice operates at a minimal level, remains dependent of the executive, and struggles to fully guarantee the right to a fair trial. Two reform proposals aim to address this situation. This article first seeks to reaffirm the historical legitimacy and institutional continuity of the administrative judiciary, thereby providing a sound basis for …

قراءة تحليلية نقدية لمقتضيات المادة ٢٣٥ من قانون الإجراءات المدنية الملغاة ولمقتضيات المادة ٨٥ من اللائحة التنظيمية من قانون الإجراءات المدنية الاتحادي, خالد زاهر

Proche-Orient, Études juridiques

This paper addresses one of the conditions for the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgements in the United Arab Emirates, namely verifying the jurisdiction of the foreign court that issued the judgment. In this regard, the UAE Civil Transactions Code provides that the Emirati enforcement judge cannot order the enforcement of a foreign judgment before verifying that the Emirati courts do not enjoy exclusive jurisdiction over the dispute that had led to the issuance of the judgment or the order, and that the foreign court that issued the judgment or the order enjoys jurisdiction under the international jurisdiction rules laid …

عقد الايجار التجاري في زمن الوباء: النزاعات والعوامل المؤثرة في الاحكام, ميساء نصر

Proche-Orient, Études juridiques

The courts of Dubai faced many disputes resulting from the pandemic and its repercussions, and the Dubai Rental Dispute Settlement Center played a key role in ruling on requests to terminate commercial lease contracts or reduce rent. This study aims at inferring the factors that have affected the decisions of the Center’s committees, reaching the following conclusions. On the one hand, the main factor to determine whether a specific damage was caused by the epidemic or not is the extent to which the commercial activity is connected to customers. On the other hand, the committees have issued diverse decisions with …

الدفع بعدم الإختصاص في قانون الإجراءات المدنية الإماراتي, أحمد حجال

Proche-Orient, Études juridiques

This study addresses the procedural regime of the objection to jurisdiction, which is one of the procedural defenses that raise in the UAE law the issue of the applicable procedural rules. Before which courts and at what stage of the litigation this defense can be raised, and who is the party entitled to raise it? May or should the court raise it proprio motu? Did the Emirati law adopt the traditional categorization of objections to jurisdiction, that is founded on the jurisdiction rules as such? The rules of absolute jurisdiction are the ones whose violation results in a lack …

في صفة المساهم، في قانون الشركات التجاريّة الإماراتي، بأن يرفع منفرداً دعوى الشركة بالمسؤوليّة المدنيّة ضد أعضاء مجلس إدارة الشركة المساهمة من الصياغة الملتبسة للمادة ١٦٦ سنة ٢٠١٥ الى إشكاليات تعديلات ٢٠٢٠, أنطوان فارس عيد

Proche-Orient, Études juridiques

This study dealt, initially in 2018, with a long-running controversial issue in doctrine and case law, namely the determining criterion in civil liability of board members in a joint-stock company allowing to differentiate between the company’s claim that the shareholder can exercise alone (known as ut singuli claim) and the shareholder’s claim to request compensation for his "individual" damage. The new 2015 UAE law for commercial companies has confused, in the wording used in Article 166, between the damage suffered by the company and the "individual" damage suffered by the shareholder. This confusion has been corrected in the amending Law …

Commonsense And Convoluted: Revisiting Scott V. Harris And Its Effect On Summary Judgment, Zachary P. Novak

Catholic University Law Review

The traditional summary judgment standard across state and federal courts has long been that facts are viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmovant; this has developed as both a baseline measure to test whether the claims are even fit for a trial, but also as a measure of fairness – it is the movant who wants to dispose of the case before trial, so this standard gives the nonmovant a more level playing field. However, the Supreme Court decision of Scott v. Harris carved out a unique exception to this standard: when there is video evidence that so …

Transparency In Third-Party Litigation Funding: A Pathway To Protect America’S National Security Interests, Madison D. Gonzalez

Catholic University Law Review

Third-party litigation funding (TPLF) has opened the courtroom doors for many Americans who may otherwise not be able to afford to seek justice in America’s civil court system. The democratization of the civil court system has benefitted many Americans but the lack of transparency as to the true identities of those behind the litigation has sparked concerns that America’s foreign adversaries may weaponize TPLF to harm America’s national security interests through lengthy and costly litigation. To address this threat, Congress and state legislatures have begun to explore policy changes to increase transparency in TPLF. Several states have adopted disclosure requirements …

Confidentiality Of Ai Conversations: Protecting Self-Represented Litigants Who Use Chatgpt For Legal Advice, Anoo D. Vyas

Duke Law & Technology Review

When a layperson uses ChatGPT to obtain feedback on a legal matter, attorney-client privilege may not apply, as ChatGPT is not a lawyer, much less a human. Further, while lawyers are entitled to protection for their opinion work-product, it is not clear whether self-represented litigants are entitled to the same protection. Additionally, the broader duty of confidentiality binds only attorneys, not AI systems like ChatGPT. The public increasingly uses AI tools such as ChatGPT. If a layperson employs ChatGPT for legal advice, particularly in a civil matter, such communications may be discoverable and potentially admissible. This presents an access to …

Lennar Communities Nevada, Llc, And Greystone Nevada, Llc V. Pamela Whalen, 142 Nev. Adv. Op. 29 (Apr. 16, 2026), Christianne White

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Courts should employ a totality of the circumstances test when determining if a party acted inconsistently with the right to arbitrate.

Who Wins? The Challenges And Potential Impacts Of State Courts’ Holdings In Fsu V. Acc, In Florida, And Acc V. Fsu, In North Carolina, Ethan Nickolaus Anagnos

University of Miami Business Law Review

Over the years, grant of rights (GOR) agreements have continually been the foundation for the transfer of exclusive rights between parties. In the ultra-competitive arena of the college football industry, these agreements have played an instrumental role in preserving and financing conferences and universities. Despite the prevalence of these GOR agreements, no university nor conference had ever attempted to challenge their validity before a court. That was until December 2023, when Florida State University (FSU) and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) entered into a grueling and highly debated legal dispute regarding their GOR agreement, which is supposed to continue until …

Racial Bias In Jury Selection: The Fundamental And Pragmatic Issues With Batson Challenges, Abigail Lindsey

Arkansas Law Review

In April of 2024, the District Attorney of Alameda County in California revealed evidence of “serious misconduct” by several prosecutors who oversaw a murder trial in 1993, in which the jury found a Black man guilty and sentenced him to death. The evidence of misconduct included the prosecutors’ trial notes. The notes that have been released suggest the prosecutors struck potential jurors from the jury pool because they were Jewish—the notes include: “I liked him better than any other Jew but no way.” The District Attorney is now looking into the county’s other death penalty cases, some of which took …

The Ex Parte Young Cause Of Action: A Riddle, Wrapped In A Mystery, Inside An Enigma, Andrew S. Oldham, Adam I. Steene, John W. Tienken

Northwestern University Law Review

Ex parte Young ushered in a new era of the American judicial system. Most famously, the decision allowed plaintiffs, in certain circumstances, to sue state officials without having to worry about sovereign immunity. Young’s other holding, though perhaps lesser known, is no less important: individuals, the Supreme Court held, have an equitable cause of action to sue government officials for injunctive relief.

Even today, that second holding remains something of a riddle. Did this cause of action always exist in American law? Or was it an invention of the Young Court? And, at any rate, does the Ex parte …