Torts Commons^™

Extending Comparative Fault To Apparent And Implied Consent Cases, Aaron Twerski, Nina Farber

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Parens Patriae And The States' Historic Police Power, Margaret S. Thomas

Journal Articles

Class actions have long been contracting as procedural vehicles in mass tort litigation. At the same time, parens patriae actions brought by state attorneys general for injuries to their state’s citizenry have been expanding. This form of public dispute has emerged as a full-fledged alternative form of aggregate litigation in mass torts. The use of this public alternative is already widespread in consumer, antitrust, environmental, and health law cases.

Despite the widespread use of parens patriae litigation by states, the source of the power to sue in this way is vague and ill-defined. Courts have struggled to articulate and explain …

Technological Opacity, Predictability, And Self-Driving Cars, Harry Surden, Mary-Anne Williams

Cardozo Law Review

Autonomous or "self-driving" cars are vehicles that drive themselves without human supervision or input. Because of safety benefits that they are expected to bring, autonomous vehicles are likely to become more common. Notably, for the first time, people will share a physical environment with computer-controlled machines that can both direct their own activities and that have considerable range of movement. This represents a distinct change from our current context. Today people share physical spaces either with machines that have free range of movement, but are controlled by people (e.g. automobiles) or with machines that are controlled by computers, but highly …

Protecting The Free-Range Kid: Recalibrating Parents' Rights And The Best Interest Of The Child, David Pimentel

Cardozo Law Review

The article argues that free-range parenting, a child-rearing philosophy emphasizing independence and autonomy for children, is increasingly under attack by legal and child protective systems despite its benefits. While the Supreme Court has recognized parents' fundamental liberty interests in raising their children, these rights are often unenforced in cases involving free-range parents. The article contends that state interventions in such cases frequently fail to meet the strict scrutiny required by the Constitution, undermining parental autonomy and family integrity.

Testimony On Unmanned Aircraft Systems Rules And Regulations, Stephen Henderson

Other Faculty Publications

Chairman Barrington, Vice Chair Brooks, members of the Committee on Public Safety, Senators, and distinguished guests, I am grateful for the opportunity to speak to you today about unmanned aerial systems, or drones, and more particularly about their federal constitutional implications and what might be the constitutional restrictions on any legislation you might like to enact. I am the Judge Haskell A. Holloman Professor of Law at the University of Oklahoma, where my teaching and research focus on criminal law and procedure and privacy, including the constitutional rights pertaining thereto.My topic is not an easy one. The constitutional law is …

Response To Keeping Cases From Black Juries: An Empirical Analysis Of How Race, Income Inequality, And Regional History Affect Tort Law, Jennifer Wriggins

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

Issues of race and racism in the U.S. torts system continue to deserve much more attention from legal scholarship than they receive, and Keeping Cases from Black Juries is a valuable contribution. Studying racism as it infects the torts system is difficult because explicit de jure exclusions of black jurors are in the past; race is no longer on the surface of tort opinions; and court records do not reveal the race of tort plaintiffs, defendants, or jurors. Yet it is essential to try and understand the workings of race and racism in the torts system. The authors pose …

Ebola, Experimental Medicine, Economics, And Ethics: An Evaluation Of International Disease Outbreak Law, Sara L. Dominey

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Civil Conspiracy In The Corporate Context, Pey Woan Lee

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article examines the issues that arise when the tort ofconspiracy by unlawful means is used, as an alternative to veil-piercing,either to extend a company’s liability to its controllers, or to enable acontroller’s creditors to reach the assets of company under his or her control.It observes that the tort of conspiracy is a particularly potent mechanism forthese purposes because of its potentially broad reach. A liberal application ofconspiracy liability to companies and their insiders would therefore underminethe company’s separate legal status as well as the benefits of incorporation.For that reason, the application of the tort, and of private law principles …

Applying Domestic Statutes To Foreign Conduct: How Much Does Kiobel Touch And Concern The Presumption Against Extraterritorial Application, Jessica Neer Mcdonald

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

This paper examines a tumultuous history of applying United States law to foreign conduct in United States federal courts and the impact of recent Supreme Court decisions in this area. Despite its inconsistent application, the presumption against extraterritorial application may bridle Article III courts’ authority of applying domestic law to foreign conduct. Notably, a complicated test of displacing the presumption has emerged from the recent Supreme Court case of Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., which concerned foreign conduct under the Alien Tort Statute (“ATS”). The test states the presumption is overcome if the foreign conduct “touches and concerns” …

Khoury V. Seastrand, 132 Nev. Adv. Op. 52 (July 28, 2016), Ronni Boskovich

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court considered three consolidated appeals from a district court judgment, pursuant to a jury verdict, and post-judgment orders awarding costs and denying a new trial in a personal injury action. While the Court addressed numerous issues, the following three questions comprised the bulk of the consolidated appeals: (1) whether an attorney may ask prospective jurors questions concerning a specific verdict amount to determine potential bias or prejudice; (2) whether repeatedly asking questions about that specific amount results in jury indoctrination warranting a mistrial; and (3) when a district court abuses its discretion in dismissing jurors for cause under Jitnan …

The Staab Saga: The Nonparty, Joint And Several Liability, And Loss Reallocation In The Minnesota Comparative Fault Act, Mike Steenson

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Prosser Myth Of Transferred Intent, Peter B. Kutner

Indiana Law Journal

The main theme of this Article is that Prosser advanced a mythical doctrine of transferred intent. What Prosser asserted to be the law was not the law when he wrote his article on transferred intent and amended his treatise. The cases he relied on to support his conclusions on transferred intent did not support them. Moreover, despite Prosser’s great influence on American tort law, Prosser’s position on transferred intent is not the law now and should not be. Its consequences are undesirable. Recognition of transferred intent as a basis of liability is due primarily to its inclusion in the First …

Terra Firma As Open Seas: Interpreting Kiobel In The Failed State Context, Drew F. Waldbeser

Indiana Law Journal

This Note will ultimately argue that, despite the expansive language in Kiobel, the Court’s reasoning does not necessarily foreclose all “foreign-cubed” claims. Suits alleging human rights violations originating from conduct that took place in failed states avoid the concerns the Court emphasized in Kiobel. The Court should allow jurisdiction for human rights offenses in failed states, despite their “foreign-cubed” nature, because the already existing rationale for allowing jurisdiction for international piracy offenses is highly analogous.

Part I of this Note explores the ATS jurisprudence leading up to and including Kiobel. Besides exploring the tensions and policy interests courts are grappling …

Outlining The Case For A Common Law Duty Of Care Of Business To Exercise Human Rights Due Diligence, Douglass Cassel

Journal Articles

This article outlines the case for a business duty of care to exercise human rights due diligence, judicially enforceable in common law countries by tort suits for negligence brought by persons whose potential injuries were reasonably foreseeable. A parent company’s duty of care would extend to the human rights impacts of all entities in the enterprise, including subsidiaries. A company would not be liable for breach of the duty of care if it proves that it reasonably exercised due diligence as set forth in the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. On the other hand, a company’s failure to …

Tort Law [2015], Kumaralingam Amirthalingam, Gary Kok Yew Chan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

No abstract provided.

Worse Than Pirates Or Prussian Chancellors: A State's Authority To Opt-Out Of The Quid Pro Quo, Michael C. Duff

All Faculty Scholarship

Privatization of public law dispute resolution in workplaces has been under intense scrutiny in the context of arbitration. Another kind of workplace dispute privatization is presently underway, or under serious consideration, in several states. In connection with state workers’ compensation statutes, one state has implemented, and others are considering, a dispute resolution model in which employers are explicitly authorized to “opt out” of coverage. “Alternative benefit plans,” created under such statutes, permit employers to, among other things, unilaterally and without limitation designate private fact-finders, whose conclusions are subject to highly deferential judicial review. This model is arbitration on steroids. While …

Tort Law, Kumaralingam Amirthalingam, Gary Kok Yew Chan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The plaintiff in Tan Bee Hock v F G Builders Pte Ltd was riding a motorbike when he skidded on a metal plate placed by the defendantat the entrance to a condominium. The plaintiff sued for his injuries in negligence, nuisance, and breach of statutory duty. On the facts, Kannan Ramesh JC (as his Honour then was) found that there was nothing unsafe about the metal plate and dismissed the claims in nuisance and negligence. Having found that the defendants had not done anything unsafe, Ramesh JC also dismissed the breach of statutory duty action, and in doing so, observed …

Student-On-Teacher Violence: A Proposed Solution, Perris E. Nelson

Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Aviation Law - Personal Injury - The Warsaw Convention, As Modified By The Montreal Agreement, Acts To Establish The Air Carrier’S Strict Liability For A Passenger’S Personal Injury Incurred During An Aircraft Hijacking, Robert T. Bockman

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Adding Insult To Death: Why Punitive Damages Should Not Be Imposed Against A Deceased Tortfeasor's Estate In Ohio, Alec A. Beech

Akron Law Review

A majority of jurisdictions in the United States have determined, either statutorily or judicially, that punitive damages cannot be imposed against deceased tortfeasors. However, a recent Ohio appellate court held to the contrary. In Whetstone v. Binner, the Ohio Fifth District Court of Appeals adopted the minority view when it held that punitive damages could be imposed against a decedent’s estate. This Comment takes the position that Whetstone was incorrectly decided. Specifically, this Comment argues that the longstanding purposes of punitive damages are not furthered when such damages are imposed against estates and that Ohio law supports this conclusion.