Personal Injury Law

Personal Injury Roundup No. 30 (3/27/09)

Posted on March 27, 2009
Reform, Legislation, Policy In 2006, the UK passed a compensation act that included a provision to allow defendants to make apologies. Prue E. Vines (University of New South Wales) writes about its effects in a new article. (Via Solum/Legal Theory...

Simons on the Restatement (Third) and Strict Liability

Posted on March 26, 2009
Ken Simons (Boston) has posted to SSRN The Restatement Third of Torts and Traditional Strict Liability: Robust Rationales, Slender Doctrines. Simons will present the paper next week at the Wake Forest Conference on the Restatement (Third) of Torts. Here is...

Call for Papers in Disaster Law

Posted on March 26, 2009
Details at the Faculty Lounge. --BC

Punitives Considered in Clerical Abuse Case

Posted on March 26, 2009
In a case where the punitive damages were over $7 million, the Church contends that the court improperly instructed the jury, permitting an award of punitive damages without a finding of bad motive. Details are here. --BC

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DC Circuit Upholds Negligence Verdict Against Allen Iverson

Posted on March 25, 2009
In an unanimous opinion (pdf), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has affirmed a judgment against NBA guard Allen Iverson for negligent supervision of his body guards involved in a nightclub brawl. BLT has more on the...

Burch on Litigating Groups

Posted on March 25, 2009
Elizabeth Chamblee Burch (Florida State) has posted "Litigating Groups" on SSRN. The abstract provides: Large-scale litigation, such as the Vioxx, Zyprexa, and asbestos cases, breeds conflict. Conflicts arise between attorneys and their clients (agency problems), plaintiffs and other plaintiffs (group...

Med Mal Reform Moves Forward in Hawaii

Posted on March 24, 2009
As Pacific Business News reports, House Bill 1784 is moving forward in the Hawaiian legislature: HB 1784 limits noneconomic damages to $250,000 in medical malpractice claims against certain specialists who practice in areas such as emergency medicine, neurological surgery, obstetrics...

Med Mal Reform Moves Forward in Hawaii

Posted on March 24, 2009
As Pacific Business News reports, House Bill 1784 is moving forward in the Hawaiian legislature: HB 1784 limits noneconomic damages to $250,000 in medical malpractice claims against certain specialists who practice in areas such as emergency medicine, neurological surgery, obstetrics...

More on North Carolina v. TVA - Public Nuisance

Posted on March 24, 2009
Last week, I mentioned the article by Trent Taylor on State of North Carolina v. TVA, which held that air emissions from coal-fired power plants operated by the TVA were a public nuisance. Now, Jane Genova at Law & More...

Eggen & Culhane on Gun Torts

Posted on March 23, 2009
Jean Eggen & John Culhane (Widener) have posted on SSRN Gun Torts: Defining a Cause of Action for Victims in Suits Against Gun Manufacturers. Here is the abstract: Although tens of thousands of Americans die from gun violence every year,...

Kador on Effective Apologies

Posted on March 23, 2009
As a follow-up to last week's apology posts, John Kador is publishing a new book on May 1st that focuses on apologies in the corporate setting. He concludes that apologies are not without cost, but they are almost always less...

Playland Suit Settles for $1.25 million

Posted on March 23, 2009
The AP has a bit more. --BC

Civil Trial Starts in Playland Death

Posted on March 21, 2009
Four years ago, a boy died on a gentle boat ride at Rye's Playland Amusement Park. The "Old Mill" ride's boats float through tunnels and past simple scenes. The boy, Jon-Kely Cassara, apparently became scared and left his boat, getting...

Oberdiek on Philosophy and Tort Law

Posted on March 21, 2009
John Oberdiek (Rutgers-Camden) has posted on SSRN Philosophical Issues in Tort Law. Here is the abstract: The union of contemporary philosophy and tort law has never been better. Perhaps the most dynamic current in contemporary tort theory concerns the increasingly...

Personal Injury Roundup No. 29 (3/20/09)

Posted on March 20, 2009
Happy first day of Spring! Here's what happened in the world of torts in the last week of winter: Reform, Legislation, Policy Obama names Dr. Margaret Hamburger, former NYC Health Commissioner, as head of FDA. (NY Newsday, Atlanta Journal Constitution,...

Apologies and Tort Law

Posted on March 19, 2009
My state senator, Pat Vance, has proposed a bill that would make Pennsylvania the 36th state to provide some sort of apology immunity. (The Scranton Times has the details. SorryWorks! has a list of states with apology immunity laws here.)...

Apology Bibliography

Posted on March 19, 2009
I discussed the parameters of the academic debate over apology immunity laws in this post. For those of you interested in delving into the literature, I offer this bibliography. Books Aaron Lazare, On Apology (2004) Nicholas Tavuchis, Mea Culpa: A...

Sebok on Wyeth v. Levine

Posted on March 18, 2009
In his latest FindLaw column, Tony Sebok analyzes the Supreme Court's recent decision in Wyeth v. Levine. Sebok submits that: After Levine, Big Pharma is faced with a choice. If it can convince the Supreme Court to adopt the background...

"A New Era of Public Nuisance Law?"

Posted on March 18, 2009
Trent Taylor, a partner with McGuire Woods, has published "State of North Carolina v. TVA - A New Era In Public Nuisance Law?" (pdf) in the BNA Toxics Law Reporter. In the article, Taylor discusses a January 2009 decision out...

Nominations for AALS Prosser Award

Posted on March 18, 2009
The Torts and Compensation Systems section of the American Association of Law Schools (AALS) is soliciting nominations for the William L. Prosser Award. The award "recognize[s] outstanding contributions of law teachers in scholarship, teaching and service in ...

Ohio Inspectors Liable in Electrocution Death at County Fair

Posted on March 18, 2009
A judge has determined (a mere two years after the trial) that the state amusement ride inspectors in Ohio were negligent and are liable for the death of young Greyson Yoe, who was electrocuted while standing in line for bumper...

Obama Names New Head of FDA

Posted on March 17, 2009
President Obama has named Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg as the new FDA Commissioner. Dr. Hamburg is the former health commissioner for New York City. Obama also named Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Joshua Sharfstein as Deputy Commissioner. Washington Post and Reuters...

Food & Drug Law Annual Conference -Update

Posted on March 17, 2009
As I previously mentioned, the Food & Drug Law Institute's Annual Conference will be held April 22-23rd in Washington, DC. The FDLI has released the agenda for the conference. Topics include "What is Safety?", a plenary panel on preemption, a...

Professor William Rubenstein Joins Mass Torts Profs

Posted on March 16, 2009
Professor William Rubenstein (Harvard) has joined the gang over at Mass Torts Profs. - SBS

Hylton on Duty in Premises Liability

Posted on March 14, 2009
Keith Hylton (Boston) has posted on SSRN Tort Duties of Landowners: A Positive Theory. Here is the abstract: One of the most controversial areas of modern tort law is that of the duty of landowners toward people who visit their...

Personal Injury Roundup No. 28 (3/13/09)

Posted on March 13, 2009
Last week was Chris's spring break edition of the Roundup. This week it's mine; I am, depending on when you read this, either en route or at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. Any central Texas readers who want to...

Loser-Pays Loses in Georgia

Posted on March 12, 2009
A bill introduced on behalf of Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue would have created a loser-pays system for cases dismissed at the earliest possible stage. However, that portion of the bill was removed as the Georgia Senate unanimously passed a bill...

King on Parody and Defamation

Posted on March 12, 2009
Joseph King (Tennessee) has added to his body of defamation work with Defamation Claims Based on Parody and Other Fanciful Communications Not Intended to Be Understood as Fact, 2008 Utah L. Rev. 875. Whether parodies are actionable as defamation depends...

A Modern Statute on Alienation of Affections/Criminal Conversation

Posted on March 11, 2009
Maggie Gallagher provides this statute (drafted for Minnesota) at National Review Online. I offered my view on the heart-balm torts in this post. --CJR

Burris to Direct Public Health Law Research

Posted on March 11, 2009
Temple Law TortsProf Scott Burris will direct a new $19 million program focusing on the intersection of law and public health:Temple University 's Beasley School of Law has been selected by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to manage a new...

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