TortsProf Blog

JOTWELL Torts: Simons on Abraham & White on Conceptualizing Tort Law

At JOTWELL, Ken Simons reviews Ken Abraham and Ted White's Conceptualizing Tort Law:  The Continuous (and Continuing) Struggle.

JOTWELL Torts: Bublick on Twerski on Consumer Expectations Versus Risk-Utility

At JOTWELL, Ellie Bublick reviews Aaron Twerski's An Essay on the Quieting of Products Liability Law.

JOTWELL: Abraham on Baker on Risk

At JOTWELL, Ken Abraham reviews Tom Baker's Uncertainty > Risk:  Lessons for Legal Thought from the Insurance Runoff Market.  

JOTWELL Torts: Engstrom on Lahav & Siegelman on the Declining Plaintiff-Win Rate

At JOTWELL, Nora Engstrom reviews Alexandra Lahav & Peter Siegelman's The Curious Incident of the Falling Win Rate:  Individual vs System-Level Justification and the Rule of Law.

Wriggins on Teaching Torts with a Focus on Race and Racism

I missed this post from February.  Jenny Wriggins posted about teaching Torts and race at the Race and the Law Prof Blog.  Her conclusion:

Racism is becoming stronger in the U.S., despite the long struggles for racial justice in the U.S. and despite the fact that it is so deeply wrong.  Our country has not completely addressed the history of race and racism in law.  And this definitely is true in the teaching of tort law.  Now is the time to make a serious start on this essential project. 

First Coronavirus Lawsuit

At Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog, Ron Miller covers the first coronavirus lawsuit.  It stems from the Grand Princess cruise ship.

Bernstein at the Faculty Lounge

Anita Bernstein is blogging at the Faculty Lounge.  Her most-recent post is about June Medical Services, LLC v. Russo, argued yesterday at SCOTUS.

Bettman on Supreme Court of Ohio on Wrongful Termination

At Legally Speaking Ohio, Marianna Brown Bettman provides a thorough analysis of the Supreme Court of Ohio's decision in House v. Iacovelli.  In that case, the court stated:  “It is less likely that a wrongful-termination-in-violation-of-public-policy claim is necessary when remedies for statutory violations are included in the statutory scheme.”  The court rejected the wrongful discharge claim; the fact there was no remedy for the individual employee affected did not alter the court's decision.

This reminds me of a recent Iowa case:  Ferguson v. Exide Techs., Inc., 936 N.W.2d 429, 434-435 (Iowa 2019) (“[W]hen the legislature includes a right to civil enforcement in the very statute that contains the public policy a common law claim would protect, the common law claim for wrongful discharge in violation of public policy becomes unnecessary.”).  The major difference between the two is that the Iowa holding leaves the individual employee with a claim. 

JOTWELL Torts: Zipursky on Fallon on Constitutional Torts

At JOTWELL, Ben Zipursky reviews Richard Fallon's Bidding Farewell to Constitutional Torts.

Conk on the Cato Institute and Qualified Immunity

At Otherwise, George Conk details the Cato Institute's recent battle against qualified immunity.

JOTWELL Torts: Sebok on Herstein on Moral Responsibility in Negligence

At JOTWELL, Tony Sebok reviews Ori Herstein's Nobody's Perfect:  Moral Responsibility in Negligence.

JOTWELL Torts: Goldberg on Descheemaeker on Compensating Emotional Harm

At JOTWELL, John Goldberg reviews Eric Descheemaker's Rationalising Recovery for Emotional Harm in Tort Law, 134 L.Q. Rev. 602 (2018).

Bell on the Model Uniform Products Liability Act

At Notice & Comment, Bernard Bell has posted "Fortieth Anniversary: The Commerce Department’s Foray Into Re-Writing Products Liability Law," which describes the history of the Model Uniform Products Liability Act.

JOTWELL Torts: Bublick on Keating on the Nature of Tort Law

At JOTWELL, Ellie Bublick reviews Greg Keating's Is Tort Law "Private"?.

JOTWELL Torts: Keating on Steel on Reparation

At JOTWELL, Greg Keating reviews Sandy Steel's Compensation and Continuity.

JOTWELL Torts: Green on Yeung on Computer Code as Law

At JOTWELL, Sarah Green reviews Karen Yeung's Regulation by Blockchain:  the Emerging Battle for Supremacy between the Code of Law and the Code as Law.

JOTWELL Torts: Engstrom on Kachalia et al. on Med Mal Communication-and-Resolution Programs

At JOTWELL, Nora Engstrom reviews Allen Kachalia et al., Effects of a Communication-and-Resolution Program on Hospitals' Malpractice Claims and Costs. 

JOTWELL Torts: Geistfeld on Long on Suicide

At JOTWELL, Mark Geistfeld reviews Alex Long's Abolishing the Suicide Rule.

The Waiver Society Project

Yesterday, I posted an article written by John Witt, Ryan Martins, and Shannon Price.  They are also involved in a website called The Waiver Society Project.  From the website:

The general aim of the Waiver Project is to communicate something about the ubiquity of waivers in our world and to promote better understanding of the role  these complex documents play in the world around us. We want to understand the waiver not only as a legal tool, but as a sociological phenomenon. Why are waivers so common in modern society? Whose interests do they serve? Do differences among courts in waiver enforcement translate to better or worse waivers?

In short, we aim to stimulate thinking on the significance of waivers in our society. To this end, we hope to collect, share, and analyze waivers from all across the country. 

To do this we need your help!

• • Please send us any and all waivers you have, ideally with the date and time of the conduct in question.  Please see the “Contact & Submit” section of the website for instructions on how to submit your waivers, and let us know about your own experience with these strange legal documents. 

  • Send us new cases or articles from your jurisdiction so that we can keep the state summaries and bibliography updated.

  • Send news articles that catch your eye about waivers and waiver cases.  

We look forward to hearing from you!

JOTWELL Torts: Zipursky on Abraham & White on Cardozo's Wagner Opinion

At JOTWELL, Ben Zipursky reviews Ken Abraham and Ted White's Recovering Wagner v. International Railway Company.