Personal Injury Law

Andy Popper Named American University Scholar-Teacher of the Year

Posted on May 27, 2010
American University President Neil Kerwin has recognized TortsProf Andy Popper as the university's Scholar-Teacher of the Year for 2010. Congratulations to Andy! --CJR

PA Considers Rejecting Castle Doctrine, Adopting "Stand Your Ground"

Posted on May 27, 2010
The PA House Judiciary Committee is debating whether to replace the "Castle Doctrine" with a "Stand Your Ground" law. In essence, the Castle Doctrine allows a homeowner to defend the home (and its "curtilage") with deadly force if the homeowner...

Popper's "Tort Reform" in Text Format

Posted on May 26, 2010
Earlier Andrew Popper's "Tort Reform" book received publicity both here at TortsProf (Sheila) and at the VC(Todd Zywicki). West has now announced that it will be available not only in electronic format (as originally advertised), but also as a traditional...

Perry on Empowerment

Posted on May 26, 2010
Ronen Perry (Haifa) has posted to SSRN Empowerment and Tort Law. The abstract provides: Empowerment, a somewhat nebulous construct, has been a key concern in many disciplines in recent decades. It may be generally defined as an increase in individuals?...

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Pretty Please! Reader Survey - We Need Your Input!

Posted on May 25, 2010
If you have not already done so, please take our brief reader survey. It is only five short questions. Click here to take the short survey. We appreciate your feedback. Thanks! - SBS

Soda Tax News From Philly and NY

Posted on May 24, 2010
The New York Times reports that New York Governor Patterson is trying to move his proposed soda tax through the legislature by pairing it with a sales tax exemption for bottled water and diet soda. In Philadelphia, however, the soda...

Ripstein on Tort Theory

Posted on May 22, 2010
Arthur Ripstein (Toronto) has posted to SSRN an entry into THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF JURISPRUDENCE AND LEGAL PHILOSOPHY entitled Philosophy of Tort Law. The abstract provides: Tort law answers two of the most fundamental questions faced by any society: "how...

Personal Injury Roundup No. 77 (5/21/10)

Posted on May 21, 2010
New Suits Kirkland & Ellis will represent BP in oil-spill cases. (ABA Journal) A DE physician is facing hundreds of tort and criminal actions based on molesting his patients. Widener Law Dean Linda Ammons wrote a report to the governor...

Gender, Race, and Tort Law

Posted on May 20, 2010
In less than two weeks, The Measure of Injury: Race, Gender, and Tort Law, the new book by Martha Chamallas (Ohio State) and Jenny Wriggins (Maine), will be available from NYU Press. At Law & Society in Chicago next week,...

Ellen Pryor's Scholarship

Posted on May 19, 2010
Ellen Pryor (SMU) has posted to SSRN several papers, including some older works. First up is her 1998 piece (co-authored with Will Pryor) Concurrent Mediation of Liability and Insurance Coverage Disputes. The abstract provides: Tort litigation has yet to produce...

Reader Survey - Please Respond!

Posted on May 18, 2010
If you have not already done so, please take our brief reader survey. Click here to take the short survey. We appreciate your feedback. Thanks! - SBS

"Law & Order" as Tort Fable?

Posted on May 17, 2010
In the recent edition of The Atlantic, Garrett Epps (Baltimore) explains "Why We Will Miss 'Law & Order.'" (If you missed the news, NBC has cancelled the 20-year series). The reason we will miss the show, Epps suggests, is that...

Joint Preliminary Report Filed in Toyota MDL

Posted on May 17, 2010
The parties have filed their preliminary report in the Toyota MDL. A copy of the report is available at Mass Tort Defense. - SBS

Personal Injury Roundup No. 76 (5/14/2010)

Posted on May 14, 2010
Graduation here at Western New England is just a week away. Congratulations to graduates here and across the country! Reform, Legislation, Policy Some Kagan links: Turkewitz hopes she's handed clients tissues (New York PI Law Blog); Overlawyered rounds up some...

Baker on Insurance Research

Posted on May 13, 2010
Tom Baker (Penn) has posted to SSRN Insurance in Sociolegal Research. The abstract provides: Insurance has a long history in socio-legal research, most prominently as a window on accident compensation and related tort law in action. Recent work has extended...

Zipursky on Philip Morris

Posted on May 12, 2010
Benjamin Zipursky (Fordham) has posted to SSRN Punitive Damages After Philiph Morris USA v. Williams. The abstract provides: Philip Morris USA v. Williams has struck some commentators as hypertechnical, but it is in fact among the Court?s most significant pronouncements...

Reader Survey - Please Respond!

Posted on May 11, 2010
As we plan our programming for next year, we are very interested in your feedback on the blog. Please click here to take the survey. Thank you! - SBS

Our Thanks to the Spring 2010 Guest Bloggers

Posted on May 10, 2010
We really enjoyed hosting our Spring 2010 guest bloggers. Our guests explored a wide array of topics: Mike Green on "Let's Be Careful Out There" Richard Epstein on "Multiple Standards of Liability in Tort Law: Of context and categories" Kenneth...

Personal Injury Roundup No. 76

Posted on May 07, 2010
Reform, Legislation, Policy Vermont legislature considers whether doctors should disclose receipt of free drug samples. (Pharmalot) House committee investigates recall of childrens' Tylenol and other over-the-counter childrens' medicines. (WaPo) New Suits Lots of lawsuits filed over BP oil spill in...

AALS 2011: Vaccines and Drugs: A Brave New Tort World

Posted on May 06, 2010
Mike Rustad (Suffolk) has announced the program for the January 2011 AALS Torts and Compensation Section meeting: The proliferation of vaccine and pharmaceutical drug-related injuries challenges our conceptions of how the tort system can best meet its compensatory and regulatory...

Call for Papers: Disability and Tort Law

Posted on May 06, 2010
Call for Papers AALS Section on Disability Law Disability and Tort Law The Section on Disability Law will hold a program during the January, 2011 AALS Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California, on Disability and Tort Law. Disability Law embraces...

Top 10 Recent SSRN Torts and Products Liability Downloads

Posted on May 05, 2010
Rank Downloads Paper Title 1 284 The Shadow of State Secrets Laura Donohue, Georgetown University Law Center, Date posted to database: March 8, 2010 Last Revised: April 27, 2010 2 190 Taxing Punitive Damages Gregg D. Polsky, Dan Markel, Florida...

Wm Mitchell Law Review Call for Papers - Restatement (Third) of Torts: Liability for Physical and Emotional Harm

Posted on May 04, 2010
The William Mitchell Law Review is proud to dedicate its third issue to the Restatement (Third) of Torts: Liability for Physical and Emotional Harm in its upcoming Volume 37 (Spring 2011). Submissions may either take the form of shorter commentaries....

Geistfeld on "Tax breaks for bad behavior? On the relation between income taxes, punitive damages, and liability insurance"

Posted on May 03, 2010
As the academic year winds down, I usually rearrange the piles on my desk in an effort to mark the onset of another summer full of promise and unrealistic expectations. While rearranging the pile ?tort-related things I?d like to read...

Personal Injury Roundup No. 75 (4/30/10)

Posted on April 30, 2010
Reform, Legislation, Policy Don Gifford's (Maryland) new book "Suing the Tobacco and Lead Paint Industry" and an interview with the author. (Citron/CoOp) Dan Markel (FSU) defends his retributive damages concept. (Markel/Prawfs) New Lawsuits Hulk Hogan sues his car insurance company...

Introducing Guest Blogger Mark Geistfeld

Posted on April 29, 2010
Monday's guest blogger is Mark Geistfeld. Geistfeld is the Sheila Lubetsky Birnbaum Professor of Civil Litigation at New York University School of Law, where he teaches Insurance, Torts, and Products Liability. Geistfeld joined the NYU faculty in 1992...

Sebok on "The Inauthentic Claim"

Posted on April 28, 2010
Tony Sebok (Cardozo) has posted to SSRN The Inauthentic Claim. The abstract provides: This Article argues that third parties should be able to invest in lawsuits to a much greater degree than is currently permitted in most jurisdictions in the...

Lytton on Clergy Sexual Abuse, Tort Litigation, and Media Coverage

Posted on April 28, 2010
Tim Lytton (Albany) has posted to SSRN Framing Clergy Sexual Abuse as an Institutional Failure: How Tort Litigation Influences Media Coverage. The abstract provides: Tort litigation against the Catholic Church is largely responsible for the widespread understanding of clergy sexual...

Food Industry Lobbies Against Pending Food Safety Bill

Posted on April 27, 2010
From the Washington Post: The food industry and major business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, are threatening to withdraw support for a long-pending bill to improve food safety, saying they are upset by a proposed amendment that would...

Senator Grassley Looks Into Conflicts of Interest at the CDC

Posted on April 27, 2010
Details from Reuters. - SBS

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