"A well-documented and eminently readable examination of the tort reform debate in the United States."
-- "The Advocate"

"A compendium of defenses against decades of tort reform misinformation and disinformation, this monograph will best serve undergraduates as a library reference."
-- "The Law and Politics Book Review"

"This book is an important addition to the growing body of works . . . that consumer advocates and attorneys can use to defend the civil justice system in the legislatures, in courtrooms, and in the court of public opinion."
--"Trial Magazine"

Late night comedians and journalists eagerly seized upon the case of an elderly woman who sued McDonald's when she spilled hot coffee in her lap as a prime example of frivolous litigation. But as Rustad and Koenig argue, cases such as these are an incomplete and misleading characterization of tort law. Corporations have successfully waged a public relations battle to create the impression that most lawsuits are spurious, when in fact the opposite is true: tort law plays a crucial role in protecting consumers from dangerous and sometimes life-threatening hazards. Without legal remedies, corporations would suffer no penalty for choosing profits over public health and safely.

In Defense of Tort Law is the first book to systematically examine the social, legal and policy dimensions of the tort reform debate. This insightful analysis of solid empirical data looks beyond popular myths about frivolous lawsuits, and tackles a variety of contentious issues: Should punitive damages be capped? Who is favored by tort law? Who loses, and why?

Koenig and Rustad's detailed case study analysis also reveals disturbing genderinequities in a legal system that is largely dominated by men. Because women are disproportionately injured by medical products, impermissible HMO cost cutting, medical malpractice and sexual exploitation, restrictions on the rights to recovery in these fields inevitably creates gender injustice. Engaging and up to date, In Defense of Tort Law also identifies aspects of the current law that require further elaboration, including the need for measures to combat cybercrime against consumers.

'Restitution for wrongs', or 'restitutionary damages', is the judicial award which compels the wrongdoer to give up to the victim the benefit obtained through the perpetration of the wrong, independently of any loss suffered by the victim. The establishment of a civil trial in Roman law, which left compensation as the main response, and a widespread, loss-centred interpretation of the Aristotelian theory of corrective justice explain, but do not justify the difficulties encountered by modern attempts to account for restitutionary damages. Mistakes in the classification of this institution have complicated the picture. To overcome some of these problems, this study considers the basic structure of restitutionary damages from different angles. In part one, the topic is analysed from a comparative perspective. Although the focus remains on English law, the German, the Italian and the Roman jurisdictions provide research data which, in part two, support the development of a theory of restitution for wrongs as corrective justice.

This work contains the proceedings of the 2nd Conference on Dutch-Japanese Law, which took place at the University of Utrecht in August 1996. The doctrine of tort law was chosen as the central theme for this conference. The meaning of tort law has been extended to such a degree that socially accepted responsibilities are attributed to specifically determined natural and legal persons. This book elaborates on various trends in tort law, such as medical liability, traffic liability, product liability, and environmental liability. A comparison with the Japanese legal system provides interesting insights into this particular issue, because the Japanese system is of a dualistic nature. By studying the development of the law in both Japan and the Netherlands, existing links are strengthened and new contacts between Dutch and Japanese academic lawyers are established.

The development of private law across the common law world is typically portrayed as a series of incremental steps, each one delivered as a result of judges dealing with marginally different factual circumstances presented to them for determination. This is said to be the common law method. According to this process, change might be assumed to be gradual, almost imperceptible. If this were true, however, then even Darwinian-style evolution - which is subject to major change-inducing pressures, such as the death of the dinosaurs - would seem unlikely in the law, and radical and revolutionary paradigms shifts perhaps impossible. And yet the history of the common law is to the contrary. The legal landscape is littered with quite remarkable revolutionary and evolutionary changes in the shape of the common law. The essays in this volume explore some of the highlights in this fascinating revolutionary and evolutionary development of private law. The contributors expose the nature of the changes undergone and their significance for the future direction of travel. They identify the circumstances and the contexts which might have provided an impetus for these significant changes. The essays range across all areas of private law, including contract, tort, unjust enrichment and property. No area has been immune from development. That fact itself is unsurprising, but an extended examination of the particular circumstances and contexts which delivered some of private law's most important developments has its own special significance for what it might indicate about the shape, and the shaping, of private law regimes in the future.

The goal of this study is to provide a general overview and thorough analysis of how the European Court of Human Rights deals with tort law issues such as damage, causation, wrongfulness and fault, the protective purpose of rules, remedies and the reduction of damages when applying art 41 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). These issues have been examined on the basis of a comprehensive selection and detailed analysis of the Court's judgments and the results compared with different European legal systems (Austria, Belgium, England and Wales, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Romania, Scandinavia, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey), EC Tort Law and the Principles of European Tort Law. The introduction of art 41 (ex art 50) ECHR in 1950 as a compromise and the issues it raises now, the methodological approaches to the tort law of the ECHR, the perspectives of human rights and tort law and public international law as well as the question of whether the reparation awarded to victims of ECHR violations can be considered real 'just' satisfaction are addressed in five special reports (two of which are also available in German). Concluding remarks try to summarise the outcome.

Causal uncertainty is a wide-spread phenomenon. Courts are often unable to determine whether a defendant's tortious conduct was a factual cause of a plaintiff's harm. Yet, sometimes courts can determine the probability that the defendant caused the plaintiff's harm, although often there is considerable variance in the probability estimate based on the available evidence. The conventional way to cope with this uncertainty has been to apply the evidentiary rule of 'standard of proof'. The application of this 'all or nothing' rule can lead to unfairness by absolving defendants who acted tortiously and may also create undesirable incentives that result in greater wrongful conduct and injustice to victims. Some courts have decided that this 'no-liability' outcome is undesirable. They have adopted rules of proportional liability that compensate plaintiffs according to the probability that their harm was caused by the defendant's tortious conduct. In 2005 the Principles of European Tort Law (PETL) made a breakthrough in this regard by embracing rules of proportional liability. This project, building on PETL, endeavours to make further inquiries into the desirable scope of proportional liability and to offer a more detailed view of its meaning, implications, and ramifications.

The American Way is incompatible with the U.S. experience of post-World War II capitalism. National and individual self-determination are collapsing in the face of profit-seeking, social compulsions, and the imperatives of global competition. Iain Hay states that the illusion of free choice and the misguided rhetoric of individualism remain: they mask new realities of compulsion and collectivism. This cultural contradiction is thoroughly analyzed by Hay from an unusual, outside perspective through an investigation of the development of medical liability insurance and its implications for tort law reform and health care provision in the United States.

"Money, Medicine, and Malpractice in American Society" transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries to provide a straightforward account of circumstances giving rise to particular forms of legal, medical, and social regulation in the United States. Hay explores the roots of change in medical and legal regulation in the United States through an inquiry into medical malpractice and health care costs in the ever-changing domestic and worldwide arena. It provides the first comprehensive association of American medical liability issues, health care spending, and post-War national and international contexts. This book will be of particular interest to scholars, students, and doctors as it provides a useful framework for understanding legal and medical change associated with medical liability and its insurance.

The legal and commercial importance of the tort of Conversion is difficult to overstate, and yet there remains a sense that the principles of the tort are elusive. Most recently, this was illustrated by the difficulties posed for the House of Lords by the Conversion issue in OBG v Allan [2007] UKHL 21, on which it was closely divided. Conversion, as we now recognise it, has a complex pedigree. Showing little regard for received taxonomies, it has elements which make lawyers think in terms of property, despite its eventful descent from actions in personam. Conversion is, therefore, something of a hybrid creature, which perhaps explains the paucity of scholarly analysis of the subject to date, property lawyers and tort lawyers each regarding it as the other's concern. This book is the first comprehensive appraisal of the modern tort of Conversion. It offers a coherent and accessible rationalisation of the subject, supported by rigorous analysis of all aspects, from title to sue to the available remedies. The principal thesis of the work is that the development of Conversion has somewhat stagnated, and in consequence the tort has so far been unable to fulfil either its theoretical or its practical potential as a legal device. Whilst this is partly a result of historical factors, it is also a consequence of the fact that no systematic examination of the tort in England appears ever to have been carried out. The primary objectives of the book, therefore, are to provide such an analysis, to present Conversion as a useful and important tort, well suited to the demands of contemporary law and commerce, and to offer a principled framework for its future development.

in recent years, there has been a growing interest in the legal aspects of mass torts in Europe. Both academics, legislatures, courts and policymakers throughout the whole of Europe have been struggling with the challenges that such 'massification' of private law relationships poses both in and outside of tort law. The subject moves between the law of civil procedure, substantive tort law, access to justice debates and regulatory frameworks for mass disputes. This volume offers both a caleidoscopic review of real-life key cases of mass tort and an in-depth reflection on the broader implications of mass tort in Europe. Thus, the challenges posed by mass torts are explored, mapped and analysed.

* Bridges the disciplines of litigation and neuropsychology in a modern UK context. * Conveys the complexity and huge amount of research data into an accessible medicolegal based neuropsychology text with relevance for both lawyers and psychologists. * A scientifically oriented exploration based on real-life case examples

Winner of the 2010 T.R. Fehrenbach Book Award Cowboys are an American legend, but despite their ubiquity in history and popular culture, misperceptions abound. Jacqueline M. Moore casts aside romantic and one-dimensional images of cowboys by analyzing the class, gender, and labor histories of ranching in Texas during the second half of the nineteenth century. As working-class men, cowboys showed their masculinity through their skills at work as well as public displays in town. But what cowboys thought was manly behavior did not always match those ideas of the business-minded cattlemen, who largely absorbed middle-class masculine ideals of restraint. Moore explores how, in contrast to the mythic image, from the late 1870s on, as the Texas frontier became more settled and the open range disappeared, the real cowboys faced increasing demands from the people around them to rein in the very traits that Americans considered the most masculine. Published in Cooperation with the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies, Southern Methodist University.

This book provides a comprehensive theory of the rights upon which tort law is based and the liability that flows from violating those rights. Inspired by the account of private law contained in Immanuel Kant's Metaphysics of Morals, the book shows that Kant's theory elucidates a conception of interpersonal wrongdoing that illuminates the operation of tort law. The book then utilises this conception, applying it to the various areas of tort law, in order to develop an understanding of the particular areas in question and, just as importantly, their relationship to each other. It argues that there are three general kinds of liability found in the law of tort: liability for putting another or another's property to one's purposes directly, liability for doing something to a third party that puts another or another's property to one's purposes, and liability for pursuing purposes in a way that improperly interferes with the ability of another to pursue her legitimate purposes. It terms these forms liability for direct control, liability for indirect control and liability for injury respectively. The result is a coherent, philosophical understanding of the structure of tort liability as an entire system. In developing its position, the book considers the laws of Australia, Canada, England and Wales, New Zealand and the United States.

Blueprints provide a unique plan for studying the law, giving a visual overview of the vital building blocks of each topic and the various outside influences that come together in the study of law. This series enables the reader to place everything within memorable context and is useful in providing an overview of the law. Each text offers a clear understanding of legal study and an engaging introduction to each subject; presenting the study of law as both an academic subject and a force in society. The texts map to undergraduate law degree programmes and are tailored for use harmoniously alongside core law material.

Feminist Perspectives on Tort Law offers a distinctly feminist approach to key topics in tort law. Ten original essays written by feminist legal scholars from the UK, US, Canada and Australia encompass a range of ways of thinking about women, tort law and feminism. The collection provides a fresh and original analysis of issues of long-standing concern to feminists as well as nascent areas of concern. These include conceptions of harm, constructions of reasonableness, the duty of care, the public/private divide, sexual wrongdoing, privacy and environmental law. Written with both scholars and students in mind, Feminist Perspectives on Tort Law is an important and timely addition to key debates in tort law..

I. OVERVIEW Legal Issues in Mental HeaIth Care is aimed at the mental health clinician who provides services on either an inpatient or an outpatient basis. It is written for psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, nurses, and other therapists to help them understand and manage legal issues in their daily practice. The issues covered apply to therapists who work for an agency or hospital as weil as those who work independently. The book is meant to serve as a handbook, but it also provides a quick resource as legal questions arise which are related to the obligations of the therapist. It ad dresses the legal issues that confront the clinician. It is not aimed at the clinicianwho specializes in forensie mental health issues, because the information provided does not reach that level of detail or sophistication. Nor is it aimed at the scholar, because our goal is to provide practical information in a clear and concise format. Wehave not addressed the wide array of laws protecting the mentally disabled from discrirnina tion-most notably, the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)and the Fair Housing Act. Most states also have laws that prohibit discrimination in employment, services, and housing. These issues are beyond the scope of this book because we are address ing the legal issues that arise in providing care, rather than the rights of mentally disabled persons. 11. ORGANIZATION OF THE BOOK The book consists of eleven chapters and a Glossary of Legal Terms."

After heart disease and cancer, the third leading cause of death in the United States is iatrogenic injury (avoidable injury or infection caused by a healer). Research suggests that avoidable errors claim several hundred thousand lives every year. The principal economic counterforce to such errors, malpractice litigation, has never been a particularly effective deterrent for a host of reasons, with fewer than 3% of negligently injured patients (or their families) receiving any compensation from a doctor or hospital's insurer. Closing Death's Door brings the psychology of decision making together with the law to explore ways to improve patient safety and reduce iatrogenic injury, when neither the healthcare industry itself nor the legal system has made a substantial dent in the problem. Beginning with an unflinching introduction to the problem of patient safety, the authors go on to define iatrogenic injury and its scope, shedding light on the culture and structure of a healthcare industry that has failed to effectively address the problem-and indeed that has influenced legislation to weaken existing legal protections and impede the adoption of potentially promising reforms. Examining the weak points in existing systems with an eye to using law to more effectively bring about improvement, the authors conclude by offering a set of ideas intended to start a conversation that will lead to new legal policies that lower the risk of harm to patients. Closing Death's Door is brought to vivid life by the stories of individuals and groups that have played leading roles in the nation's struggle with iatrogenic injury, and is essential reading for medical and legal professionals, as well as lawmakers and laypeople with an interest in healthcare policy.

This book examines an area of personal injuries law that has been largely neglected by other writers, but which is of vital importance in practical terms when establishing quantum of damages for personal injuries. It provides detailed coverage of the law as it works in practice, but also important insights into the underlying legal principles and policy. There is comprehensive analysis of the rules relating to the deduction of social security benefits, including the Social Security (Recovery of Benefits) Act 1997 and the new rules concerning recovery of NHS costs from insurers. The book also explains in detail how the deduction of private insurance payments, gifts and charitable payments, benefits relating to employment, benefits related to the cost of care, and benefits accruing to dependants all impact upon the awards made by the Courts.

The explosive economic development in China over the last three decades has created social challenges unprecedented in the country's history. In response, China has overhauled its existing tort laws and even created new tort laws. By exploring its principles, theories and history, this book provides international readers a fresh outlook on China's tort law system. Granted that some concepts or theories in China's modern tort laws were "borrowed" from the west, the principles behind them can nevertheless often find their roots in ancient Chinese philosophies, concepts or even laws. This book also uses real cases to explain the courts' application of China's tort laws and the meaning of the corresponding statutes.

In its case law, the European Court of Human Rights has acknowledged that national courts are bound to give effect to Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) which sets out the right to private and family life, when they rule on controversies between private individuals. Article 8 of the ECHR has thus been accorded mittelbare Drittwirkung or indirect a ~third-partya (TM) effect in private law relationships.

The German law of privacy, centring on the "allgemeines PersAnlichkeitsrecht," has quite a long history, and the influence of the European Court of Human Rightsa (TM) interpretation of the ECHR has led to a strengthening of privacy protection in the German law. This book considers how English courts could possibly use and adapt structures adopted by the German legal order in response to rulings from the European Court of Human Rights, to strengthen the protection of privacy in the private sphere.

The late Chief justice of South Africa, Pius Langa, was a remarkable man. He achieved so much in his life and touched many people with his quiet dignity, his generosity and his sparkling humour. As a lawyer, he had a profound impact on the establishment of South Africa's new democracy and the adoption of the country's Constitution. Through his work on the Constitutional court, he charted a path that would allow the country to reach what he called the 'vision of the Constitution'. As a man, he served as an example to many: He was strong, committed, empathetic, thoughtful and kind. A transformative justice: Essays in honour of Pius Langa and Acta Juridica 2015 pay tribute to this remarkable man and lawyer. The book has three sections: first, a series of personal tributes to Justice Langa; second, reflections on the work of the Constitutional court under Langa's leadership as well as aspects of his philosophy as a judge; and third, explorations of a variety of specific themes in his judgments, writings and speeches. The contributions to A transformative justice are written by eminent judges, academics and practitioners, many of whom worked closely with Langa. The book addresses a broad range of practical and theoretical topics, including transformative constitutionalism, judicial dissent, the role of the people in constitutionalism, and legal education, as well as the areas of customary law, contract law, delict, administrative law, criminal law and procedure, and the protection of rights to equality, freedom of religion and culture.

Written by a Caribbean-based academic and practitioner Written with an emphasis on contemporary law and how it has evolved this textbook is relevant to LLB students, second level law students and practitioners in the region

Pure economic loss is one of the most-discussed problems in the fields of tort and contract. How do we understand the various differences and similarities between these systems and what is the extent to which there is a common-core of agreement on this question? This book takes a comparative approach to the subject, exploring the principles, policies and rules governing tortious liability for pure economic loss in a number of countries and legal systems across the world. The countries covered are USA, Canada, Japan, Israel, South Africa, Japan, Romania, Croatia, Denmark and Poland, with the contributors taking a comparative fact-based approach through the use of hypothetical problems to analyze and then summarize the individual country's tort approach. Using a fact-based questionnaire, a tested taxonomy, and a sophisticated comparative law methodology, the authors convincingly demonstrate that there are liberal, pragmatic and conservative regimes throughout the world. The recoverability of pure economic loss poses a generic question for these legal systems - it is not just a civil law versus common law issue. It will be of interest to students and academics studying tort law and comparative law in the different countries covered.