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“The Cruelty Is the Point”: Using Buck v. Bell as a Tool for Diversifying Instruction in the Law School Classroom
Get PDFInstructors who are looking for opportunities to expose their students to the ways in which intersectional forms of bias impact policy and legal rules can use Buck v. Bell to explore, for instance, the impact of disability and class on the formation of doctrine. A different intersectional approach might use the discussion of the case as a gateway to a broader conversation about the ways in which race and gender bias structured the implementation of sterilization policies around the nation. Finally, those who wish to examine the global impact of American forms of bias can use this case and the sterilization policies that were enforced in its wake to identify the relationship between those biases and the propagation of the Nazi plan to implement mass genocide. Buck v. Bell provides a unique and rich opportunity to explore the harms that flow from institutionalized racism, classism, ableism, and sexism in the domestic and international spheres
Recent Case Law on Coming to the Nuisance
Get PDFIt is well settled that landowners who come to the nuisance (that is, sue another landowner for nuisance even if they moved to the land after the alleged nuisance began) can sometimes recover for nuisance. But is coming to the nuisance merely one factor among many in a nuisance case, or is it completely irrelevant? This article concludes that courts adopt the former view in theory, but in recent years have not actually used coming to the nuisance to reject a nuisance claim. In other words, the coming to the nuisance defense is like a locked-up weapon: courts say they have the right to use it, but almost never actually do so
Proceed with Caution: Criminal Responsibility for Non-participating Actors in University Hazing Incidents
Get PDFHazing in university fraternities has become an epidemic. Most hazing involves new pledges who are coerced to endure physical, emotional, or psychological harm to prove themselves worthy of admission to the group. Sadly, many students suffer severe injuries from hazing, up to and including death. Many states have passed specific laws banning hazing and expanded the universe of persons guilty of hazing to possibly include non-participants who aided the hazing. In 2020, a Florida appellate court broadened this further, potentially holding a fraternity president responsible for hazing for making the mistake of allowing liquor at an off-campus party. The fraternity president in that case did know hazing would occur and was not present when it occurred. In light of this holding and the broad wording of state statutes across the country, this Article sets forth recommended practices to minimize the likelihood of criminal prosecution for hazing for fraternity presidents. The impact on the culture of the fraternity may be significant; however, these recommendations will further the twin goals of reducing hazing incidents and minimizing criminal responsibility for those who are non-participants of the hazing
The Tort Whisperer: Nine Decades Later–My Perspective
Get PDFThis Article provides a comparative analysis of Judge Benjamin Cardozo’s tort decisions in Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co., one of his most famous tort decisions, contrasted with a lesser-known tort opinion in Hynes v. New York Central Railroad Co. The Author attempts to address Cardozo’s humanistic and intellectual dichotomies which are exemplified by these two real-life tort precedents—one of which, Palsgraf, most practitioners may only have a distant recall. A historical overview of Cardozo’s life is also discussed. These two decisions portray Cardozo as an emotive human being exercising hit-or-miss judging. This theme provides a differ viewpoint from Cardozo’s historical image as a rigid, cold, and detached Jurist. It was this latter image that Cardozo sought to publicly display during his lifetime. These internal enigmatic personality conflicts are what memorialize Benjamin Cardozo in the Law almost a century later. Cardozo remains perceived in legal historicism as some distant Moses-like, true to his Jewish faith “Lawgiver.” In the larger sense, however, at least Biblically, Cardozo did not view himself that way since despite an Orthodox family he was not religious. Any judgment the Reader reaches after analyzing this hypothesis will provide, at a minimum, an updated, more modern vision of Benjamin Cardozo. If this occurs, then my efforts have not been in vain
Virtual Gaming, Actual Damage: Video Game Design That Intentionally and Successfully Addicts Users Constitutes Civil Battery
No full textIn recent years, there has been increased academic interest in both the neurological effects of compulsive gaming and the potential tort liability of game developers who scientifically engineer games in order to addict users. Scholars from various disciplines are currently debating the scope and potential solutions to the problems associated with Gaming Disorder, now a globally recognized illness. This article contributes to this discussion by offering a multidisciplinary analysis of the scope of video game addiction, its neurological bases, and its relation to the legal rights and responsibilities of victims and game developers. In addition, this article explores the practical significance of, as well as normative and moral foundations for, holding video game developers accountable. It argues the novel theory that video game developers who succeed in their expressed intention to rewrite the neural pathways of gamers should be held liable for the intentional tort of battery. It further contends that private redress based on an intentional battery cause of action is preferable to actions grounded in negligence or failure to warn because in a battery suit, there is no need to prove that the plaintiff was harmed— offensive contact suffices. Moreover, battery claims may be preferable as a matter of public policy. Game developers will be more inclined to reconsider their actions if they are unable to pass off costs of improprieties to their insurers. Such deterrence is particularly desirable where defendants are committing intentional wrongs for financial gain. Game developers will not stop preying on the weaknesses of their users without financial motivation. Recognizing their behavior as tortious is necessary both to motivate them to behave as upstanding corporate citizens and to allow the victims their day in court. To the extent that such suits do not halt game developers’ manipulative behavior, they have the potential to lead to the use of warning labels and the adoption of educational initiatives to inform gamers (and to the extent they are minors, their parents or legal guardians) of the risks associated with these predatory games
Mastering the Law School Exam
No full textMastering the Law School Exam is designed to provide students with a knowledgeable, reasonable, and rational voice to navigate the intricacies of law school exams. This book is practical rather than theoretical where the emphasis is on providing the type of detailed examples necessary to show students precisely “how to do it” and “how to write it.”By working with numerous illustrations in the context of substantive law, students learn to: Fill the gap between what the professor refers to as learning to “think like a lawyer” and the actual means for doing so. Create a successful path from note-taking―to outlining―to exam writing. Identify the basic skills that exams seek to test and the precise manner in which they are tested. Become familiar with the general types of law school exams through examples and detailed analyses of sample answers. Use the language of the law in the writing of issues, statements of the rule, and analysis of the facts. Draw appropriate inferences from the facts. Improve close reading skills as well as writing skills. Be pro-active by taking formative assessments in a variety of subject areas and formats. Simulate exam conditions by writing exams under timed conditions. Target assessments according to identified learning objectives. Self-assess by following detailed grading rubrics. Use formative assessment to improve learning through identified feedback mechanisms. Draw appropriate inferences from the facts. Organize their thoughts to write an organized analysis. Develop a facility with adapting the “IRAC” structure of legal analysis to answer multiple-choice questions, write essay answers, and address varying performance test tasks
Can a Christian be a Lawyer or can both God and Jackson Browne be Right
Get PDFJesus’s final command at His final meal before His death was to “love one another.” No less than Jackson Browne insisted that the ultimate absurdity in an absurd world is a “lawyer in love.” Thus, Jesus has commanded that even lawyers must love, but Jackson Browne has emphatically stressed that lawyers are incapable of love. Given the apparent conflict for lawyers between these two observations of Jesus and Jackson Browne, one might wonder whether one can be a Christian and a lawyer both. Can both God and Jackson Browne be right? Of course, the government could seemingly make the answer to that question “come easy.” The government could make it illegal for those within whom “the dogma lives loudly” to be lawyers. Beginning in 2010, the Affordable Care Act was understood to make it unlawful for many Christians to operate a hospital, a college, or even a craft store. What if it had been a law office—what if the government made it unlawful for a Christian to practice law
Faith and Faithfulness: Vocation as Self, Others, and a Third Thing
Get PDFMany of us are prone to thinking in binaries—in “either/or” categories, or in black-and-white thinking. Lawyers seem to be especially skilled at this, as we are trained to identify two things and then try to navigate between them or name their similarities and differences. But staying within that framework can be unhelpful, and even stifling, at times. This Essay explores the intersection of faith and the practice of law, especially the idea of vocation. It offers an approach to get out of the binary by suggesting that looking at a third thing is essential. For vocation, this includes (1) listening to one’s own call (self); (2) connecting relationally and serving others (others); and (3) acknowledging that God, the Holy One, is always and already present in every space that we walk into and every situation that we are in. By adding this “third thing” and living into it more fully, we can approach our vocation—our calling—with a strong sense of meaning that is simultaneously coupled with a heavy dose of humility