Alabama Law Scholarly Commons - The University of Alabama
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RICO Trends: From Gangsters to Class Actions
Get PDFThis article addresses the question why isn\u27t RICO used much RICO the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act both a crime and a civil cause of action was passed in 1970 with much fanfare The fanfare was deserved RICO was an imaginative criminal justice initiative aimed at complex systemic crime RICO\u27s civil cause of action was viewed as a robust tool for plaintiffs and a vital supplement to strained law enforcement resources After conducting an indepth analysis of RICO opinions reported and unreported rendered by the federal appellate courts during the seven year time period from 20052011 this article has an answer to the question Criminal RICO\u27s time has come and gone but civil RICO\u27s potential has not yet been realized This article focuses on recent developments in case law that make civil RICO with regard to class actions and in the pharmaceutical fraud area newly viable The data analyzed in this article suggests that criminal RICO is anachronistic Simpler more streamlined statutes are now available to achieve far more easily than RICO the benefits RICO used to uniquely bestow providing context for isolated acts linking farflung actors penetrating organizations to reach key players stiff sentences obtaining forfeiture of property used to commit crime and reaped from crime Civil RICO on the other hand is an untapped resource Used properly civil RICO is an optimal private attorney general tool and a boon for plaintiffs This is true for two reasons First RICO mandates treble damages at a time when because of court rulings and legislative actions many plaintiffs are limited to little more than single damages Second in light of recent court rulings in RICO cases RICO\u27s elements dovetail with class action requirements of commonality and predominance making RICO class actions newly viable This article proceeds in eight parts Part I provides an overview of the RICO statute Part II explains the methodology used to gather the data in this study Part III discusses quantitative measurements from the data including how many RICO cases are decided each year and where they are brought Part IV describes the types of RICO cases brought under both criminal and civil RICO provisions Part V examines the issues that have dominated RICO court decisions from 20052011 Part V discusses how recent court decisions on issues of enterprise proximate causation and pattern make civil RICO cases easier than ever to plead and prove Part VI analyzes the outcome in RICO cases including who wins who loses and which circuits favor which side Part VII focuses on RICO class actions discussing past and future trends successes and failures Part VIII focuses on pharmaceutical fraud cases noting why they are especially ripe for use of civil RIC
Death angel
No full textDiscovering the murdered body of a young woman in Ramble urban park, New York Assistant DA Alex Cooper and Detective Mike Chapman uncover disturbing links between the savage crime and a string of cold-case disappearances. In this novel the author, a former prosecutor for the City of New York, explores the rich, and little-known, history of New York City\u27s Central Park. Here she takes readers into the storied history of Central Park as Assistant DA Alex Cooper and Detective Mike Chapman race to track down a serial killer before yet another young woman is found dead. Is the body found in the Ramble the first victim of a deranged psychopath, or are other missing women in years past whose remains have never been found connected to this savage attack? Is this enormous urban park a sanctuary in the middle of the city, as it seems to the thousands of New Yorkers and tourists who fill it every day, or is it a hunting ground for a killer with a twisted mind?https://scholarship.law.ua.edu/harper_lee_prize_books_2014/1006/thumbnail.jp
Occasional Publications of the Bounds Law Library, Number Eight: Traveling the Beaten Trail: Charles Tait’s Charges to Federal Grand Juries, 1822-1825
Get PDFTraveling the Beaten Trail, the eighth of the Occasional Publications of the Bounds Law Library, examines Tait’s career with particular emphasis upon his delivery of grand jury speeches in 1822, 1824, and 1825, followed by edited transcripts of those speeches. The author and editors conclude with a list of Tait’s law library in 1818, just prior to his migration to Alabama.https://scholarship.law.ua.edu/occasional_publications/1007/thumbnail.jp
The Trayvon Martin Trial - Two Comments and an Observation
Get PDFThe following article on the Trayvon Martin trial suggests that together doctrinal and critical analysis can often be more powerful than either alone Written for a symposium issue on Critical Latino LatCrit scholarship the article posits that jury nullification can operate to reduce the impact of a defense in which the jury does not really believe such as self defense or standyourground And in the Martin case felony murder coupled with felony stalking was an avenue that the Florida prosecutor left unexplore
On the Road without a Map: The Women of the Beat Writers Symposium - Mania: The Lives, Literature, and Law of the Beats: Session I: Weaving Lives into Literature
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Standing Outside of Article III
Get PDFThe Supreme Court has repeatedly insisted that standing doctrine is a bedrock requirement only of Article III Accordingly both jurists and scholars have assumed that the standing of the executive branch and the legislature like that of other parties depends solely on Article III But I argue that these commentators have overlooked a basic constitutional principle Federal institutions must have affirmative authority for their actions including the power to bring suit or appeal in federal court Article III defines the federal judicial Power and does not purport to confer any authority on the executive branch or the legislature Executive and legislative standing instead depend in large part on the provisions conferring power on those institutions • principally Article II and Article I This basic insight has important implications I argue that the Take Care Clause of Article II helps both to explain the breadth and also to define the limits of executive standing The executive has standing only insofar as it has an Article II power and duty to enforce and defend federal law on behalf of the federal government The Take Care Clause does not however confer standing when the executive no longer asserts that law enforcement interest • when it declines to defend a federal law Article I for its part does not confer any power on Congress to enforce or defend federal laws in court Accordingly contrary to the assumption of many scholars Congress lacks standing to represent the United States in place of the executive The Supreme Court has entirely overlooked these questions of institutional power in considering issues of executive or legislative standing including most recently in the litigation over the Defense of Marriage Act Article III cannot confer power on the executive or the legislature that Article II or Article I denie
The Green Line
No full textAbby Donovan is a lawyer whose dream of a partnership at her prestigious Chicago law firm is about to occur when she steps onto a late-night train headed in the wrong directionhttps://scholarship.law.ua.edu/harper_lee_prize_books_2014/1004/thumbnail.jp
Crime of privilege: a novel
No full textPitted against a powerful family when he reopens the scandalous case of a young woman\u27s unsolved murder, George Becket is forced to confront a haunting mistake from his own past while outmaneuvering wealth-driven corruptionhttps://scholarship.law.ua.edu/harper_lee_prize_books_2014/1016/thumbnail.jp