STU Scholarly Works (St. Thomas University)
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The Affordable Care Act: Does It Improve Health and Does It Live Up to Human Rights Standards?
No full textLet me begin with an assumption that health is a human right. One can find a right to health in Article 25 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which provides that “[e]veryone has the right to a standard of living adequate for . . . health . . . , including . . . medical care.” This document is considered “a milestone document in the history of human rights” because it is the first record whereby nations collectively recognized, in writing, that some rights were so fundamental to human flourishing that they were to be universally protected
Rescuing the People of Tuvalu Towards an I.C.J. Advisory Opinion on the International Legal Obligations to Protect the Environment and Human Rights of Populations Affected by Climate Change
No full text2014 has been announced by the U.N. General Assembly as the International Year of Small Island Developing States with the goals of raising awareness of the Small Island Developing States\u27 (SIDS) unique developmental challenges in relation to a range of environmental problems including climate change, and of fostering the ambition to find solutions for these vulnerable States.\u27 However, the way in which international law is constructed runs counter to the ambitions of the General Assembly. The people of Tuvalu, one of the SIDS, are not to blame for climate change, yet they experience its most severe impacts. Regardless of the skepticism around the anticipated disappearance of the island, the islanders already require assistance from their own government and the international community, since both environmental stability and, consequently, the human rights of Tuvalu\u27s population have been critically affected. In theory, international law, particularly climate and human rights law, entails relevant obligations of States towards their own territories and populations, as well as obligations of third States to assist. However, these obligations are formulated and interpreted in an unclear manner. This lack of clarity makes it hard to establish what actions must be taken and which actors are responsible for monitoring compliance with these obligations, making it even harder to talk about breaches of these obligations. This article suggests that the International Court of Justice (I.C.J.), by means of an advisory opinion, can clarify and explain the reach of the relevant positive obligations under international law in the context of climate change and human rights. The Court can answer the question of who bears obligations to help the people of Tuvalu, before Tuvaluans have no choice left but to abandon their land. Building upon the particular case of Tuvalu, this article presents the question that the U.N. General Assembly is suggested to pose to the I.C.J. to request this advisory opinion
The Option to Repair: Good or Bad
No full textInsurance companies that deal with homeowner\u27s insurance strategize around not protecting the insured; unlike the commercials say, you\u27re in good hands. Rather, their strategy is to delay, deny, and defend. This is never more prevalent than in the new option to repair provision in many property insurance policies. Due to the ever-evolving nature of insurance and its trying to find more ways to deny claims, insurance companies, such as People\u27s Trust Insurance Company, are employing the option to repair provision, which is anything but trustworthy. Since this provision is new to the state of Florida, the courts have yet to develop a common interpretation of it. Ultimately, this paper will bring light to the flaws of the homeowner\u27s insurance industry, as it stands today in Florida, while explaining what the law says about how the industry should be. Since the law states there are no punitive damages in breach of contract actions, insurance companies are maintaining their position of power to take advantage of their insured no matter how much their premiums are. This paper\u27s goal is to show judges another avenue of how the law should be interpreted according to our common sense of what is right, and how the Office of Insurance Regulation should treat insurance companies
Where The Sea Meets The Land
No full textPart L.A of this comment discusses the history and evolution of the public trust doctrine, which dates back to Roman and Old English common law. It asserts the public has a pre-existing right to the dry sand portion of the beach, a right that has been wrongfully limited in Florida by its current public trust doctrine. Part I.C examines the uniqueness of beach property, and explains how the traditional notions of private property cannot succeed in overcoming the public\u27s pre-existing right to the beach. The fact remains that over time the public right to use and enjoy the beach in Florida has been dwindling away, almost to extinction, as it is increasingly limited by development and privatization of Florida beaches. Finally, Part II argues that Florida should follow New Jersey\u27s lead and resolve this problem by amending its current legislation to include a reasonable area of dry sand area above the high water mark for the use and enjoyment of the public
Front Matter
No full textFront Matter includes Masthead, advisors, and Table of Contents for St. Thomas Law Review Volume 27, Issue 1, Spring 2015
Green Visual Rhetoric: The Human/Nonhuman Connection in “Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind”
No full textDuring the 2008 presidential election, a powerful image circulated in the media: an illustration of presidential candidate Barack Obama as Superman. In the illustration, titled Time for a Change, Obama is dressed in a suit and tie and stands in the iconic pose of Clark Kent changing into Superman. He is ripping open his shirt to reveal a superhero costume underneath, but instead of an S for Superman, his costume features a large O for Obama. The image references both Obama\u27s campaign slogan, Change, and the changing-clothes/changing-identities moment in Superman comic books when the mild-mannered Clark Kent transforms into a superhero. This single image tells a resonant story about a seemingly ordinary man who has extraordinary abilities and it taps into our psychological desire for a hero or savior to help in troubled times. It also daringly addresses the subtext of race in the election by portraying the most American of superheroes, Superman, as a black man. This artwork, created by well-known comic book and graphic novel illustrator Alex Ross, is a visual metaphor. It is no coincidence that this powerful image is rooted in the world of graphic novels because graphic novels are replete with visual metaphors, and the genre itself is characterized by visual storytelling. Lawyers can learn a great deal from the visual storytelling in such images. Specifically, this Article suggests that lawyers can improve their visual literacy and become better visual storytellers by studying graphic novels
Front Matter
No full textFront Matter includes Masthead, advisors, and Table of Contents for St. Thomas Law Review Volume 28, Issue 1, Fall 2015
Unfair Foreclosure Process: Protecting the Tenants that Pay Your Mortgage
No full textThis comment addresses the problem tenants face when their rights are violated. Part II explains the different types of foreclosure actions, including judicial foreclosure in Part II(A), and non-judicial foreclosure in Part II(B), while Part II(C) describes the twenty-first century crisis in the United States. Part III of this comment explains the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009, an act created by Congress in 2009 to help the affected tenants during the crisis.\u27 Further, Part IV explains the different types of ownership and property rights. Part V contrasts the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009 and current law. Part VI provides a viable solution to the problem tenants face while their rental property is undergoing foreclosure by providing relief to those tenants left out in the cold. The solution section recommends that the Florida Legislature revise its current foreclosure law to require banks to ascertain all interested parties to the property, including tenants, and disclose if the property is tenant occupied at the time of the foreclosure sale. The proposed law will also require that tenants\u27 leases survive foreclosure actions as originally provided by the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009
Perceptions of Lawyers on Career Transition, Transferable Skills, and Preparation for Community College Leadership
No full textContracts: An Introduction to a Symposium and a Few Additional Thoughts
No full textOn February 21, 2014, the St. Thomas University School of Law opened a symposium entitled simply Contracts in conjunction with the Ninth Annual International Conference on Contracts hosted by the School of Law. The decision of the St. Thomas Law Review to sponsor and conduct a symposium on the simple broad reaching topic of contract law with this esteemed group was a natural decision and exciting opportunity. Contract law has long been a foundation study for students and scholars with a rich history and significance to individuals and businesses alike. Significantly, as reflected by Dr. Roni Rosenberg in his essay in this Symposium, [c]ontract law is the backbone of civil jurisprudence, and at its center stands the contract itself, in all of its splendor. Yet, while contract law anticipates a system of voluntary agreement, it is one where [t]he paradigm case involving negotiation is not the only kind of contract that can be valid under the basic commitment to freedom of contract . ... It is the necessity of demonstrating a bargain [made with] free choice or consent that provides the flexibility inherent in contract law, but which also continues to raise different questions regarding consent. Still, for those who might question, why have a symposium that is broadly casted in a study that is so far reaching? Would it not be better to have a more theoretical symposium topic, such as one on constructions and manipulations in the assent doctrine? Or, alternatively, a practice-oriented reader might be intrigued by a topic focused on pitfalls in a transactional practice. The other conferences, panels, and symposia that have taken up a wide variety of contractual and transactional topics reveal the robustness of this area and a call for continued reflection. While other proceedings have at times focused on narrow issues in a more comprehensive fashion, they cannot deal with and take up as a whole the fundamental questions: Why is the study of traditional contract doctrine relevant today? What is its relationship to and dependency on other doctrines and studies? What is the reach of contract law in a globalized market? It is to explore these rich questions that we decided to have a symposium open to all of the topics related to contract law on a global basis. These papers collectively tell a story about the need to examine and consider our application of traditional contract doctrine, particularly in modem transactions