Tuning up for torts: at least three major bills under consideration by congress are aimed at tort reform. With support from both sides of the political aisle, class-action reform is expected to pass. Asbestos reform is also expected to pass, though in modified form. The fate of the other bills is anyone's guess.
Congress is facing a full agenda of pending legislation as it returns from summer vacation. Foremost on its docket is President Bush's appeal for an $87 billion appropriations bill needed to help rebuild Iraq and fight the war against terrorism. Congress has already signaled its intention to fulfill the...

Alabama's evolving standard of admissibility for expert scientific testimony.
INTRODUCTION The success or failure of a plaintiff's case will often turn on the admissibility or exclusion of the plaintiff's expert's testimony. This is particularly true in the areas of products liability and toxic torts litigation, where plaintiffs' experts commonly testify to the causal relationship between the...

LETTERS IN THE EDITOR'S MAILBAG.
Byline: The Register-Guard Malpractice system is broken The headline, "Malpractice caps won't fix problem," on William Brody's Nov. 21 Commentary article echoes what I teach law students in torts. It also echoes Oregon voters' recent rejection of limits on damages in medical malpractice lawsuits. ...

Charterer's liabilities under the ship time charter.
I. BACKGROUND II. SCOPE III. THE TIME CHARTER A. Nature Of the Time Charter 1. Contract 2. Allocation of Duties B. Limited Duties of a Time Charterer 1. Cargo Risk of Loss 2. Safe Ports/Berths 3. Special Nature of the Ship IV. POTENTIAL THIRD-PARTY LIABILITIES UNDER A TIME CHARTER...

The perfect storm: the safe harbor and the directive on data protection.
I. INTRODUCTION With the stunning recent growth of international electronic commerce, issues of personal privacy have become far more visible. Consumers express increasing concern with the ability to control their private information, and many nations are responding by considering or passing regulations. (1) Such regulations are classified...

Fourth Amendment privacy interests.
I. INTRODUCTION Is it possible to incorporate a serious concern for privacy into Fourth Amendment (1) jurisprudence? Even before the terrorist attacks on America, the question was a pertinent one; in the aftermath, it has become even more so. Fourth Amendment case law is of course grounded...

Abusive trademark litigation and the incredible shrinking confusion doctrine - trademark abuse in the context of entertainment media and cyberspace.
I. THEORETICAL UNDERPINNINGS OF IP PROTECTION 615 A. Underlying Theories of IP Protection 615 1. Labor/Investment Rationales 615 2. Economic Incentive/Efficiency Rationales 616 3. Misappropriation Rationales 617 4. Personality-Based Rationales 618 B. The Theoretical Basis of Trademark Law 619 1. Confusion Doctrine/Likelihood of Confusion 620 2. Unfair Competition/Section 43(a)...

Zones of privacy are recognized and protected in our laws - Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court, in an en banc decision in G.R. No. 135882, entitled Lourdes T. Marquez of the Union Bank as Petitioners versus Hon. Aniano A. Desierto, Ombudsman, et al. as Respondents, ordered the Ombudsman Aniano A. Desierto 'to cease and desist from requiring Union Bank Manager Lourdes T....

From the editor.
It's something we've heard so many times in the posttraumatic days since 9/11: the insurance industry is more confident than ever that the U.S. Congress will pass a federal terrorism reinsurance backstop bill and have it on the President's desk before it adjourns this fall. But the legislation that...

Experts advocate tort reforms that go beyond damage caps.
ALEXANDRIA, VA. -- Traditional tort reform measures like damage caps won't address some of the fundamental problems with the medical liability system, experts said at a meeting on patient safety and medical liability sponsored by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. To deal with the...