Proposed codification of disclosure of favorable information under Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure 11 and 16.
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY I. BRADY V. MARYLAND BACKGROUND A. Brady v. Maryland B. Brady Evolution C. The Special Role of the Prosecutor in Ensuring a Fair Trial II. FEDERAL DISCOVERY PRACTICE A. Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 16 Does Not Address, Let Alone Require, Disclosure of Favorable Information B....

Fishing for the smoking gun: the need for British courts to grant American style extraterritorial discovery requests in U.S. industry-wide tort actions.
ABSTRACT Industry-wide tort litigation, such as tobacco and gun litigation, poses a new problem for extraterritorial discovery. These suits allege conspiracies on the part of the tobacco and gun industries to conceal the dangers of their products from the public. Much of the evidence needed to prove...

Reciprocal discovery violations: visiting the sins of the defense lawyer on the innocent client.
I. INTRODUCTION II. RECIPROCAL DISCOVERY A. Definition B. Underlying Policy Goals C. Expansion III. RECIPROCAL DISCOVERY VIOLATIONS A. Judicial Response B. Problems with the Judicial Response IV. PROPOSAL: A DISCIPLINARY RESPONSE A. Independent Ethical Duty to Comply with...

Goodbye to the defense of selective prosecution.
United States v. Armstrong, 116 S. Ct. 1480 (1996) I. INTRODUCTION In United States v. Armstrong,(1) the Supreme Court granted certiorari to determine the standard of proof for a defendant in a criminal prosecution to obtain discovery in a selective prosecution defense. The five African-American...

Justice in plea bargaining.
INTRODUCTION Plea bargaining occupies an ambivalent position in the criminal justice system. Most observers of the system subscribe to its practical benefits, but acknowledge that it is an imperfect method for dispensing justice.(1) The academic literature has consisted largely of attempts to provide a theoretical justification for...

The dubious origins and dangers of clawback and quick-peek agreements: an argument against their codification in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
INTRODUCTION Evidence today is seemingly all electronic. No modern attorney can ignore the unique challenges posed by the digitization of the evidence-gathering process. (1) Consider some statistics, remarkable in their implications for corporate litigators: most companies store up to seventy percent of their records in electronic form;...

GA: massive stroke follows coronary bypass: failure to timely attribute acts of PA to surgeon.
CASE FACTS: Robert Nygaard and his wife filed suit against Dr. Robert Matheny for medical malpractice alleging that Mr. Nygaard suffered a massive stroke as a result of Dr. Matheny's negligent care during and after a coronary bypass procedure. The record revealed that on the morning of trial, the...

The United States deposition - time for adoption in Australian civil procedure?
[The deposition is the most important discovery method in the United States legal system. The deposition promotes the efficient attainment of justice by providing better information than may be obtained through reliance upon document discovery alone, facilitating settlement and narrowing the issues for trial. However, the deposition can also...

NY: Dr. refused to testify v. Dr. at deposition: right not to testify v. 'co-defendant Dr.' upheld.
CASE FACTS: In this unusual case, Jason and Sharon Devine, the parents of an infant (who was allegedly the victim of medical malpractice), sued numerous physicians, nurses and at least one hospital. The Devines, during the course of a deposition of one of several defendant physicians, attempted to elicit...

Medical malpractice: discovery stage.
In the last column (Medical Malpractice: The First Stage, The Physician Executive, January-February, 2008) I discussed the importance of proper documentation to avoid a lawsuit or gain an edge if one is filled. Now, assume your best efforts failed and a lawsuit is under way. I cannot...