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Showing 9 of 21 Results in Criminal & Civil Justice Reform
Scholarship Abstract Many studies have employed regression analysis with data drawn from court opinions. For example, an analyst might use regression analysis to determine the factors . . .
Many studies have employed regression analysis with data drawn from court opinions. For example, an analyst might use regression analysis to determine the factors that explain the size of damages awards or the factors that determine the probability that the plaintiff will prevail at trial or on appeal. However, the full potential of multiple regression analysis in legal research has not been realized, largely because of the sample selection problem. We propose a method for controlling for sample selection bias using data from court opinions.
Read at SSRN.
Scholarship Abstract Recent controversies in the District of Delaware raise questions regarding the degree to which litigants may or should be compelled to disclose ownership, funding, . . .
Recent controversies in the District of Delaware raise questions regarding the degree to which litigants may or should be compelled to disclose ownership, funding, and management structures. The controversies have led to an extraordinary series of hearings resulting ultimately in a challenge to the authority of a district judge to investigate compliance with disclosure rules and related litigation conduct. This article surveys six different rationales for compelling disclosure. It discusses their strengths and weaknesses and the scope of disclosure they support. It concludes that increased disclosure is desirable and that most of the disclosure ordered in the current controversies in Delaware is justified under current law. The article also proposes amendments to the FRCP, Title 28, and the Patent act to facilitate future case management.
Popular Media The traditional Boy Scout oath was that each scout should “do his duty.” Unfortunately, in the bankruptcy case dealing with the fallout from the horrendous . . .
The traditional Boy Scout oath was that each scout should “do his duty.” Unfortunately, in the bankruptcy case dealing with the fallout from the horrendous sexual abuse scandal, the bankruptcy court failed to do its duty. Instead of looking out for those who were victimized, the case has turned into another feeding frenzy by class action lawyers. To rectify this miscarriage of justice, appeals courts should take a second look.
Read the full piece here.
Scholarship Abstract Implicit bias concepts are increasingly influential in the law. Washington and California have adopted jury selection rules that use implicit bias ideas to reduce . . .
Implicit bias concepts are increasingly influential in the law. Washington and California have adopted jury selection rules that use implicit bias ideas to reduce the showing needed to reject a peremptory challenge. Under Washington’s rule, a prima facie showing of bias may be made by showing that an objective observer, who is deemed to know that implicit (unconscious) bias has resulted in the unfair exclusion of jurors, could view race or ethnicity as a factor in the challenge. Once such a showing is made, the challenge is denied.
In two important cases, the Washington Supreme Court has applied implicit bias concepts from the peremptory challenge context to post-verdict challenges that argued that a verdict was tainted by bias. Under the rule in these cases, if a prima facie showing of bias is made the burden shifts to the prevailing party to prove that the verdict was not tainted by bias. The premises Washington has constructed from implicit bias reasoning are so strong that the burden of proof will likely be decisive in such cases. There is no non-arbitrary way to use such premises to distinguish cases in which conduct is problematic from those in which it is not.
The first case, State v. Berhe, led to an extraordinary hearing in which jurors were sworn and examined about their conduct during deliberations. This article uses the transcript of that hearing to assess whether implicit bias concepts will prove useful in such post-verdict challenges. It argues that at least IAT-style association data will not prove useful in assessing post-verdict challenges because such challenges pose a problem of attribution, not association. The question is whether to attribute a juror’s conduct to their disposition or to other factors, such as the trial record. Implicit bias reasoning may skew such analysis by encouraging judges to favor dispositional explanations over contextual explanations.
Scholarship Abstract This is my third paper on the Restatement (Third) of Torts. In my first paper, The Theory of Tort Doctrine and the Restatement (Third) . . .
This is my third paper on the Restatement (Third) of Torts. In my first paper, The Theory of Tort Doctrine and the Restatement (Third) of Torts, I offered a positive economic theory of the tort doctrine that had been presented in the Restatement (Third) of Torts: General Principles, and also an optimistic vision of how positive theoretical analysis could be integrated with the Restatement project. In my second paper, The Economics of the Restatement and of the Common Law, I set out the utilitarian-economic theory of how the common law litigation process could generate optimal (efficient, wealth-maximizing) rules and compared that process to the process by which the Restatement identifies and articulates rules. In this paper, I am looking back and assessing the connection between positive tort theory and the Restatement. My general argument is that positive tort theory has been successful in explaining the grounds for the common law of torts, and at the same time it remains an underutilized and underexploited resource for the Restatement project.
TOTM It seems that large language models (LLMs) are all the rage right now, from Bing’s announcement that it plans to integrate the ChatGPT technology into its search . . .
It seems that large language models (LLMs) are all the rage right now, from Bing’s announcement that it plans to integrate the ChatGPT technology into its search engine to Google’s announcement of its own LLM called “Bard” to Meta’s recent introduction of its Large Language Model Meta AI, or “LLaMA.” Each of these LLMs use artificial intelligence (AI) to create text-based answers to questions.
Scholarship Abstract Importance Many physicians believe that most medical malpractice claims are random events. This study assessed the association of prior paid claims (including a single prior . . .
Importance Many physicians believe that most medical malpractice claims are random events. This study assessed the association of prior paid claims (including a single prior claim) with future paid claims; whether public disclosure of prior paid claims affects future paid claims; and whether the association of prior and future paid claims decayed over time.
Objective To examine the association of 1 or more prior paid medical malpractice claims with future paid claims.
Design, Setting, and Participants This study assessed the association between prior paid claims (including a single prior claim) with future claims; whether public disclosure of prior claims affects future paid claims; and whether the association of prior and future paid claims decayed over time. This retrospective case-control study included all 881,876 licensed physicians in the US. All data analysis took place between July, 2018 and January, 2023.
Exposure Paid medical malpractice claims.
Main Outcome and Measures Association between a prior paid medical malpractice claim and likelihood of a paid claim in a future period, compared with simulated results expected if paid claims are random events. Using the same outcomes, we also assessed whether public disclosure of paid claims affects future paid claim rates.
Results This study included all 881,876 physicians licensed to practice in the US at the time of the study. Overall, 3.3% of the 841,?961 physicians with 0 paid claims in the prior period had 1 or more claims in the future period vs 12.4% of the 34?,512 physicians with 1 paid claim in the prior period; 22.4% of the 4,189 physicians with 2 paid claims in the prior period; and 37% of the 1,214 physicians with 3 paid claims in the prior period. The association between prior claims and future claims was similar for high-medical-malpractice-risk and lower-risk specialties; 1 prior-period claim was associated with a 3.1 times higher likelihood of a future-period claim for high-risk specialties (95% CI, 2.8-3.4) vs a 4.2 times higher likelihood for lower-risk specialties (95% CI, 3.8-4.6). The predictive power of a prior paid claim for future claims declined gradually as the time since the prior claim increased, for prior or future periods up to 10 years. Public disclosure did not affect the association between prior and future paid claims.
Conclusions and Relevance In this study of paid medical malpractice claims for all US physicians, a single prior paid claim was associated with substantial, long-lived higher future claim risk, independent of whether a physician was practicing in a high- or low-risk specialty, or whether a state publicly disclosed paid claims. Timely, noncoercive intervention, including education, has the potential to reduce future claims.
Popular Media Remember the hysteria when Japanese investors bought Rockefeller Center and threatened the American car industry with obliteration? Recent commentary served as the latest example in a long line of xenophobic scare . . .
Remember the hysteria when Japanese investors bought Rockefeller Center and threatened the American car industry with obliteration? Recent commentary served as the latest example in a long line of xenophobic scare tactics by claiming that “foreign adversaries” are funding “frivolous litigation” to “weaken critical industries” or to obtain trade secrets or intellectual property.
Presentations & Interviews ICLE Editor-in-Chief R.J. Lehmann joined On Point, a daily discussion program produced by WBUR radio in Boston, for a discussion of the nation’s first gun-insurance . . .
ICLE Editor-in-Chief R.J. Lehmann joined On Point, a daily discussion program produced by WBUR radio in Boston, for a discussion of the nation’s first gun-insurance mandate, which took effect this year in San Jose, California. Gun owners in the city are required to have liability insurance or they could be fined a minimum of $250. But can insurance actually help curb gun violence?
“Insurance in and of itself is never going to cover the kinds of violent events that people imagine it would because insurance can’t cover things that you do on purpose,” R.J. Lehmann says.
Audio of the full episode is embedded below.
