Torts - Fall 2007

[These are current announcements.  Old announcements are archived here.]

December 5

I hope your exams are going well.  Our review session is scheduled for Tuesday, December 11, at 10 am, in the Byran Cave Moot Courtroom.  I will spend a bit of time going over the fact pattern in the 2005 exam.  Don't forget to mail me questions. 

November 15

For Monday, we'll continue with what's left of the last assignment (pp. 442-446), and continue with the remainder of the unit on proximate cause.  Please read pp. 452-467, 471-479 n.6.  For Tuesday, we'll read 495-508, 549-555, 559-565.  Of course there's no class on Thursday.  FYI, the week after Thanksgiving, we'll be reading  pp. 513-526 (tort liability of owners and occupiers of land), pp. 318 n.1-320, 375-382 (vicarious liability), and I hope pp. 589-605 (ultrahazardous activities).  We'll also schedule a review session for the following week. 

November 14

For tomorrow, we'll only get through p. 446 (that is, you don't need to read, yet, pp. 452-467 and 471-479). 

November 12

For those interested, here are the articles I referred to in class: 

• Lawrence H. Summers, Some Simple Economics of Mandated Benefits, 79 Amer. Econ. Rev. 177 (1989) (presenting the general case)
• Richard Craswell, Passing on the Costs of Legal Rules: Efficiency and Distribution in Buyer-Seller Relationships, 43 Stan. L. Rev. 361 (1991) (a comprehensive discussion, looking at consumer contracts)
• Duncan Kennedy, Distributive and Paternalist Motives in Contract and Tort Law, With Special Reference to Compulsory Terms and Unequal Bargaining Power, 41 Md. L. Rev. 563 (1982) (highlighting the situation of heterogeneity in the group and defending paternalism)
• Christine Jolls, Accommodation Mandates, 53 Stan. L. Rev. 223 (2000) (examining mandates that help only an identifiable portion of the workforce, where employer behavior is constrained by antidiscrimination law).

November 7 [updated 11/14]

For Monday, we'll cover assumption of risk, pp. 318, 321 n.3-324, and we'll begin causation; pp. 393-402 n.2.  For Tuesday, please read pp. 409-410 (nn.2-3), 412-417 n.1, 418(case)-421, 425-427, 432-435.  Odds are we won't finish it Tuesday, but we'll see.  For Thursday, unless I tell you otherwise, please read pp. 436-438, 440-446, 452-467, 471-479 n.6[updated 11/14].  That's a lot of reading, but we're going to try to get through it. 

For anyone interested, my testimony for tomorrow is available here, and the hearing itself will be webcast here. 

See you next weekend. 

Prof. Schlanger