Showing papers on "Damages published in 1987"

Construction Delay Claims

Abstract: Provides a thorough analysis and discussion of the causes and consequences of construction delays and resulting litigation. Written by the general counsel for a national construction firm and a construction litigation consultant, this book explains how to analyze a delay claim and covers issues of entitlement, factual causation, and legal causation. Includes examples of scheduling techniques, graphics highlighting delay causes, sample calculations of damages, and how to use the schedule to prove delay. Chapters cover the definition of delay, processing and analysis of delay claims, delay damages, establishing the basis of liability, dispute resolution forums, sureties and delay claims, and the avoidance and minimizing of delay claims.

Remedies for torts and breach of contract

Abstract: "Introduction Compensatory damages I: general principles of assessment Compensatory damages II: damages for the different types of loss Compensatory damages III: miscellaneous issues Non-compensatory damages Restitutionary remedies The award of an agreed sum Specific performance Injunctions Other remedies"

Posttrial adjustments to jury awards

Abstract: Motivated by the recent national debate on the growth of jury awards, this report examines how jury awards change after trial. It considers not just tort actions, but all civil suits for money damages. For all types of cases, it (1) compares jury awards to final payments, (2) examines how results vary by award size, and (3) studies whether results differ by case characteristics.

Wrongful births. When is there liability for prenatal injury

Abstract: • Every jurisdiction recognizes the right of a child to recover damages for prenatal injury caused by the negligence of a third party. This concept of liability for prenatal injury has been extended to include the right of parents (and sometimes the child) to recover damages from a physician who negligently deprives them of the opportunity to prevent the "wrongful birth" of an affected child. The most troubling question to arise, however, is whether a pregnant woman has a legal duty to avoid negligent behavior that may injure her future child. The unique and compelling conflicts that surround the recognition of such a prematernal duty encompass the child's right to be born free of any negligently induced injury and the pregnant woman's rights to personal privacy and bodily autonomy. ( AJDC 1987;141:1260-1265)

Exploitation at $1,000 per Week? The Mudginberri Dispute

Abstract: The Mudginberri dispute attained national significance and resulted in the first fines against a trade union for many years and a massive damages judgment. It became a symbol for one possible direction that could be taken by Australian industrial relations: greater legal regulation, direct bargaining between employers and employees and reduced trade union power. It was, however, unusual in the strong support given to the employer by the workers and by the state government and may not presage a major offensive against trade unionism.

Civil Wrongs: Personal Injury Law in the Late 19th Century

Abstract: This is a report of data drawn from a study of personal injury actions in the Superior Court of Alameda County, California, and in the federal district court for Northern California, for the period 1880–1900. Tort actions, in this period, were relatively uncommon compared to the number of accidents. The most frequent type of action was against common carriers—railroads and street railways. Malpractice actions were rare. Most fired cases were settled or dropped out before full trial and jury verdict. Though plaintiffs won damages in most jury cases, the overall finding is that the system provided little compensation for most victims of accidents. Tort law and practice disfavored passengers less than employees or “trespassers.” Three types of barrier blocked the path to compensation: legal doctrines which made recovery difficult; an accident-compensation system which, especially for workers, discouraged enforcement of claims; and the legal culture, which was a culture of low expectations.

Civil actions against the police

Abstract: Introduction: Policing and the Citizen. The Legal Status and Organisation of the Police. The Legal Status and Organisation of the Police. Complaints Against the Police. Practice and Procedure. Traditional Tort Actions . International Torts to the Person. Police Powers over the Person: Arrest, Detention and Other Miscellaneous Powers. Interfering with Land and Goods. Lawful Justifications for Entry, Search and Seizure. Malicious Prosecution and Related Actions. Other Actions and Remedies. Police Surveillance and Information GatheringIntroduction. Negligence. Misfeasance and other Civil Actions. Discrimination Claims. Judicial Review of Police Decisions. Damages. Other Remedies. The Human Rights Act.

Perceived health damages during a physicians' strike in Israel.

Abstract: This study analyzed the relationship between perceived need for health services and perceived damages to the health of the public due to curtailment of medical services during a physicians' strike. A model describing this relationship was hypothesized and tested in one city in Israel during the course of the strike. Results indicated that significant damage was perceived by the public as a result of the strike, a perception that persisted despite utilization of alternative care centers set up by the strikers. Furthermore, it was shown that financially weaker segments of the population were more likely to perceive damages to their health during a strike than were the more affluent segments of society.

The ascription of rights in wrongful life suits.

Abstract: “Wrongful life” is an action brought by a defective child who sues to recover for pecuniary or emotional damages suffered as a result of being conceived or born with deformities. In such cases, plaintiff alleges that the negligence of a responsible third party,1 such as physician, hospital, or medical laboratory, is the proximate cause of plaintiff's being born or conceived and thus being compelled to suffer the debilitating effects of a deformity. The child does not sue to recover for the deformity, but rather it is claimed in such cases that the child's life is itself a wrong to the child; hence, the name “wrongful life”.

Contract Theory and the Sources of Rights: An Approach to the Arbitrability Question

Abstract: This paper presents a theory of contract law that attempts to accomodate the arbitrability question addressed by the Supreme Court in Mitsubishi Motors Corp. v. Soler Chrysler-Plymouth, Inc. That case held that actions under antitrust legislation are inherently amenable to private arbitration despite the fact that the arbitrator will be called upon to adjudicate public law remedies. The essay describes how the law often confuses interpersonal rights with state-created rights.

The law of contract in Scotland

Abstract: * Promises * Capacity * Delivery * Formation * Offer and acceptance * Incorporation of terms * Construction * Implied terms * Ius Quasitum tertio * Joint and several liability * Assignation * Invalidities * Fraud * Error * Facility and circumvention and undue influence * Extortion leison and good faith * Unfair terms * Public policy * Breach * Frustration * Damages * Specific implement and interdict * Payment * Variation and extinction * Death and insolvency * Jurisdiction and conflict of laws

Agricultural Pollution Control: Implications from the Rural Clean Water Program

Abstract: The Rural Clean Water Program has provided a unique opportunity to study the economics of agricultural nonpoint source pollution control. Several implications for improving the economic efficiency of future agricultural nonpoint source pollution control programs can be drawn from the results. First, individual projects should be targeted towards water bodies that have water quality problems causing economic damages. Considerable variation can exist among areas in the magnitude of economic damages, which may not be proportional to physical impacts. Second, the relative costs and effectiveness of the practices selected to reduce the delivery of pollutants can vary dramatically from one location to another. Early identification and emphasis on cost-effective BMPs can substantially reduce project costs and may make a project economically justifiable that would not otherwise be so. Finally, some projects that do not hive potential economic benefits from water quality improvements exceeding government cost may have on-farm benefits from reduced costs and increased long-term yields that are sufficient to make total benefits (water quality and on-farm) exceed costs.

American tort law in crisis

Abstract: English lawyers have for some time been aware that some pretty exciting things have been happening to tort law and theory in America in recent decades. The invention of strict products liability is perhaps the best known of these developments, and has already inspired a rash of imitators, including the Council of Europe, and the EEC Council.' The willingness of the California Supreme Court to expand liability for nervous shock2 has recently been echoed in the House of Lords,3 which was perhaps not well informed about the extent to which California reflects the trend of opinion in the United States. Other similar developments, if they can be called 'tort law', such as the auto no-fault compensation schemes, have also been very influential in many parts of the Commonwealth. In addition, of course, there has been the great burgeoning of interest in tort theory, with the emphasis of economic ideas on the deterrence aspects of tort law, and much discussion, more recently, of fairness ideas on the compensation side. At the same time, the westerly winds bring over from time to time more disturbing news about recent developments in tort law. We hear, sometimes at second and third hand, alarming (or alarmist?) stories of absurd jury prodigality with damages, of sky-high products liability, insurance premiums driving firms into bankruptcy, of a country inundated with medical malpractice claims, and of entrepreneurial lawyers trying to fasten liability for cigarette-induced cancer onto the tobacco companies. What exactly is going on in American tort law? I will not be so rash as to attempt a general answer to this question, but sustained exposure to the six volumes of Harper, James and Gray on The Law of Torts prompts me to offer some reflections on the background to American tort law.

Medical Malpractice and Quality of Care

Abstract: Some 18 months ago, a Sounding Board article in these pages drew attention to conflicts between peer review and federal antitrust law.1 In that article, Dr. Leigh C. Dolin, one of several physician defendants facing a judgment for over $2 million in damages and fees, portrayed the plight of physicians attempting "to prevent the practice of bad medicine in their community." The author argued that he and his colleagues at the Astoria Clinic (Astoria, Oreg.) were held to a legal standard of behavior designed to preclude unfair business practices, a standard at odds with the public's own desire for self-policing . . .

"Hadley v. Baxendale" and the Expansion of the Middleman Economy

Abstract: THE famous 1854 English contract case of Hadley v. Baxendalel has long been recognized as a landmark decision in the history of English contract law. Before that decision was handed down, the law of contract damages was in its infant state, so that the jury was given wide discretion in the choice of damage level. Contract damage was better described as a matter of fact than as a matter of law, so that the operation of the contract system as a whole was covered with a veil of uncertainty that made any evaluation of its operation difficult to achieve. With Hadley, a general principle, often loosely described as one of foreseeability, was crystallized.

Analyses of Foundation Failures

Abstract: During the earthquake of September 19th, 1985, many buildings tilted and underwent settlements, sometimes of very large magnitudes This paper describes and analyzes these settlements The characteristics of ground motion that took place in several zones of Mexico City are presented and related to damages to foundations Mat, friction and end bearing pile foundations that settled are described, as well as other types of damages in Mexico City Some damages near the epicenter are also presented here

Effects on Infrastructure

Abstract: Effects on the transportation and communications infrastructure due to the earthquakes of September 19 and 20 are described and analyzed. It can be concluded that these effects were actually moderate, and this can be explained through the earthquakes characteristics but damages could be more severe in future events with different characteristics. For this reason some research trends are proposed.

The United Nations Legislates to Limit its Liability

Abstract: By now everyone in the United States, certainly every lawyer, must be conscious of the tort liability crisis and the consequent liability insurance crisis. Private individuals, businesses, not-for-profit enterprises and even governmental units, from school boards to the federal Government, are finding that the damages they have to pay or their insurance costs are skyrocketing, sometimes catastrophically or even cripplingly; as a result, worthwhile events must be canceled and valuable facilities are idled. Although it may be thought that these mundane concerns cannot affect an international organization—even one, like the United Nations, based in the United States—that surely it can shelter itself with its immunity, this unfortunately is not so. Although the United Nations, like other intergovernmental organizations, does enjoy full jurisdictional immunity, based generally upon its Charter but more specifically on international treaties and even national legislation, there is somewhat less to this protection than meets the uninformed eye. Since their member states expect the organizations they establish to be good international citizens, they have prohibited them from hiding behind their functional immunity for the purpose of evading either contractor tort-related responsibilities. Indeed, they may only use their immunity in order to avoid litigation in a national court or some other inappropriate forum; but if they cannot resolve a dispute, for example with a tort claimant, they must offer some other suitable means of settling the matter, such as by arbitration.

Measure of damages for the wrongful death of a child

Abstract: In St. Lawrence v. Lett the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that damages may only be awarded in fatal accident claims if those damages are "capable of a pecuniary estimate". The purpose of this paper is to argue that the value which parents place upon a child is capable of pecuniary estimate and, therefore, that (non-dependent) parents may be able to mount a successful claim for damages following the death of a child. This argument is based upon recent theories of fertility which hold that couples choose the numbers of children which they will bear based upon comparisons of the "costs" and "benefits" which children will bring to them. Estimates are made of the net losses of benefits which will arise if a child is killed, variously, on its sixth, twelfth, or eighteenth birthday.

The Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986: an overview of its immunity provisions.

Abstract: The Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986 offers broad protection against damages, including treble damages for antitrust violations, for hospitals and medical staffs engaging in peer review activities. The author focuses on the immunity provisions of the Act--how immunity may be invoked, important limitations of the Act, and the Act's probable effect on physician staff privilege litigation.