Showing papers on "Damages published in 2008"

The debt of nations and the distribution of ecological impacts from human activities

Abstract: As human impacts to the environment accelerate, disparities in the distribution of damages between rich and poor nations mount. Globally, environmental change is dramatically affecting the flow of ecosystem services, but the distribution of ecological damages and their driving forces has not been estimated. Here, we conservatively estimate the environmental costs of human activities over 1961-2000 in six major categories (climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion, agricultural intensification and expansion, deforestation, overfishing, and mangrove conversion), quantitatively connecting costs borne by poor, middle-income, and rich nations to specific activities by each of these groups. Adjusting impact valuations for different standards of living across the groups as commonly practiced, we find striking imbalances. Climate change and ozone depletion impacts predicted for low-income nations have been overwhelmingly driven by emissions from the other two groups, a pattern also observed for overfishing damages indirectly driven by the consumption of fishery products. Indeed, through disproportionate emissions of greenhouse gases alone, the rich group may have imposed climate damages on the poor group greater than the latter's current foreign debt. Our analysis provides prima facie evidence for an uneven distribution pattern of damages across income groups. Moreover, our estimates of each group's share in various damaging activities are independent from controversies in environmental valuation methods. In a world increasingly connected ecologically and economically, our analysis is thus an early step toward reframing issues of environmental responsibility, development, and globalization in accordance with ecological costs.

First Do No Harm? Tort Reform and Birth Outcomes

Abstract: In the 1980s and 1990s many states adopted tort reforms. It has been argued that these reforms have reduced the practice of defensive medicine arising from excess tort liability. We find that this does not appear to be true for a large and important class of cases—childbirth in the United States. Using data from national vital statistics natality files on millions of individual births from 1989 to 2001, we ask whether specific tort reforms affect the types of procedures that are performed, and the health outcomes of mothers and their infants. We find that reform of the Joint and Several Liability rule (or the "deep pockets rule") reduces complications of labor and procedure use, whereas caps on noneconomic damages increase them. We show that these results are consistent with a model of tort reform that explicitly allows for variations in patient condition.

Local Solutions to Global Problems: Climate Change Policies and Regulatory Jurisdiction

Abstract: This article considers the efficacy of various types of environmental regulations when they are applied locally to pollutants, such as greenhouse gases, whose damages extend beyond the juri...

Is the Stern Review an Economic Analysis

Abstract: Although the Stern Review presents aggregate climate damages and abatement costs in dollars, in many ways it is not an economic analysis. First, and most importantly, it does not seek to mi...

The Relationship between Public Antitrust Enforcement and Private Actions for Damages

Abstract: This paper concerns the relationship between public antitrust enforcement and private actions for damages, focusing in particular on the enforcement of Articles 81 and 82 EC. In the first half of the paper, I examine the respective roles of public antitrust enforcement and private actions for damages. I argue that public enforcement should aim at clarifying and developing the antitrust prohibitions and deterring and punishing violations, whereas private actions for damages should aim at compensation. This corresponds to the approach adopted by the European Commission in its 2008 White Paper on damages actions for breach of the EC antitrust rules, and differs from the US approach which views damages actions as an instrument of deterrence. In the second half of the paper, I analyse a number of specific issues concerning the interaction between public antitrust enforcement and private actions for damages: the binding effect of the finding of a violation in public enforcement proceedings on follow-on actions for damages; access to the public enforcement file; encouragement of voluntary compensation through fine rebates, as a condition for leniency, or as part of settlements; punitive damages; private demand for public enforcement; the impact of private actions for damages on substantive law; and their impact on leniency.

State Responsibility for Climate Change Damages

Abstract: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) outlined in its Fourth Assessment Report (2007) various consequences of continuing greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. The effects include the loss of land and property, health and ecological damages, threats to human security and potential human casualties. The question which this article seeks to address is whether and how international law is equipped to deal with complex global challenges such as climate change. Special focus is given to the law on state responsibility and its capacity to deal with damages that are caused by a changing climate. In this context, the following legal issues will be examined: Can states be held responsible under international law for current or future climate change damages? Is there an obligation under public international law to prevent and to compensate for such damages? Especially the determination of a primary obligation to prevent harm, acting with due diligence, the question of causality and the determination of legal consequences are considered. As the examples given by the IPCC show, there will be an increasing need to address the issue of compensation for climate damages. Justice, fairness and international, national and human security require international law to adjust and live up to these challenges.

Can We Afford the Future?: The Economics of a Warming World

Abstract: * Acknowledgments * 1. The Status Quo is Not an Option * 2. Your Grandchildren's Lives are Important * 3. We Need to Buy Insurance for the Planet * 4. Climate Damages are too Valuable to Have Prices * 5. Some Costs are Better than Others * 6. Hot, it's Not: Climate Economics According to Lomberg * 7. Much Less Wrong: The Stern Review vs its Critics * 8. Climate, Equity and Development * 9. What is to be Done? * Notes * References * Index

Judicial Fact Discretion

Abstract: Following legal realists, we model the causes and consequences of trial judges exercising discretion in finding facts in a trial. We identify two motivations for the exercise of such discretion: judicial policy preferences and judges’ aversion to reversal on appeal when the law is unsettled. In the latter case, judges exercising fact discretion find the facts that fit the settled precedents, even when they have no policy preferences. In a standard model of a tort, judicial fact discretion leads to setting of damages unpredictable from true facts of the case but predictable from knowledge of judicial preferences, distorts the number and severity of accidents, and generates welfare losses. It also encourages litigants to take extreme positions in court and raises the incidence of litigation relative to settlement, especially in new and complex disputes for which the law is unsettled.

State Responsibility for Climate Change Damages

Abstract: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) outlined in its Fourth Assessment Report (2007) various consequences of continuing greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. The effects include the loss of land and property, health and ecological damages, threats to human security and potential human casualties. The question which this article seeks to address is whether and how international law is equipped to deal with complex global challenges such as climate change. Special focus is given to the law on state responsibility and its capacity to deal with damages that are caused by a changing climate. In this context, the following legal issues will be examined: Can states be held responsible under international law for current or future climate change damages? Is there an obligation under public international law to prevent and to compensate for such damages? Especially the determination of a primary obligation to prevent harm, acting with due diligence, the question of causality and the determination of legal consequences are considered. As the examples given by the IPCC show, there will be an increasing need to address the issue of compensation for climate damages. Justice, fairness and international, national and human security require international law to adjust and live up to these challenges.

Consequential Damages of Nuclear War: The Rongelap Report

Abstract: List of Illustrations -- Prologue: Consequential Damages of Nuclear War -- The Rongelap Report: Hardships and Consequential Damages from Radioactive Contamination, Denied Use, Exile, and Human Subject Experimentation Experienced by the People of Rongelap, Rongerik, and Ailinginae -- Part 1: Introduction -- Summary of Relevant Findings -- Research Concerns -- Research Methods -- Report Framework -- Photo Essay after page -- Part 2: Loss of a Healthy, Sustainable Way of Life -- Valuing Land from a Marshallese Perspective -- Land and Sea Tenure -- Rules Governing Access and Use Rights -- Cultural Land and Seascapes -- Spiritual Values of Land and Seascape -- Environmental Knowledge and Sustainable Resource Use -- Flexible Patterns of Resource Use-Sustainable Living on Atoll Ecosystems 82 Taboos and Resource Management -- Concluding Discussion -- Part 3: Chain of Events and Critical Issues of Concern -- Evacuation from Rongelap to Lae in 1946 -- Damage and Continued Loss of Access to Rongerik -- The Bravo Event -- Relocation from Rongelap to Kwajalein in 1954 -- Project 4.1 Research on Kwajalein -- Relocation from Kwajalein to Ejit -- Long-Term Human Subject Research Plans, Priorities, and Policies -- Difficulties of Life in a Contaminated Setting -- Degenerative Health and Health Care Issues on Rongelap -- Human Subject Research Experiences -- Evacuation of Rongelap in 1985 -- Current Conditions Endured by a Fragmented Rongelap Community -- Part 4: Summary of Damages, Needs, and Compensation Concerns -- Claims by the People of Rongelap for Hardship and Related Consequential Damages of the Nuclear Weapons Testing Program -- Consequences of These Events and Injuries -- Household Economic Injuries -- Compensation Concerns -- Research Needs -- Ideas for Remedial Action -- Part 5: Conclusions and Recommendations -- Violations of Trustee Relationships -- Statements of Culpability -- Reparations -- Relevant Case Precedents -- Recommendations for Categories of Concern in This Claim -- Concluding Remarks -- Epilogue: Seeking Meaningful Remedy -- Appendix -- Sample Marshallese text from the memoir of John Anjain -- List of documents submitted to the Nuclear Claims Tribunal in support of the Rongelap claim -- Letter from the Advisory Committee on Biology and Medicine to Lewis Strauss, chairman of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, November 19, 1956 -- Memorandum from Gordon M. Dunning to C. L. Dunham, June 13, 1957. Subject: Resurvey of Rongelap Atoll -- Letter from Hermann Lisco, MD, Cancer Research Institute, New England Deaconess Hospital, to George Darling, Director, Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission, April 29, 1966 -- Letter from Paul Seligman, U.S. Department of Energy, to Mayor James Matayoshi, Rongelap Atoll Local Government Council, April 29, 1999 -- Glossary -- Index.

Settling for Less? Organizational Determinants of Discrimination‐Charge Outcomes

Abstract: Although more than 60,000 workers formally charge their employers with unlawful sex or race employment discrimination annually, fewer than one in five charges results in outcomes favorable to the complainant. Building on sociolegal and organizational theory, this study examines how employing organizations avoid unfavorable discrimination-charge outcomes. Using EEO-1 establishment reports matched to discrimination charge data provided by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, I assess the effect of employers' legal experience, resources, and indicators of legal compliance on the likelihood that complainants receive favorable charge outcomes, benefits, monetary settlements, and policy change mandates. In general, I find that legal experience, establishment size, and indicators of legal compliance insulate employers from unfavorable charge outcomes. However, in situations where employers are willing to settle claims, legally experienced establishments are more likely to pay monetary damages and receive mandates to change their workplace policies.

Contracting in the Shadow of the Law

Abstract: Economic models of contract typically assume that courts enforce obligations based on verifiable events (corresponding to the legal rule of specific performance). As a matter of law, this is not the case. This leaves open the question of optimal contract design given the available remedies used by the courts. This paper shows that American standard form construction contracts can be viewed as an efficient mechanism for implementing building projects given existing legal rules. It is shown that a central feature of these contracts is the inclusion of governance covenants that shape the scope of authority, and regulate the ex post bargaining power of parties. Our model also implies that the legal remedies of mistake, impossibility and the doctrine limiting damages for unforeseen events developed in the case of Hadley vs. Baxendale are efficient solutions to the problem of implementing complex exchange.

Wrongful harm to future generations: the case of climate change

Abstract: In this article I argue that governments are justified in addressing the potential for human induced climate damages on the basis of future generations' rights to bodily integrity and personal property. First, although future generations' entitlements to property originate in our present entitlements, the principle of self-ownership requires us to take 'reasonable care' of the products of future labour. Second, while Parfit's non-identity problem has as yet no satisfactory solution, the present absence of an equilibrium between theory and intuitions justifies a precautionary approach, i.e. treating climate damage as a wrongful harm. In addition, a supplementary consideration is described as arising from transcendental needs.

Policymaking for Posterity

Abstract: Policymaking for posterity involves current decisions with distant consequences. Contrary to conventional prescriptions, we conclude that the greater wealth of future generations may strengthen the case for preserving environmental amenities; lower discount rates should be applied to the far future, and special effort should be made to avoid actions that impose costs on future generations. Posterity brings great uncertainties. Even massive losses, such as human extinction, however, do not merit infinite negative utility. Given learning, greater uncertainties about damages could increase or decrease the optimal level of current mitigation activities. Policies for posterity should anticipate effects on: alternative investments, both public and private; the actions of other nations; and the behaviors of future generations. Such effects may surprise. This analysis blends traditional public finance and behavioral economics with a number of hypothetical choice problems.

Impact of Tropical Cyclones on Rural Infrastructures in Bangladesh

Abstract: Tropical cyclone has a great impact on agricultures and rural infrastructures such as shelter, sanitation, drinking water, electricity supplies and transportation services. It causes huge damages not only to livelihoods but also to engineering structures like rural roads, dams, embankments, farm buildings and dairy houses etc. This paper depicts the results of recent studies on impact of tropical cyclones on rural and agricultural engineering infrastructures in Bangladesh based on the field visits to cyclone sites, collected data and information on damages and death of peoples. Necessary data related to tropical cyclones are obtained from available publications and news paper information reported in the recent years and previously. It is found that, in 2007, Bangladesh again witnessed unprecedented tropical cyclone called as “Sidr” caused enormous disruptions, damages and remarkable number of death of peoples. The country was yet to fully repair many of the damages done to her infrastructure due to devastating flood occurred in the same year just three months ago. It is revealed that the coast of the Bay of Bengal is particularly vulnerable to tropical cyclones where at least four major cyclones occurred that killed over half millions peoples especially after the Bhola cyclone. It is observed that the return period of earlier destructive cyclones was thirty to fifty years, whereas recent ones are occurring by nearly eight years, signifying the frequency of devastating cyclones. It is concluded that “Sidr” is as strong as of the previous cyclones; however, the casualties in term of number of death of people are conspicuously lower than that of the former ones, indicating the increase of awareness of people, improvement of warning system of the weather broadcasting center and the countermeasures taken by the government of the country. A discussion regarding the damages of agricultural engineering infrastructures such as rural roads, embankments, water sanitation, shelters and food security is presented.

Policymaking for Posterity

Abstract: Policymaking for posterity involves current decisions with distant consequences. Contrary to conventional prescriptions, we conclude that the greater wealth of future generations may strengthen the case for preserving environmental amenities; lower discount rates should be applied to the far future, and special effort should be made to avoid actions that impose costs on future generations. Posterity brings great uncertainties. Even massive losses, such as human extinction, however, do not merit infinite negative utility. Given learning, greater uncertainties about damages could increase or decrease the optimal level of current mitigation activities. Policies for posterity should anticipate effects on: alternative investments, both public and private; the actions of other nations; and the behaviors of future generations. Such effects may surprise. This analysis blends traditional public finance and behavioral economics with a number of hypothetical choice problems.

The Disintegration of Intellectual Property? A Classical Liberal Response to a Premature Obituary

Abstract: The title of this paper plays off the title of Thomas Grey's well known article, The Disintegration of Property, which argued in part that the ceaseless consensual fragmentation and recombination of property rights revealed some inner incoherence of private property institutions. I take the opposite position and treat this supposed disintegration as evidence of the robust nature of private property rights, not only for land but for all forms of intellectual property. I use this framework to critique modern intellectual property rights cases that impose limits on the terms of private licenses, and the efforts, some of which were embodied in the now dormant Patent Reform Act of 2007 to limit the use of injunctions, damages, and attorney's fees, including at least one effort to shield an important class of admitted infringements of patents from all forms of liability. One broad issue that patent reform initiatives raise concerns the question of whether the per se rules for physical takings carry over to the patent area, which in turn raises the larger philosophical question of the transference of legal principles from the physical to the intellectual realm.

Forensic Economics: An Introduction with Special Emphasis on Price Fixing

Abstract: This paper aims at explaining accepted methods of forensic analysis and how forensic economics is used in the context of competition-law enforcement. Illustrations are drawn from ancient and modern antitrust cases involving price-fixing allegations. The stated goal of antitrust laws of most nations is deterrence. Optimal deterrence requires that cartel penalties be based on multiples of economic injuries. Yet, antitrust authorities are typically reluctant to calculate fines on the basis of damages because of perceived analytical challenges or because the fact-finders lack needed economic education. However, reasonable estimates of damages can often be quickly prepared using simpler methods than econometric modeling. More often than not, alternative estimates of cartel overcharges tend to be mutually supportive. The reluctance of antitrust authorities to base fines on damages seems to indicate an abundance of caution.

The Reform of Class and Representative Actions in European Legal Systems: A New Framework for Collective Redress in Europe

Abstract: 1.Introduction 2.Consumer Collective Redress Mechanisms Initial Consumerist Models France Differentiation between Public and Private Models in National Enforcement Model A: Primacy of Public Bodies The UK UK Consumer Protection Law Compensation Orders UK Competition Law The Nordic Model Nordic Compensation Schemes: Medical and Drug Injuries and Road Traffic Accidents The Netherlands Model B: Emphasis on Private Sector Bodies Portugal Spain The CEE Situation Issues with the Involvement of Civil Society Organisations Experimentation and Reform Conclusions 3.Court Rules for Multiple Claims Introduction The English GLO Experience with English Group Actions Ireland Sweden The Netherlands Germany Italy Possible Introduction of Procedures in Other Member States France Poland Conclusions on the Newer Damages Mechanisms Principles: Rights versus Efficiency? Criteria Settlement An Issue of Evolution 4.Collective Redress at European Level: Existing Mechanisms The EU Legislative Background Legal Competence EU Policy on Civil Justice Systems Alternative Dispute Resolution Evolution of Consumer Collective Redress Misleading Advertising Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts The 'Injunctions Directive' The Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulation The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive Other EU Collective Mechanisms Intellectual Property Enforcement Late Payments ePrivacy Directive Environmental Protection Compensation for Crime Victims Conclusions 5.Technical Issues Similarity or Difference? Opt-in and Opt-out: Binding Solutions, Avoiding Abuse and Delivering Justice Binding Effect and Inclusivity Fundamental Rights Funding and Cost Considerations Discussion Conclusions 6.The Problems that Need to be Avoided Undesirable Consequences The Australian Tort Crisis The England and Wales Product Liability Cases Conclusion: Abuse Could Happen Anywhere Issues for Europe 7.Towards a European Collective Approach to Damages The Developing Debate Consumer Protection Evidence of Need in Consumer Protection: a Compensation or Market Rectification Issue? Competition Damages and Enforcement The 2008 Competition Damages White Paper Evidence of Need: a Competition Deficit? The Challenges at EU Level: Different National Models The Policy Options for Europe Conclusion: Summary of the Issues 8.The Policy Rationales for and Goals of Collective Redress Access to Justice Enhancing the Economy Regulation Through Litigation Deterrence and Behaviour Modification Regulatory and Enforcement Theory Penalties and Sanctions Theory: Restorative Justice Practical Examples Conclusions 9. Evaluating the Options Establishing Criteria 1. The Private Litigation Model 2. A Public Body Approach 3. The Voluntary and ADR Approach 4. The NGO Approach Evaluating the Options-and a Holistic Approach 10.Summarising the Findings and Challenges for Europe Consumer Protection Competition Law Conflicting Models of Influencing Behaviour Policy Objectives Redress and Justice

Punishment and Disgorgement as Contract Remedies

Abstract: This Paper examines contract remedies, especially damage awards that are punitive or restitutionary, from the standpoint of corrective justice. The function of the damage award in corrective justice is to undo, so far as possible, the defendant's violation of the plaintiff's right. Because the nature of the right determines the nature of the remedy, a discussion of contract damages requires elucidation of the right infringed by a breach of contract. Drawing on Kant's now almost forgotten discussion of contractual rights, the Paper sketches the relationship between the promisee's right to contractual performance and expectation damages, which give the promisee the value of that right. The Kantian account of contractual right not only justifies expectation damages as compensatory in accordance with corrective justice (thus resolving the perplexity about expectation damages formulated by Fuller and Perdue), but also discloses the inaptness of requiring the disgorgement of gains resulting from contract breach. Turning then to punitive damages, the Paper addresses the question of how corrective justice and punishment - and the institutions devoted to them - coexist, and how they are differentiated in a legal order based on rights. It then discusses the difficulties that emerge from the elaborate but ultimately unsatisfying recent attempt by the Supreme Court of Canada to work out a coherent treatment of punitive damages for contract breach.

EC Private Antitrust Enforcement: Decentralised Application of EC Competition Law by National Courts

Abstract: 1. EC PRIVATE ANTITRUST ENFORCEMENT I. A Delimitation of EC Private Antitrust Enforcement: Definitions and Modalities (a) Definition 1 (b) The Modalities of EC Private Antitrust Enforcement (i) Sword-Shield Litigation (ii) A titre principal-a titre incident Litigation (iii) Administrative-Public Enforcement-Civil-Private Litigation (iv) Stand-alone-Follow-on Litigation II. Public and Private Antitrust Enforcement and the Objectives of EC Competition Law (a) Enforcement Objectives (b) Advantages of Private Antitrust Enforcement and its Complementarity with Public Enforcement (c) The Relevance of the Goals of EC Competition Law: Between Public and Private Interest III. The Independence of Private Antitrust Enforcement (a) Independence as Principle (b) The Commission Green Paper and National Competition Laws on the Independence of Private Enforcement (c) Practical Problems in the Interrelationship between Public and Private Enforcement: Settlements, Leniency, Amount of Fines and Damages (i) Settlements (ii) Leniency (iii) Fines and Damages 2. THE INSTITUTIONAL LAW ASPECTS OF THE APPLICATION OF EC COMPETITION LAW BY NATIONAL COURTS I. The Old Administrative Authorisation and Notification System (a) The 'Foundational' Public Enforcement System (b) Competence of Civil Courts to Apply Articles 81(1),(2) and 82 EC (c) Competence of Civil Courts to Apply Article 81(3) EC (d) The Case of Block Exemptions (e) The Case of Comfort Letters (f) Competence of Civil Courts in Merger Cases? II. The Advent of Modernisation and the Passage to a Legal Exception System (a) The 1999 White Paper and the Reasons that Lay behind it (b) Modernisation and Decentralisation between Substance and Procedure (c) The 'Legal and Cultural Revolution' of the 1999 White Paper (i) Is Subsidiarity Relevant? (ii) The Basic Revolutionary Elements of the 1999 White Paper (iii) The Compatibility of the New System with the Treaty (iv) Efficiency of Competition Law Enforcement under the New System (v) Consistency and Coherence of the New Enforcement System (vi) Legal Certainty in the New Enforcement System (d) The New Regulation 1/2003 III. The Pillars of the New Decentralised System of EC Competition Law Enforcement: 'Centralised Decentralisation'? (a) Strengthening the Supremacy of Community over National Competition Law (i) The Confirmation of the Broad Nature of the Effect on Trade among Member States (ii) The Relationship between National and Community Competition Law-The Pre-existing Unsatisfactory State of the Law (iii) The Relationship between National and Community Competition Law-The Supremacy Rule of Article 3 of Regulation 1/2003 (iv) The Progress Brought by Article 3 (b) The New Institutional Position of National Competition Authorities and the European Competition Network (i) The Powers of NCAs under the New System (ii) Cooperation Mechanisms within the European Competition Network (iii) Allocation of Cases (iv) Exchange of Information (c) The New Institutional Position of Civil Courts (i) The Powers of National Courts under the New System a. The Courts' New Competence to Apply Article 81(3) EC b. The Specific Language of Regulation 1/2003 c. Remnants of Public Enforcement Monopoly: Withdrawal of the Benefit of a Block Exemption Regulation d. The New Competence to Enforce Commission Commitments Decisions (ii) Co-operation Mechanisms between the Commission and National Courts (iii) The Right of National Courts to Seek the Commission's Assistance a. Reinforcing an Already Existing Procedure b. Procedural Questions (iv) Information Exchange between the Commission and National Courts (v) The Duty of Member States to Transmit Copies of Judgments to the Commission (vi) The amicus curiae Mechanism (vii) Other Indirect Co-operation Mechanisms or Support for National Courts a. Guidance Letters b. Regulation 1049/2001 (d) Strengthening the Supremacy of Community over National Proceedings (i) Masterfoods and Article 16 of Regulation 1/2003 (ii) The Scope of the Supremacy Rule a. Positive Binding Effect v. Negative Duty of Abstention b. Non-applicability of the Supremacy Rule to National Competition Authorities' Decisions (iii) The Concept of 'Conflict' a. Maximalist or Minimalist Interpretation? b. Crehan and the House of Lords (iv) Resolution of Conflicts between Commission and National Civil Court Proceedings a. First Scenario: Pending National Court Proceedings and Envisaged or Final Commission Decision b. Second Scenario: Non-final National Court Judgment and Envisaged Commission Decision c. Third Scenario: Final National Court Judgment Finding Inapplicable the Competition Rules and Envisaged Applicability Commission Decision d. Fourth Scenario: Final National Court Judgment Finding a Violation of the Competition Rules and Envisaged Inapplicability Commission Decision e. Fifth Scenario: The Special Case of Commission Commitment Decisions under Article 9 of Regulat

The Chechen conflict: analysing the oversight of the European Court of Human Rights

Abstract: Examines the international oversight by the European Court of Human Rights with regard to the conflict in Chechnya. Provides statistical evidence of European Court of Human Rights judgments relating to Chechnya. Describes the application of the Court's admissibility criteria in practice. Discusses the Russian Government's arguments concerning the non-disclosure of documents, and the Court's response to the situation. Considers the systematic failure of the Russian authorities to investigate human rights violations in Chechnya. Addresses the application of the European Convention on Human Rights 1950 art.3, and issues of damages and just satisfaction.

Analyzing Trade-Offs Between Fuels Management, Suppression, and Damages from Wildfire

Abstract: With expenditures to suppress wildfires in the United States increasing rapidly during the past couple of decades, fire managers, scientists, and policy makers have begun an intense effort to develop alternative approaches to managing wildfire.

Illinois Walls: How Barring Indirect Purchaser Suits Facilitates Collusion

Abstract: In its landmark ruling in Illinois Brick Co. v. Illinois, the U.S. Supreme Court restricted standing to sue for recovery of damages suffered from a breach of federal antitrust law to direct purchasers only. Even though typically antitrust injury is, at least in part, passed on to firms lower in the production chain and ultimately to consumers, Illinois Brick is binding precedent in a majority of states. In this paper, we draw attention to a strategic abuse of the rule as a shield against antitrust damages claims. We show that Illinois Brick facilitates upstream firms to engage horizontally in a collusive arrangement by focussing concealed vertical side-payments to discourage civil action on their direct purchasers only. Downstream firms are passed part of the upstream cartel profits through a symmetric rationing of their inputs at low prices. This 'Illinois Wall' arrangement sustains collusion in the production chain, substantially reducing total welfare. The more competitive the up- and downstream industries otherwise are, the more scope there is for the arrangement. Illinois Walls are shown to be resilient to entry, as well as to variations in the legal system. Several recent U.S. cartel cases display Illinois Wall symptoms.

On compensation of environmental damage

Abstract: There are different opinions on how to be responsible for the environmental damages caused by infrigenment of right of environment.This article intends to draw the conclusion,by analizing the character of environmental infrigenment of right behavior,doctrine of liability fixation,take responsibility that principle of liability without fault should be obeyed,meanwhile punitive damages should be applied to environmental compensation for damages.