Sep
6
Your Children’s Ultimate Weapon: Suing You for Emotional Distress?
Posted by: Lisa A. Mazzie | September 6, 2011 | Leave a Comment
In what surely must be one of those “truth is stranger than fiction” stories comes the news that two siblings, one 20 and one 23, sued their mother for intentional infliction of emotional distress from “bad mothering.” In 2009, Steven Miner II and his sister Kathryn Miner sued their mother, Kimberly Garrity, for emotional distress due [...]
Jan
7
Tort Reform 2011: True Science or Pure Mischief?
Posted by: Daniel D. Blinka | January 7, 2011 | 6 Comments
Well, that didn’t take long. In its first week of political life, the new legislature has proposed sweeping “tort reform” legislation. The compass of the 30-plus page bill is manifold, embracing punitive damages, fee shifting, product liability claims, and damages caps. What interests me more, however, are proposed changes to the Wisconsin Rules of Evidence [...]
Nov
15
Reform?
Posted by: Sarah Knutson | November 15, 2010 | 3 Comments
On November 7, 2010, Senator-elect Ron Johnson was a guest on “Up Front with Mike Gousha.” He made a comment that hit the heart of an issue I have often pondered. This past summer, I had the opportunity to clerk for a law firm that handles primarily medical malpractice actions. So, this conversation sparked my [...]
Oct
13
Best of the Blogs Part II: Drugs, Immigration, and the Hotel “Death Ray”
Posted by: Jessica E. Slavin | October 13, 2010 | 1 Comment
If that title doesn’t increase readership of my posts, I don’t know what will. My contribution this week to our “best of the blogs” feature (which I have taken license to interpret as “best of the blogs and other news read online…”) is even more random than usual. First, the drug-related story that caught my [...]
Sep
18
Best of the Blogs: Trivial Pursuits Edition
Posted by: Edward A. Fallone | September 18, 2010 | Leave a Comment
This week’s review of blog postings and news stories of note focuses on subjects that might seem trivial, but that interest me nonetheless. 1. Comic Books My brother and I had an extensive collection of comic books when we were growing up. We even owned two (two!) mint editions of Conan the Barbarian number 1. [...]
May
5
Gulf Oil Disaster — Lessons in Torts and Bailouts
Posted by: Michael K. McChrystal | May 5, 2010 | Leave a Comment
The oil rig explosion that killed eleven workers and causes the daily flow of an estimated 200,000 gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico presents a gut check moment on tort policy. A lot of harm has been and will be caused by this catastrophe, and somebody will bear the cost of that harm. [...]
Apr
28
The Economic Loss Doctrine and Other Property
Posted by: Michael M. O'Hear | April 28, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Ralph Anzivino continues his exploration of the economic loss doctrine in a new paper on SSRN. The economic loss doctrine indicates that economic losses resulting from a defective product are recoverable, if at all, under contract law, instead of tort law. In applying this doctrine, however, courts have run into difficulty with damage to other [...]
Jun
22
Anzivino on the Disappointed Expectations Test
Posted by: Michael M. O'Hear | June 22, 2009 | 1 Comment
Ralph Anzivino has a new paper on SSRN entitled “The Disappointed Expectations Test and the Economic Loss Doctrine.” This makes a trilogy of recent articles by Ralph on different aspects of the economic loss doctrine. (The first two are here and here.) The abstract for this most recent entry is as follows: The economic loss [...]
May
25
O’Hear, Twerski, and the Work of the Professoriate
Posted by: Joseph D. Kearney | May 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Professor Jessica E. Slavin recently posted concerning Professor Michael M. O’Hear’s well-deserved receipt of the Eastern District of Wisconsin Bar Association’s Judge Robert W. Warren Public Service Award. Through the resources available to me as dean, I have been able to secure a copy of Michael’s brief and well-stated acceptance remarks. Professor O’Hear describes his [...]
Apr
20
Stealthy or Shifty Tort Change
Posted by: John J. Kircher | April 20, 2009 | 10 Comments
Much media has been given to the so-called “stimulus package” recently passed and signed into law without members of Congress or the President knowing fully what was contained in the over 1500 pages. Evidently, no one read the whole bill before taking the decisive action. A similar approach seems to be occurring here in Wisconsin. [...]
Mar
25
Wisconsin Supreme Court Accepts Three New Cases, Including a Case That Will Determine Whether a Crime with No Sexual Component May Trigger Sex Offender Registration Requirements
Posted by: Jessica E. Slavin | March 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Today the Wisconsin Supreme Court accepted three new cases for review, two criminal cases and one civil case. One of the criminal cases, State v. Smith, 2008AP1011, asks the court to determine whether the sex offender registration statute, Wisconsin Statute section 301.45, is unconstitutional in its application to a defendant whose crime, false imprisonment [...]
Mar
13
The Assault Upon the Citadel
Posted by: John J. Kircher | March 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment
I am no doubt dating myself, and that has been happening a lot lately, but Bill Prosser’s 1960 article in the Yale Law Journal probably has had the greatest influence on the way that I write and teach about the law [William L. Prosser, The Assault Upon the Citadel (Strict Liability to the Consumer), 69 [...]
Blog Editors
- Alan Borsuk
- Bruce E. Boyden
- Edward A. Fallone
- Melissa L. Greipp
- Scott C. Idleman
- Lisa Mazzie
- Michael M. O'Hear
- Ryan Scoville
