John Campbell, Bernard Chao and Christopher Robertson
Non-economic damages (pain and suffering) are the most significant and variable components of liability. Our survey of fifty-one U.S. jurisdictions shows wide heterogeneity in whether attorneys may quantify damages as time-units of suffering (per diem) or demand a specific amount (lump sum). Either sort of large number could exploit an irrational anchoring effect. We performed a realistic, online, video-based experiment with 732 human subjects. We replicated prior work showing that…
Mary Madden, Michele Gilman, Karen Levy and Alice Marwick
This Article examines the matrix of vulnerabilities that low-income people face as a result of the collection and aggregation of big data and the application of predictive analytics. On one hand, big data systems could reverse growing economic inequality by expanding access to opportunities for low-income people. On the other hand, big data could widen economic gaps by making it possible to prey on low-income people or to exclude them from…
There are inadequate consumer protections from harmful medical billing practices that result in unavoidable, unexpected, and often financially devastating medical bills. The problem stems from the increasing costs shifting to patients in American health care and the inordinate complexity that makes health care transactions nearly impossible for consumers to navigate. A particularly outrageous example is the phenomenon of surprise medical bills, which refers to unanticipated and involuntary out-of-network bills in…
The United States Constitution and forty-three state constitutions include a Speech or Debate Clause granting legislators a legal privilege for their legislative work. Although there is a well-developed body of federal Speech or Debate Clause law granting an absolute privilege to legislators, case law interpreting many state Speech or Debate Clauses is undeveloped. One context in which state Speech or Debate Clauses are tested is redistricting litigation. State courts provide…
Various arguments have been made to explain why public defenders continue to handle excessive caseloads: a lack of independence, organizational culture, or ethical blindness among them. All of these arguments are based on the idea that a public defender elects to labor under an excessive caseload either because they do not see it as excessive or because they realize it is but believe a refusal will lead to adverse consequences…
A circuit split has developed over the recognition of a de minimis exception for unlicensed sampling of copyrighted digital recordings. In 2005, the Sixth Circuit opted not to recognize a de minimis exception in this field in Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. Dimension Films. Certain efficiency-based policy concerns do support the Sixth Circuit’s bright-line rulemaking approach in Bridgeport. However, the Court’s choice to ignore congressional intent in reaching its decision has…
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Case Refusal: A Right for the Public Defender but Not a Remedy for the Defendant