Law : Civil Law

Pretrial discovery?the exchange of relevant information between litigants?is central to the American civil legal process. As computer technologies continue to develop, concerns have arisen that, because of the sheer volume of electronically stored information, requests for electronic discovery (e-discovery) can increase litigation costs, impose new risks on lawyers and their clients, and alter expectations about likely court outcomes. For example, concerns about e-discovery may cause businesses to alter the ways in which they track and store information, or they may make certain types of plaintiffs and defendants more likely to sue, settle out of court, or go to trial. This paper presents the results of an exploratory study to identify the most important legal and economic implications of e-discovery. The authors interviewed plaintiffs and defense attorneys as well as corporate information technology staff and in-house counsel, and they reviewed the current state of e-discovery law and procedure. They then developed a preliminary model to explore the range of plausible effects that e-discovery might have on case outcomes. After summarizing this research, the authors propose five studies that will evaluate how e-discovery affects and is affected by technology, costs, business practices, legal outcomes, and public policy. more...

Price: $9.95

The traditional definition of torts involves bizarre, idiosyncratic events where a single plaintiff with a physical impairment sues the specific defendant he believes to have wrongfully caused that malady. Yet public attention has focused increasingly on mass personal-injury lawsuits over asbestos, cigarettes, guns, the diet drug fen-phen, breast implants, and, most recently, Vioxx. Richard A. Nagareda’s Mass Torts in a World of Settlement is the first attempt to analyze the lawyer’s role in this world of high-stakes, multibillion-dollar litigation. These mass settlements, Nagareda argues, have transformed the legal system so acutely that rival teams of lawyers operate as sophisticated governing powers rather than litigators. His controversial solution is the replacement of the existing tort system with a private administrative framework to address both current and future claims. This book is a must-read for concerned citizens, policymakers, lawyers, investors, and executives grappling with the changing face of mass torts. more...

Price: $49.00

This collection of essays arises from two symposia held by the University of Cambridge's Centre for Public Law and Centre for European Legal Studies in the winter and spring of 1997. It presents an analysis of a cluster of issues arising in the EU public law arena but naturally falls into two interrelated but distinct parts. The first part deals with issues of liability in public law and the availability of remedies in EC and domestic law. The second part deals with EU public law on a broader canvas,by examining the phenomenon of cross-fertilization among national legal systems in Europe and between national systems and EU law. The book also examines the judgment of the Divisional Court of 31 July 1997 in R v. Secretary of State for Transport ex parte Factortame Ltd and the post-Francovich judgments in Palmisani, Maso and Bonifaci delivered by the Court of Justice on 10 July 1997. Contributors:. John Allison, Jack Beatson, John Bell, Paul Craig, Piet Eeckhout, Ivan Hare, Mark Hoskins, Peter Oliver, Eivind Smith, Luisa Torchia, Takis Tridimas, Walter van Gerven. more...

Price: $126.00

Das Praxishandbuch Filmrecht erlutert in klarer, verstndlicher Sprache und anhand zahlreicher Beispiele die vielfltigen Rechtsfragen im Rahmen der Entwicklung, Herstellung und Auswertung von Film- und Fernsehproduktionen. Die 2. Auflage behandelt ausfhrlich die neue Rechtslage nach der Reform des Urhebervertragsrechts sowie der Umsetzung der WIPO-Vertrge und der Informationsrichtlinie ins UrhG. Viele der seit Jahren gebruchlichen Standardvertrge, insbesondere die sog.  "Buy-Out-Vertrge," bedrfen nun einer grundlegenden Neubewertung und berprfung. Das Buch setzt sich eingehend mit diesen Entwicklungen auseinander, zeigt Fallstricke auf und gibt hilfreiche Tips fr die Vertragsgestaltung. Der praxisnahe Aufbau des Handbuchs ermglicht eine schnelle Orientierung und einen leichten Einstieg in die Materie fr alle, die im Film-, Fernseh- und Medienbereich ttig sind oder sein wollen. more...

Price: $59.95

This book examines the principal trends and policy goals relating to collective redress mechanisms in Europe. It identifies three principal areas in which procedures and debates have emerged: within consumer protection and competition law, and from some national court systems. It identifies differing national models of public and private enforcement in consumer protection law in the Member States, and the search for more efficient and inclusive procedures that would deliver increased access to justice and enhanced compliance with desired standards (arguably through deterrence).A sequence of case studies illustrates the pros and cons of differing models. Lessons are also drawn from the experience of class actions in the USA over the transactional costs of private law mechanisms, and adverse economic consequences. The various policy strands are unravelled and prioritised, and options for the future are recommended. The American 'private enforcement' model is contrasted with the more prevalent European public and mediated enforcement tradition. New developments involving Ombudsmen and oversight of compensation by public enforcement bodies are identified, and underlying theories of restorative justice and responsive regulation discussed. Public, private, formal, informal, ADR and voluntary methodologies are evaluated against criteria, and it is concluded that the optimal options for collective redress in Europe involve a combination of approaches, with priority given to public and voluntary solutions over private court-based mechanisms.'Reform of collective redress is the hottest topic in European civil justice today. Dr. Hodges, one of the world's leading experts in the field, provides a deeply informed evaluation of the current debates. Illustrative case studies drawn from both consumer protection and competition areas enrich and ground his provocative analysis of the complex issues at stake making this a 'must-have' book for every practitioner more...

Price: $78.75