Getting to Causation in Toxic Tort Cases

Getting to Causation in Toxic Tort Cases
Author: David E Bernstein
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014
Genre:
ISBN:

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Since the issue first arose in earnest in the 1970s, courts have struggled to create rules for causation in toxic tort cases that are both consistent with longstanding tort principles and fair to all parties. Faced with conflicting and often novel expert testimony, scientific uncertainty, the gap between legal and scientific culture, and unprecedented claims for massive damages, common-law courts needed time to adjust and accommodate themselves to the brave new world of toxic tort litigation. Eventually, however, courts around the country reached a broad consensus on what is required for a toxic tort plaintiff to meet his or her burden of proof. While there is a voluminous scholarly literature on various aspects of toxic tort litigation, this Article's unique contribution is to articulate the new consensus on causation standards, document and criticize the various ways plaintiffs attempt to evade these standards, and defend the courts' adherence to traditional notions of causation against their critics. Part I of this Article explains that to prove causation in a toxic tort case, a plaintiff must show that the substance in question is capable, in general, of causing the injury alleged, and also that exposure to the substance more likely than not caused his injury. When a plaintiff was exposed to a single toxin from multiple sources, to prove causation by a specific defendant the plaintiff must show that the actions of that defendant were a “substantial factor” in causing the alleged harm. Part II discusses plaintiffs' attempts to evade these standards by hiring experts to present various types of unreliable causation evidence. Examples of such evidence include testimony based on high-dose animal studies, anecdotal case reports, analogizing from the known effects of “similar” chemicals, preliminary epidemiological studies that have not been peer-reviewed, and differential etiologies used to “rule in” an otherwise unknown causal relationship. Additionally, when multiple defendants have contributed to the plaintiffs' exposure to a potentially toxic substance, plaintiffs often present experts who claim, with no reliable scientific grounding, that the level of exposure (“dose”) is irrelevant to causation. Part III of this Article argues that courts should be steadfast in requiring toxic tort plaintiffs to meet their burden of proof. Traditional tort principles require that plaintiffs bear the burden of proving actual causation by a preponderance of the evidence, not merely that they were exposed to a risk. To hold otherwise and essentially shift the burden to defendants to disprove causation would open the floodgates to all manner of speculative claims, with potentially devastating consequences for Americans' well-being. Similarly, with regard to cases in which a plaintiff alleges injury after exposure to a toxin from multiple sources, a given defendant may only be held liable if the plaintiff proves by a preponderance of the evidence that exposure to that defendant's products was a “substantial factor” in causing that injury. To hold otherwise would amount to an implicit adoption of a system of broad, collective liability that courts have rejected when the issue has been raised explicitly. This section concludes by discussing the negative consequences that arise from speculative toxic tort litigation unsupported by reliable scientific evidence.

The Role of Science in Toxic Tort Litigation

The Role of Science in Toxic Tort Litigation
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 196
Release: 1989
Genre: Actions and defenses
ISBN:

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This work contains articles on the sufficiency of evidence, expert witness testimony, remedies and damages, policy legislation, and the roles of toxicology, epidemiology and biostatistics.

Perspectives on Causation

Perspectives on Causation
Author: Richard Goldberg
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 478
Release: 2011-10-21
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1847318428

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The chapters in this volume arise from a conference held at the University of Aberdeen concerning the law of causation in the UK, Commonwealth countries, France and the USA. The distinguished group of international experts who have contributed to this book examine the ways in which legal doctrine in causation is developing, and how British law should seek to influence and be influenced by developments in other countries. As such, the book will serve as a focal point for the study of this important area of law. The book is organised around three themes - the black letter law, scientific evidence, and legal theory. In black letter law scholarship, major arguments have emerged about how legal doctrine will develop in cases involving indeterminate defendants and evidential gaps in causation. Various chapters examine the ways in which legal doctrine should develop over the next few years, in particular in England, Scotland, Canada and the USA, including the problem of causation in asbestos cases. In the area of scientific evidence, its role in the assessment of causation in civil litigation has never been greater. The extent to which such evidence can be admitted and used in causation disputes is controversial. This section of the book is therefore devoted to exploring the role of statistical evidence in resolving causation problems, including recent trends in litigation in the UK, USA, Australia and in France and the question of liability for future harm. In the legal theory area, the so-called NESS (necessary element in a sufficient set) test of causation is discussed and defended. The importance of tort law responding to developing science and observations from the perspective of precaution and indeterminate causation are also explored. The book will be of interest to legal academics, policy makers in the field, specialist legal practitioners, those in the pharmaceutical and bioscience sectors, physicians and scientists.

Causation in the Law

Causation in the Law
Author: Herbert Lionel Adolphus Hart
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 498
Release: 1959
Genre: Law
ISBN:

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Toxic Torts

Toxic Torts
Author: Carl F. Cranor
Publisher:
Total Pages: 398
Release: 2006
Genre: Chemicals
ISBN: 9780511246234

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The relationship between science, law and justice has become a pressing issue with US Supreme Court decisions beginning with Daubert volume Merrell-Dow Pharmaceutical. How courts review scientific testimony and its foundation before trial can substantially affect the possibility of justice for persons wrongfully injured by exposure to toxic substances. If courts do not review scientific testimony, they will deny one of the parties the possibility of justice. Even if courts review evidence well, the fact and perception of greater judicial scrutiny increases litigation costs and attorney screening of clients. Mistaken review of scientific evidence can decrease citizen access to the law, increase unfortunate incentives for firms not to test their products, lower deterrence for wrongful conduct and harmful products, and decrease the possibility of justice for citizens injured by toxic substances. This book introduces these issues, reveals the relationships that pose problems, and shows how justice can be denied.

The Age of Expert Testimony

The Age of Expert Testimony
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 81
Release: 2002-03-13
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0309083109

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The federal courts are seeking ways to increase the ability of judges to deal with difficult issues of scientific expert testimony. The workshop explored the new environment judges, plaintiffs, defendants, and experts face in light of "Daubert" and "Kumho," when presenting and evaluating scientific, engineering, and medical evidence.

Victims of Environmental Harm

Victims of Environmental Harm
Author: Matthew Hall
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 218
Release: 2013-03-05
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1136185054

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In recent years, the increasing focus on climate change and environmental degradation has prompted unprecedented attention being paid towards the criminal liability of individuals, organisations and even states for polluting activities. These developments have given rise to a new area of criminological study, often called ‘green criminology’. Yet in all the theorising that has taken place in this area, there is still a marked absence of specific focus on those actually suffering harm as a result of environmental degradation. This book represents a unique attempt to substantively conceptualise and examine the place of such ‘environmental victims’ in criminal justice systems both nationally and internationally. Grounded in a comparative approach and drawing on critical criminological arguments, this volume examines many of the areas traditionally considered by victimologists in relation to victims of environmental crime and, more widely, environmental harm. These include victims’ rights, compensation, treatment by criminal justice systems and participation in that process. The book approaches the issue of ‘environmental victimisation’ from a ‘social harms’ perspective (as opposed to a ‘criminal harms’ one) thus problematising the definitions of environmental crime found within most jurisdictions. Victims of Environmental Harm concludes by mapping out the contours of further research into a developing green victimology and how this agenda might inform criminal justice reform and policy making at national and global levels.This book will be of interest to researchers across a number of disciplines including criminology, international law, victimology, socio-legal studies and physical sciences as well as professionals involved in policy making processes.

Harvard Law Review: Volume 128, Number 8 - June 2015

Harvard Law Review: Volume 128, Number 8 - June 2015
Author: Harvard Law Review
Publisher: Quid Pro Books
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2015-06-10
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1610278321

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The Harvard Law Review, June 2015, is offered in a digital edition. Contents include: • Article, “Active Avoidance: The Modern Supreme Court and Legal Change,” by Neal Kumar Katyal and Thomas P. Schmidt • Article, “The Invention of Low-Value Speech,” by Genevieve Lakier • Book Review, “Crown and Constitution,” by Tara Helfman • Note, “Causation in Environmental Law: Lessons from Toxic Torts” In addition, the issue features extensive student commentary on Recent Cases and policy positions, including such subjects as: corporate board of directors' duties in mergers under the Revlon doctrine; the propriety of a Delaware corporation's bylaws designating a non-Delaware exclusive forum; availability of habeas corpus review for sentencing error as to 'career offender' enhancement; whether remand orders can be vacated under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b)(3); whether housing providers can delay review of reasonable accommodations under fair housing law by requesting extraneous information; and, as to immigration law, analysis of the opinion by the Office of Legal Counsel endorsing President Obama's Executive Order on deferred action for parental accountability. Finally, the issue features summaries of Recent Publications, as well as a detailed and cumulative Index for all eight issues of Volume 128. The Harvard Law Review is a student-run organization whose primary purpose is to publish a journal of legal scholarship. The Review comes out monthly from November through June and has roughly 2300 pages per volume. The organization is formally independent of the Harvard Law School. Student editors make all editorial and organizational decisions. This issue of the Review is June 2015, the eighth and final issue of academic year 2014-2015 (Volume 128). This quality digital edition from Quid Pro Books features active Contents, linked notes, active URLs in notes, and proper ebook and Bluebook formatting.

Causation in European Tort Law

Causation in European Tort Law
Author: Marta Infantino
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 785
Release: 2017-12-28
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1108418368

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This book takes an original and comparative approach to issues of causation in tort law across many European legal systems.