Court strikes out latest action in contaminated blood litigation

On 24 June 2003, the Federal Court of Canada--Trial Division struck out an action by three hemophiliacs infected with HIV through contaminated blood products. The case arose out of the destruction of records by members of Canadian Blood Committee (CBC) in 1989. The defendants were the government of Canada and three government of Canada employees who worked at the CBC in 1989 and were alleged to have been involved in the destruction of records.     

论刑事诉讼与行政诉讼的冲突及其解决

为解决刑事诉讼中出现的行政问题及行政诉讼中出现的刑事问题,避免行政诉讼与刑事诉讼审理结果的冲突,应将两类诉讼中的相关问题分为本诉附属问题与审判前提问题,允许法院刑事审判庭在特定情况下审理行政问题;在对同一行为究竟应承担刑事责任还是行政责任难以确定时,以“刑事责任优先”为处理原则。     

Comment: litigation involving manufacturers' liability for defective medical products: judicial perspectives.

In this Comment, Judge Rosenn discusses, from a judicial perspective, the development of manufacturer's liability for defective medical products, with particular attention to the evolution of the strict liability doctrine, the courts' willingness to apply that doctrine to medical manufacturers, and recent suggestions for seriated trials as a means of more effective resolution of the complex litigation that arises in cases of alleged faculty design of medical products.     

Organizational downsizing and age discrimination litigation: the influence of personnel practices and statistical evidence on litigation outcomes

The present study examined relationships between reduction-in-force (RIF) personnel practices, presentation of statistical evidence, and litigation outcomes. Policy capturing methods were utilized to analyze the components of 115 federal district court opinions involving age discrimination disparate treatment allegations and organizational downsizing. Univariate analyses revealed meaningful links between RIF personnel practices, use of statistical evidence, and judicial verdict. The defendant organization was awarded summary judgment in 73% of the claims included in the study. Judicial decisions in favor of the defendant organization were found to be significantly related to such variables as formal performance appraisal systems, termination decision review within the organization, methods of employee assessment and selection for termination, and the presence of a concrete layoff policy. The use of statistical evidence in ADEA disparate treatment litigation was investigated and found to be a potentially persuasive type of indirect evidence. Legal, personnel, and evidentiary ramifications are reviewed, and a framework of downsizing mechanics emphasizing legal defensibility is presented.     

Surrogacy litigation in China and beyond

Chinese law neither generally prohibits nor expressly permits surrogacy. As there has been a massive underground surrogacy market in the country, surrogacy lawsuits have occurred from time to time. Chinese courts are called to decide a number of disputed issues regarding validity of surrogacy contract, parenthood of the surrogate child, and sole care and control of the surrogate child. This article examines the judicial solutions to these disputes through a case study, and analyses whether Chinese courts have adopted appropriate approaches in applying the existing law to surrogacy lawsuits. The article further discusses the inadequacies of Chinese law in solving surrogacy disputes and regulating surrogacy, and recommends a set of suggestions for improvement so that Chinese law may better adapt to the social demand of surrogacy.     

环境诉讼的“破”与“立”

环境纠纷有多种解决手段．行政协调、民事协商和法律诉讼。司法是社会正义的最后一道防线,而环境诉讼即绿色诉讼则是保护环境的最后一道防线。环境诉讼制度是为解决环境问题．保护国家、社会环境的公共利益和人类环境利益而采取的一项司法救济措施,其在国外已被广泛接受并形成较为成熟的诉讼制度。然而．环境诉讼在我国却很难走上正轨,因为起诉难,审理难．判决难,搜集证据难,执行难,胜诉难等许多问题的存在,出现了无人起诉、无人去追究责任的问题,致使环境污染者逃脱了应有的法律制裁．国家和社会利益遭受重大损失,可以说环境诉讼在我国立法和司法领域还是一片盲区．本文对我国环境诉讼发展的制约因素及如何发展我国环境诉讼制度进行了探讨．以求有效维护国家、社会的公共利益．进一步完善我国司法制度。     

论“非法采集、供应血液，制作、供应血液制品罪”的主观方面

“非法采集、供应血液，制作、供应血液制品罪”是我国1997年刑法典中新加的一个罪名，被规定在第七章“妨害社会管理秩序罪”的第五节“危害公共卫生罪”中。其作为一个不十分引入注目的小罪名，在现实生活中发案率较低，尽管刑法中每一个罪名都被赋予其存在的价值和重要性，但学者们似乎不屑挥洒过多的笔墨去透析它。笔者偶尔接触到这一罪名，逐渐对其产生兴趣，虽然研究的不够深入，但仅仅通……     

The impact of litigation on nursing home quality

Government reports indicate that regulations have been ineffective in improving quality of care in many nursing homes. Some analysts feel that litigation against nursing homes may be the result of quality problems that are monitored during the inspection process, some contend litigation merely causes quality problems by diverting financial resources away from patient care, and some argue that litigation is duplicating the efforts of the inspection process. Given that the relationship between litigation and inspection-oriented measures of quality is not clear, this article explores the relationship empirically. When a significant relationship is found, the empirical results suggest that litigation is associated with a decline in inspection-oriented measured quality in the nursing home facing the legal claim. In contrast, litigation against a chain has a very different relationship to firm-level quality, where firms within a chain that is being sued have higher levels of inspection-oriented quality. Our results suggest that legal claims may result from quality problems that go unmeasured during the inspection process. However, more research in this area is warranted.     

英国《民事诉讼规则(1998)》述评

20世纪90年代以来,世界各主要国家掀起了民事司法改革的热潮,英国作为普通法系的代表性国家也不例外.自11世纪中期以来,英国民事诉讼制度历经数世纪的发展演变,已形成了一套较完善的机制.     

The Patents Court's streamlined litigation procedure--two years on

Legal and practical context. The streamlined procedure is asimplified patent litigation procedure that was introduced overtwo years ago in the English Patents Court and Patents CountyCourt. This article looks at the procedure, the way it has beenapplied since its introduction and the effect it has had onpatent litigation in the UK. Key points. The procedure was designed to deal with simple patentcases quickly and relatively cheaply. It is geared towards aone day trial taking place approximately eight months afterthe commencement of proceedings. Under the procedure there isno automatic disclosure, no experiments and cross-examinationis limited to permitted topics only. Although it was designedwith patents in mind, the procedure is available for all appropriateactions heard in the Patents Court and Patents County Court.It is only suitable, however, for relatively simple actionsin which complex findings of fact are not necessary. Conclusions. Not many actions have come to trial under thisprocedure, but its availability is nonetheless of great significanceto patent litigation in the UK. This is because it providesa new point of departure for directions in certain types ofaction and because its availability has increased access topatent litigation in the UK and has renewed interest in thePatents Court and Patents County Court as forums in which toissue patent proceedings.     

Grief and involvement in wrongful death litigation

The theory of grief work, symbolic interaction theory, and family systems theory are used to gain theoretical perspective on the impact on a family of involvement in wrongful death litigation. Involvement in litigation may speed up, slow down, or alter an individual litigant's grieving, and any of these effects may alienate the litigant from nonlitigant kin. The completion of litigation, no matter what the outcome, may lead to renewed or to new grieving and relationship problems. The theoretical analysis includes discussion of the entanglement of the attorney in the individual grief process and in family tensions.