Book Description

Cases and Materials on Torts preserves historical and conceptual continuity between the present and the past, while addressing the most significant contemporary controversies in such fast-moving areas like public nuisance, global warming, and product liability, with new litigation against internet providers. Toward these dual ends, Richard A. Epstein and Catherine M. Sharkey have retained in the Twelfth Edition the great older cases, both English and American, that have proved themselves time and again in the classroom, and which continue to exert great influence on the modern law. Our book also provides a rich exploration of the dominant corrective justice and law-and-economics approaches to tort law, as exemplified both in the retained and new cases and materials. New to the Twelfth Edition: Extensive new treatment of public nuisance cases to address the profound expansion of the once-sleepy area of public nuisance law into the realms of the opioid crisis, toxic torts, and global warming. Major reconsideration of who counts as a seller in the chain of distribution for goods sold online with product liability updates for various forms of e-commerce, such as Amazon’s liability for defective products sold on its site. Updates to incorporate two major new Torts Restatements on Intentional Harms and Liability Insurance. The Reforms of the Michigan No-Fault Legislation Enhanced treatment of privacy in the era of “Big Data” to address trend of large data collectors like Facebook and Google to determine what is reasonable online, incorporating major privacy legislation such as California’s Consumer Privacy Act and the European GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). Expansion of materials that address race and gender disparities in the setting of damages awards; and, in the realm of punitive damages innovative remedies directing some portion of the award to public interest groups. Professors and students will benefit from: Clear organizational framework of the book. Important lines of cases that help understand legal reasoning and the evolution of precedent Inclusion of key academic commentary and elaboration of central intellectual disputes over the nature and function of the tort law Ability to pick and choose modules of interest – such as defamation, privacy, and economic harms – which are of increasing importance in real world of tort litigation. Extensive notes with topic headlines that elaborate basic concepts and extend into the most complex contemporary issues facing courts. Great attention given to cutting edge tort developments.