Designed to introduce American civil litigation and process to a wide audience: foreign LL.M. students, beginning American law students, undergraduates interested in law, and foreign lawyers, judges, and law professors. This succinct new paperback Litigating in America: Civil Procedure in Context explains the institutional bases and legal meaning of our procedural system, and captures American civil process at a time of change. It presents American civil procedure from several vantage points: the procedural doctrine that has evolved over time; the practical implications of that doctrine; the social context in which the doctrine grew, is used and abused; and the global context of how other systems may have made different choices. It is an excellent supplement to any casebook.

Practitionerand’s Guide to Litigating Insurance Coverage Actions, Second Edition is a comprehensive, two-volume manual that offers an excellent framework for understanding the complex practical and procedural issues that can arise in insurance coverage disputes. Written by insurance litigators with extensive experience from both the policyholder and insurance company perspective, Practitionerand’s Guide to Litigating Insurance Coverage Actions reveals hard-won strategies and proven-effective litigation tools to help you successfully prepare or defend an insurance coverage case. Masterfully organized and streamlined in a two-volume format, Practitionerand’s Guide to Litigating Insurance Coverage Actions walks you through the logical sequence of events as an insurance coverage litigation case evolves. Youand’ll find: Step-by-step guidance through every stage of case preparation and litigation. Balanced and“best-practiceand” recommendations for counsel to policyholders and insurance companies. And much more! Model Forms include: Notice Letters Initial Pleadings Preliminary Motions Discovery Requests Summary Judgment Motions Motions at Trial Opening and Closing Statements Trial Briefs and Jury Instructions Motions and Briefs during Appeals Process Settlement Agreements

This book provides a thorough review of multinational human rights litigation in various countries where such litigation has been pursued, predominantly on behalf of victims in the Global South. It covers cases relating to environmental damage, occupational disease, human rights abuses involving complicity with state security, and in the context of supply chains. The volume is edited by Richard Meeran, who pioneered the first series of tort-based multinational parent company cases in the 1990s and whose firm, Leigh Day, has been at the forefront of this area for almost 30 years. Contributions come from highly experienced legal practitioners in the countries in question who have run many of the key ground-breaking cases, and who understand the opportunities and hurdles that arise in practice. They provide their perspectives and insights into the features of the relevant laws, procedures, and practical considerations in their respective legal systems. Chapters address the potential legal remedies that are available; the legal, procedural, and practical obstacles to justice including funding; as well as strategic issues. This developing area of corporate legal accountability has increasingly become an integral part of the field of business and human rights, which has grown significantly in recent decades. This collection is an essential guide to the field.

While the right to have one's day in court is a cherished feature of the American democratic system, alarms that the United States is hopelessly litigious and awash in frivolous claims have become so commonplace that they are now a fixture in the popular imagination. According to this view, litigation wastes precious resources, stifles innovation and productivity, and corrodes our social fabric and the national character. Calls for reform have sought, often successfully, to limit people's access to the court system, most often by imposing technical barriers to bringing suit. Alexandra Lahav's In Praise of Litigation provides a much needed corrective to this flawed perspective, reminding us of the irreplaceable role of litigation in a well-functioning democracy and debunking many of the myths that cloud our understanding of this role. For example, the vast majority of lawsuits in the United States are based on contract claims, the median value of lawsuits is on a downward trend, and, on a per capita basis, many fewer lawsuits are filed today than were filed in the 19th century. Exploring cases involving freedom of speech, foodborne illness, defective cars, business competition, and more, the book shows that despite its inevitable limitations, litigation empowers citizens to challenge the most powerful public and private interests and hold them accountable for their actions. Lawsuits change behavior, provide information to consumers and citizens, promote deliberation, and express society's views on equality and its most treasured values. In Praise of Litigation shows how our court system protects our liberties and enables civil society to flourish, and serves as a powerful reminder of why we need to protect people's ability to use it. The tort reform movement has had some real successes in limiting what can reach the courts, but there have been victims too. As Alexandra Lahav shows, it has become increasingly difficult for ordinary people to enforce their rights. In the grand scale of lawsuits, actually crazy or bogus lawsuits constitute a tiny minority; in fact, most anecdotes turn out to be misrepresentations of what actually happened. In In Praise of Litigation, Lahav argues that critics are blinded to the many benefits of lawsuits. The majority of lawsuits promote equality before the law, transparency, and accountability. Our ability to go to court is a sign of our strength as a society and enables us to both participate in and reinforce the rule of law. In addition, joining lawsuits gives citizens direct access to governmental officials-judges-who can hear their arguments about issues central to our democracy, including the proper extent of police power and the ability of all people to vote. It is at least arguable that lawsuits have helped spur major social changes in arenas like race relations and marriage rights, as well as made products safer and forced wrongdoers to answer for their conduct. In this defense, Lahav does not ignore the obvious drawbacks to litigiousness. It is expensive, stressful, and time consuming. Certainly, sensible reforms could make the system better. However, many of the proposals that have been adopted and are currently on the table seek only to solve problems that do not exist or to make it harder for citizens to defend their rights and to enforce the law. This is not the answer. In Praise of Litigation offers a level-headed and law-based assessment of the state of litigation in America as well as a number of practical steps that can be taken to ensure citizens have the right to defend themselves against wrongs while not odiously infringing on the rights of others.

Leading authorities in 22 specialized areas review and comment on key issues nationwide with detailed outlines and summaries of cases, legislation, trends, and developments. Some topics are addressed circuit by circuit. Use the Annual Review for updates in your specialty area, when you are asked to consider issues that cross multiple areas of specialty, or to give an initial reaction to a new situation. Key topical issues addressed are ADR Law; Class Action Law; Employment Law; ERISA; Labor Law; Pro Bono; Securities Litigation; and much more.

This book studies the funding problems with shareholder litigation through a functionally comparative way. In fact, funding problems with shareholder lawsuits may largely discourage potential shareholder litigants who bear high financial risk in pursuing such a claim, but on the other hand they may not have much to gain. Considering the lack of incentives for potential shareholder claimants, effective funding techniques should be in place to make shareholder actions function as a corporate governance tool and discipline corporate management. The book analyzes, among others, the practice of funding shareholder litigation in the Australia, Canada, the UK, the US and Israel, and covers all of the typical approaches being used in financing shareholder litigation in the current world. For instance, Israel and Canada (Quebec and Ontario) are probably unique in having a public funding mechanism for derivative actions and class actions, while Australia is the country where third party litigation funding is originated and is growing rapidly. Based on this comparative research, the last part of this book discusses how to fund shareholder litigation in China in context of its social and legal background and what kind of problems need to be solved if certain funding techniques are used.

The decentralisation of competition law enforcement and the stimulation of private damages actions in the European Union go hand in hand with the increasingly international character of antitrust proceedings. As a consequence, there is an ever-growing need for clear and workable rules to co-ordinate cross-border actions, whether they are of a judicial or administrative nature: rules on jurisdiction, applicable law and recognition as well as rules on sharing of evidence, the protection of business secrets and the interplay between administrative and judicial procedures. This book offers an in-depth analysis of these long neglected yet practically most important topics. It is the fruit of a research project funded by the European Commission, which brought together experts from academia, private practice and policy-making from across Europe and the United States. The 16 chapters cover the relevant provisions of the Brussels I and Rome I and II Regulations, the co-operation mechanisms provided for by Regulation 1/2003 and selected issues of US procedural law (such as discovery) that are highly relevant for transatlantic damages actions. Each contribution critically analyses the existing legislative framework and formulates specific proposals to consolidate and enhance cross-border antitrust litigation in Europe and beyond.

This carefully structured, practice-orientated textbook provides everything the law student needs to know about international commercial litigation. The strong comparative component provides a thought-provoking international perspective, while at the same time allowing readers to gain unique insights into litigation in English courts. Three important themes of the book analyse how the international element may call into question the power of the court to hear the case, whether it should exercise this power, whether foreign law applies, and whether the court should take into account any foreign judgement. Hartley provides the reader with extracts from leading cases and relevant legislation, together with an extensive reference library of further reading for those who wish to explore the topic in more detail, making this a valuable, single-source textbook. The title will benefit from a companion website, setting out all relevant case law developments for the students.

Drawing upon insights from law and politics, Multi-Party Litigation outlines the historical development, political design, and regulatory desirability of multi-party litigation strategies in cross-national perspective and describes a battle being fought on multiple fronts by competing interests. By addressing the potential and constraints of litigation, this book offers a comprehensive account of an international issue that will interest students and practitioners of law, politics, and public policy.