Pop Tortz

Twelve Days of Christmas

We’ve learned all the Torts! YAY!

We have an exam in less than a week! BOO!

Favorite Thanksgiving break movie in Torts class: CREED

I smell a fun Oscar campaign brewing...

Movie Reference: Ghostbusters 3

I wonder what kind of products liability issues will turn up in the new Ghostbusters. Maybe some possessed coke bottles that explode in a waitress’ hand Escola-style? (Haha, just kidding. No I don’t wonder that at all.)

Movie Reference: Ghostbusters

Every product can cause harm! Even the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man!

Movie Reference: Thunderball

Exception to fault-based liability dominance in American tort law: liability for harms caused by wild animals. Sure, the James Bond feature Thunderball featuring shark tank fights was mentioned in class as an example of this but Austin Power in Goldmember seems more apropos. 

TV Reference: Full Metal Alchemist

Just because the brothers in Buch v. Amory Manufacturing Co. aren’t named Edward and Alphonse Elric doesn’t mean I didn’t think that they were when it was suggested in class to refer to the plaintiff as “Edric.” 

(Real name was Carl.)

Music Reference: “Danger Zone” by Kenny Loggins

In Palsgraf, Cardozo defines the nature of the defendant’s obligation to uphold a standard of reasonable care to be determined by the scope of liability/the foreseeable risks at the time of the defendant’s act negligent/the zone of foreseeable danger/DANGER ZONE.

Lit Reference: A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury

Drawing the line between a proximate cause and a remote cause is drawing a line on how much of the Butterfly Effect we’re going to consider and ignore.

Fun fact: The Butterfly Effect doesn’t actually come directly from Bradbury’s famous short story but from a chaos theory by Edward Norton Lorenz.

Music Reference: The Jonas Brothers

We were still a little too old to appreciate comparative indemnification scenarios involving the Jonas Brothers. Maybe in a few years it’ll be more nostalgic to future students. 

Now it was just uncomfortable. Like how I feel when I stare at this gif.

Movie Reference: Back to the Future

When determining cause in fact using the “But For” Test, one must go back to the future time of the negligent act and subsequent harm!

There was a Back to the Future reference somewhere in there. Maybe from the second one...that’s the one with the shoes, right?

TV Reference: Keeping Up with the Kardashians

Learning about comparative indemnity with Kardashian references: Cost of tuition.

Consistent spelling and accurate use of Kardashian economic and familial dynamics within comparative indemnity examples: Priceless.

Movie Reference: Mad Max: Fury Road

The Court in Ryan v. New York Central R.R. is worried about the possibility of excessive liability, which inevitably leads to Mad Max: Fury Road.

Wait what. 

Mad Max: Fury Road is so much more than just about dystopian settings and Doof Warriors with flame-throwing electric guitars but there are plenty of think pieces and other Tumblrs for that.

Movie Reference: Wall Street

Greed is good. 

Is it, though? Is it REALLY, Gordon Gekko? Ronald Coase?

2008 called. They want to recant Gekko’s speech. See: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. On second thought, evaluate your tolerance for Shia LaBeouf before deciding to watch Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.