Economics and the law
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Assessment of damages in wrongful birth cases
Gerald Robertson is a Professor of Law at the University of Alberta, and a practising barrister and solicitor in the areas of civil litigation and personal injury. He is co-author of Legal Liability of Doctors and Hospitals in Canada (3rd ed.). He is also a director of the Robertson Personal Injury Newsletter, an on-line weekly… Continue reading
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Experience-Rating of Automobile Insurance: A Good Idea that Won’t Work
In this article Christopher Bruce identifies some of the weaknesses of legislation that requires automobile insurance companies to use “experience rating” – a system in which the only factor that determines your premiums is your driving record. Continue reading
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Duty to Care for Orphaned Minors
In this article Christopher Bruce considers cases in which the courts have been asked to calculate the loss of dependency of orphaned minors – who have been taken into the care of close relatives. The important issue that is raised by this arrangement is whether the expenditures incurred by the surrogate parents should be set… Continue reading
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Destruction of evidence
In this article Christopher Bruce discusses situations in which information required to establish negligence remains in the possession of one of the parties. In the absence of any penalties, a party who believes that this evidence may suggest that he or she should be held liable will have an incentive to destroy the evidence. The… Continue reading
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The awarding of costs and payment of legal fees in a case brought before the Court: is there a potential injustice?
This article shows that there may be a potential injustice due to the tax treatment of an employee-plaintiff versus a corporate-defendant. We show that the costs imposed on a losing employee-plaintiff impose a greater burden than the same level of costs imposed on a losing corporate defendant. This is because the employee-plaintiff must such pay… Continue reading
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Case Comment: Boston v. Boston
The Supreme Court of Canada recently ruled in the case of Boston v. Boston. This was a case involving the variation of spousal support at the time of the husband’s retirement. He retired in 1997 and began to receive his pension. He applied to have the original support payment reduced, on the grounds that he… Continue reading
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Case Comment: Madge v. Meyer
This article concerns a case in which there was no apparent loss of income following a farm owner’s injury. Mr. Beesley notes that it is critical to separate the farm income generated through the assistance of a friend or family member from the income earned by the injured farm owner. If the income generated by… Continue reading
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Duty of Care
In this article, Christopher Bruce continues with the third in his series on the economic analysis of tort law. Dr. Bruce discusses the “duty of care” issues including the economic reasoning behind liabilities in torts. Continue reading
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The Economics of Negligence Rules
As a continuation of his series, Christopher Bruce expands on the use of economic analysis in tort law. He argues the economic approach can also be used to cast light on the development of the tort rules of negligence. Continue reading
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Applying Economic Analysis to Tort Law
In this article Christopher Bruce expands the use of economic analysis in tort law. Dr. Bruce identifies the distinguishing characteristics of the economic approach versus the more traditional methods of legal analysis. This is the first of a series of articles to follow regarding the economic analysis of torts. Continue reading