Learn More

On December 19th, 2017, the New York Times reported that Microsoft has “eliminated forced arbitration agreements with employees who make sexual harassment claims and was also supporting a proposed federal law that would widely ban such agreements.” (Wingfield, N. and Silver-Greenberg, J., “Microsoft Moves to End Secrecy in Sexual Harassment Claims,” NY Times, December 19,…

Recently, Kevin Webb, a former dealership service manager wrote a fascinating letter to to Automotive News.  It is so startling that it is worth quoting the first four paragraphs, in full: With the recent downfall of many media people, including Charlie Rose, maybe the entertainment industry could use a lesson from car dealers.  In my…

Why All Americans Need the Tort System, And Accountability for Wrongdoing. The news that up to 143 million Americans’ private data and personal information has been hacked is shocking.  What is worse are the details.  And what is still worse, are corporate efforts to avoid being held accountable for the damage that this catastrophic breach…

The New York Times published an important and excellent Op-Ed on Tuesday, August 22, written by Richard Cordray, the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The article, “Let Consumers Sue Companies” highlights an important issue for protection of consumer rights – that is, of your rights. Cordray lays out the issue succinctly: Companies have…

When people who have had profoundly serious wrongs inflicted on them sue, they are suing for money. But the fact is that they don’t want money. What they want, more than anything in the world, is a time machine. They want to be put back to one minute before their spouse was killed by the…

When even the Wall Street Journal says that “We Won’t See You in Court: The Era of Tort Lawsuits Is Waning,” you know that you’ve got a problem. In a recent front Page article the Wall Street Journal noted two completely incongruous facts:  The number of lawsuits is dwindling, from 10 lawsuits per 1,000 people…

In the past few years there has been much attention paid to controversial cases where police have used (or misused) force to subdue people, and the people have died, or been severely injured as a result. Are these cases of excessive force? Are the police themselves criminals? Should the police be liable for committing tortious…

Nora Freeman Engstrom is a Professor of Law and the Associate Dean for Curriculum at Stanford Law School, where she writes and teaches about civil procedure, tort law, and legal ethics. This article initially appeared in the Stanford Law School Legal Aggregate. All eyes are on health care. We’re watching Congress take a hammer to the…