Guarding the Gate to the Courthouse: How Trial Judges are Using Their Evidentiary Screening Role to Remake Tort Causation Rules

DePaul Law Review, Vol. 49, P. 335, 1999

Posted: 9 Jun 2000

Abstract

The article looks at what trial judges are actually doing in toxic tort cases in the post-Daubert world; it reviews and critiques cases in which judges have in effect adopted a new rule of causation law that requires plaintiffs to rely on epidemiology, and in particular epidemiology that demonostrates an increase in relative risk of 2.0 or greater; the article considers the substantive as well as the normative implications of this legal treatment of epidemiology.

JEL Classification: K13, K32, K41

Suggested Citation

Finley, Lucinda M., Guarding the Gate to the Courthouse: How Trial Judges are Using Their Evidentiary Screening Role to Remake Tort Causation Rules. DePaul Law Review, Vol. 49, P. 335, 1999, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=222371

Lucinda M. Finley (Contact Author)

SUNY Buffalo Law School ( email )

528 O'Brian Hall
Buffalo, NY 14260-1100
United States

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