Equities and Remedies Outline

Equity & Remedies Outline à Trinity 2010 J
 
COMPENSATORY DAMAGES
COMPENSATORY DAMAGES – money serves as a SUBSTITUTE – designed to restore P to his/her rightful position, recognizing that money is an imperfect substitute.
–                      EXAMPLE: money for a lost arm.
–                      TORT: make the P whole by providing an award of money to compensate for loss or injury.
–                      CONTRACT: make the P whole by compensating for loss and protecting the P’s expectation interest.
–                      * EXAMàNEVER SAY that compensatories are intended to make P whole OR to put them in the position they were in before the tort.
 
PROBLEMS IN EVALUATION
–                      1) AGGREGATE LITIGATION – where you have a number of Ps, you categorize the harm and fix a price to EACH category; NOT individualized.
o   Note 3, pg. 16: money is the remedy for pain and suffering or injury.
§ For those Ds who do not settle, what credit for they get from those who did? – the P must look and see if the jurisdiction follows the Pro Tonto or Pro Rata rule.
§ GENERAL RULE: Where you have 2 Ds, both 50% at fault à You settle w/ D1, but not D2. D1 pays you $25K and is released…
·         PRO RATA – MAJORITY: D2 gets a PERCENTAGE set-off. D2 only pays his % share.
o   EXAMPLE: D2 pays $50K. P basically got $75K for a case worth $100K.
o   BETTER FOR DEFENDANTS.
o   PLAINTIFF’S PROBLEM à Empty Chair Defense: in trial, D will just blame the whole thing on the D not there. Jury will artificially inflate the value of the empty chair D’s participation, and apportion more to the empty chair than the facts really allow.
·         PRO TONTO – MINORITY: D2 gets credited dollar-for-dollar. D2 would be liable for the remaining amount of the judgment.
o   EXAMPLE: D2 pays $75K.
o   Subtract any settlement from the total award and apportion that between the non-settling Ds.
o   BETTER FOR PLAINTIFFS. They’ll always receive full judgment.
–                      2) TAKINGS CASES
o   Under the 5th Amendment (eminent domain), private property can be condemned for public use as long as condemnee is provided just compensation – synonymous with FMV.
§ KEY: Fair Market Value – nothing more, nothing less.
o   Where the P is asking for:
§ COMPENSATORIES: D has the right to a jury trial.
§ EQUITABLE RELIEF: The judge will decide.
o   GENERAL RULE: NO subjective loss or compensation for sentimental value.
§ EXCEPTION: If you own 50 acres and the government condemns 25 and the condemnation of the 25 leads to a diminution of the value of your land, that may lead to a compensatory damages award.
o   Public Use Doctrine has historically allowed for:      
§ 1) Interstate highways, public parks, etc.; AND
§ 2) Restoration of blighted areas.
–                      3) SPECIAL PURPOSE/UNIQUE PROPERTY
o   TRINITY CHURCH: if you have a piece of property that has no FMV (such as special purpose property, historic landmark, etc.) then you have to suggest to the court what an appropriate value would be.
§ Personal Injury Analogy – Should a person be able to recover NOW for a disease that they have a great likelihood of getting later due to something specific that experts will testify to?
·         Court should create a fund to make sure that the money is spent ONLY on injuries.
§ Medical Monitoring Analogy – People are exposed to something, but they are not sick yet.
·         Court should impose a court-administered fund where all of the Ps can draw from the fund for the cost of medical exams as a prophylactic measure.
–                      4) FLUCTUATING VALUES
o   DECATUR: “Time of Loss” in the case of damaged crops is determined by the time of harvest.
o   Note 3, pg. 35: SECURITIES
§ A minority of states value the loss at the time of the wrong.
§ A MAJORITY of states resolve doubts against D by awarding the highest value between the time of the wrong and the time of the trial, the filing of the suit, or some similar date.
§ Federal Courts – give Ps the highest value between the time she learned of the loss and a reasonable time thereafter in which she could have replaced the securities.
 
 
–                      5) WRONGFUL DEATH
o   Wrongful Death Action – statutorily based cause of action brought by a person who qualifies as a beneficiary under the state’s wrongful death statute to recover for pecuniary loss.
§ Pecuniary loss in wrongful death cases means not only the % of the decedent’s income that would have gone to the maintenance of their family – it ALSO entails a subjective measure of loss: comfort/companionship/consortium/guidance, etc.
§ ALL Jurisdictions à compensation of funeral and burial expenses.
§ MINORITY of jurisdictions will extend and give emotional distress.
§ Tort must be A PROXIMATE CAUSE of the wrongful death.
§ This is all about dependency.
o   Difficult Categories:
§ Children: part of the decedent’s income that would have gone to the maintenance of the family unit.
·         VERY ELASTIC – damages can be very high.
·         Intangibles are easier – comfort, companionship, etc.
·         Very rarely will courts allow testimony on the