| Volume 88 | 2009-2010 |
Whose Loss Is It Anyway? Effects of the “Lost-Chance” Doctrine on Civil Litigation and Medical Malpractice Insurance
Steven R. Koch
This Comment explores the “lost-chance” doctrine—a theory of recovery unique to medical malpractice litigation that permits a patient to recover damages from a doctor without needing to establish a more-likely-than-not causal connection between the doctor’s negligence and the patient’s injury. Using two recent state supreme court decisions as a vehicle for analyzing the policy... »
Mashed-Up in Between: The Delicate Balance of Artists’ Interests Lost Amidst the War on Copyright
Michael Allyn Pote
Protecting the Greater Good: A Critique of the Public Duty Doctrine as Applied in Murray V. County of Person
Alexander B. Punger
This recent development defends the much maligned public duty doctrine and criticizes the North Carolina Court of Appeals decision in Murray v. County of Person. The decision in Murray incorrectly based application of the public duty doctrine on whether the defendants were sued in their individual or official capacities. Application of the doctrine in... »
Commencement Address—May 10, 2009
Michael B. Mukasey
On May 10, 2009, former Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey delivered commencement remarks to the graduating class of the UNC School of Law. Reminding the graduates that lawyers deal with the very hardest subjects and questions, Mr. Mukasey described the challenges he faced as a federal district judge and as attorney general, urging all... »
The Truth About Physician Participation in Lethal Injection Executions
Ty Alper
This Article addresses an aspect of Baze v. Rees (the Court’s recent lethal injection decision out of Kentucky) that has received little attention but threatens to have a significant impact on the way in which the holding of Baze is implemented in other states. In short, several of the Justices’ opinions in Baze were... »
Presidential Control of the Elite “Non-Agency”
Kimberly N. Brown
This article examines the constitutionality of legislation creating a new form of independent agency—in effect, a “non-agency” agency residing in the no-man’s land between Articles I and II of the Constitution. In the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Congress established the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (“PCAOB” or “Board”) and endowed it with massive governmental powers while... »
Requiring a Jury Vote of Censure to Convict
Richard E. Myers II
This Article proposes changing the way juries (and judges) render their verdicts in criminal cases by explicitly requiring a separate finding before a defendant can be convicted: censure. Under mandatory jury censure, the criminal trial jury (or judge, if serving as factfinder), would be required to make a specific finding of censure in addition... »
Serendipity
Sean B. Seymore
Serendipity, the process of finding something of value initially unsought, has played a prominent role in modern science and technology. These “happy accidents” have spawned new fields of science, broken intellectual and technological barriers, and furnished countless products which have altered the course of human history. In the realm of patent law,... »
Dusting Off the AK-47: An Examination of NFL Players’ Most Powerful Weapon in an Antitrust Lawsuit against the NFL
Sean W.L. Alford
Most of today’s football fans take labor peace for granted. After all, it has been more than fifteen years since professional football experienced the labor strife that led to one of the most significant antitrust decisions in favor of its players – McNeil v. National Football League. At the time, the decision was thought... »
The Data Game: Learning to Love the State-based Approach to Data Breach Notification Law
Sara Needles
Packets of data identifying individuals are stored, sold, and swapped in more forums than it is possible to account for. As headlines signal more database-security breaches, increasing attention is being paid to the security of individuals’ personal information, particularly when that data is computerized. Beginning with California in 2003, all but five states have... »
To Form a More Perfect Union: Taxation, Economic Efficiency, and the Dormant Commerce Clause in Department of Revenue v. Davis
Casey J. Jennings
Damages Under the Privacy Act: Is Emotional Harm Actual?
Nicole M. Quallen
In Cooper v. Federal Aviation Administration, et al, a District Court in the Northern District of California held that pilot Stanmore Cooper would not be compensated under the Privacy Act for the emotional harm he suffered when the Social Security Administration illegally disclosed his HIV status to the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of... »
Dedication to Volume 73
This issue of the North Carolina Law Review is dedicated to Professor and Chancellor Emeritus William Brantley Aycock, a man who has graced the UNC School of Law in one way or another for fifty years. Albert Coates observed that there is a special spirit here at the UNC School of Law, [...]

