Call Number:

ALI.04.031

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Biddle Law Library

Extent:

1.3 linear feet

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

[Identification of item], in the Complex Litigation Project Records, American Law Institute Archives, ALI.04.031, Biddle Law Library, University of Pennsylvania Law School, Philadelphia, PA.

Date:

1986-1993 (inclusive)

Creator:

American Law Institute

Abstract:

In response to the proliferation of complex litigation cases and the myriad issues they raise, the American Law Institute commissioned a project which ultimately became known as Complex Litigation: Statutory Recommendations and Analysis. The report provides a timely and valuable resource for practitioners involved with the problems presented by complex litigation as it exists today, as well as for those concerned with developing a more just, fair, and efficient system for dealing with complex cases. The collection, 1986-1993, includes drafted and related materials pertaining to the creation of the American Law Institute project called Complex Litigation: Statutory Recommendations and Analysis.

In response to the proliferation of complex litigation cases and the myriad issues they raise, the American Law Institute commissioned a project which ultimately became known as Complex Litigation: Statutory Recommendations and Analysis. The report provides a timely and valuable resource for practitioners involved with the problems presented by complex litigation as it exists today, as well as for those concerned with developing a more just, fair, and efficient system for dealing with complex cases.

The work responds to the phenomenon of multiparty, multi-forum lawsuits—litigation that often includes a multiplicity of individual actions arising out of the same transaction or course of conduct but prosecuted in different forums—and offers innovative proposals for mitigating the difficulties these cases pose. Such litigation, examples of which include mass products liability litigation (such as the asbestos and Dalkon Shield cases), common disaster cases (such as commercial airliner crashes and hotel fires), and certain kinds of contract and commercial cases, involves extraordinary burdens on the court systems, both federal and state; high "transaction costs" in the form of lawyer's fees and related expenses; and serious risk of inconsistent dispositions of claims by claimants who are similarly situated.

The project began in 1984 and was completed in 1994. Arthur R. Miller served as Reporter.

Drafts and related materials, 1986-1993, related to the creation of the American Law Institute project called Complex Litigation: Statutory Recommendations and Analysis.