Assigning Responsibility Following a Catastrophe

Résumé du livre

"The traditional U.S. civil litigation system might not always be the most effective and efficient means for assigning responsibility following a catastrophic event and providing just compensation to large numbers of affected individuals and entities. Some have argued that an approach designed to be better suited to handle the flood of claims that arise following a major disaster is needed, one that rapidly injects resources into affected areas and minimizes the generation of substantial legal and other transaction costs while extending liability protections to certain types of industries or economic activities. This report reviews various alternatives to relying exclusively on traditional civil litigation to assign responsibility for the causes of a catastrophe believed to have a human origin and to determine the types of losses that a designated responsible party must reimburse. It reviews examples of circumstances in which statutory substitutes for the traditional tort system have been adopted for dealing with at least some of the consequences of widespread harm, describing the approaches taken and providing assessments of how these substitute systems have operated in practice. The authors' goal is to provide a resource that policymakers can consult when planning how to respond after a major adverse event should they conclude that traditional civil litigation might not be the best way to assign responsibility. The authors do not, however, address the underlying question of whether an alternative to ordinary litigation is actually needed for any particular type of adverse event"--Back cover.