Call for Papers - Section on Agency, Partnership, LLC’s and Unincorporated Associations
Vicarious, Individual, and Limited Liability: Responsibility for Wrongful Conduct and Unincorporated Firms
The AALS Section on Agency, Partnership, LLC’s, and Unincorporated Associations
invites submissions of papers to be presented at the AALS Annual Meeting on January 9, 2010 in New Orleans. We welcome and anticipate papers that use varied methodologies related to the issues raised in the program description and anticipate lively discussion. A draft paper (if available) or an abstract or outline should be sent no later than September 1, 2009 to the section’s Chair, Deborah DeMott, at demott@law.duke.edu
Tort claims raise both theoretical and practical questions when an individual tortfeasor is associated with an unincorporated firm. Should the firm’s organizational status shield the individual from liability, comparable to a shield against contract claims? When does an individual’s conduct constitute tortious conduct, especially when the individual works as part of a group? And when and to what extent is the firm itself—or its owners—subject to liability? The circumstances under which any firm—whether or not incorporated—should be subject to vicarious liability are highly contested, most recently in the Exxon Valdez litigation before the United States Supreme Court. More generally, should the law differentiate between unincorporated and incorporated firms and their owners in resolving such questions?