Cleveland-Marshall College of Law

Torts and Personal Injury Resource Guide

Introduction

Legislation and Case law

Major Treatises and Practice Guides

Study Aids

Searching Scholar and OhioLINK

Journal Articles and Current Awareness Services

Aggregate Files and Other Web Resources

Jury Verdicts

Introduction:

This selective guide highlights major print and electronic resources available to Cleveland-Marshall College of Law students researching issues in Torts and Personal Injury Law. Tort law concerns injuries to and interference with persons or property, including intentional wrongs such as assault, battery and false imprisonment, and unintentional wrongs, especially the law of negligence and products liability. Causation, duty, contributory negligence, assumption of risk and immunities are important tort law concepts.

Please contact the Law Library's Research Services librarians during their Research Services hours, or via email to research.services@law.csuohio.edu for help in locating these or other resources to meet your needs.

Legislation and Case Law

Federal Tort Claims Act  28 U.S.C., Chapter 171 (via Legal Information Institute) Establishes conditions for which the United States may be held liable for injuries caused by its employees in the scope of their employment

 

Ohio Court of Claims Act  Ohio Revised Code Ch 2743 et. seq. Establishes conditions for which the state of Ohio can be held liable for injuries caused by its officers and employees.

See also Civil Actions, Ohio Revised Code Chapter 2307 et. seq., Political Subdivision Tort Immunity, Ohio Revised Code Chapter 2744 et. seq.; Employment Intentional Tort, Ohio Revised Code Chapter 2745;  Slander; Libel, Ohio Revised Code Chapter 2739 et. seq. Damages in Tort Actions, Ohio Revised Code 2315.18-21

 

For analysis of recent Ohio tort reform legislation, see:

2005 Ohio Tort Reform Legislation: An Analysis of Senate Bill 80, Effective April 7, 2005 / James T. O'Reilly. LexisNexis, 2005 KFO195.A9631 2005

Senate Bill 80: Tort Reform / Ohio State Bar Association CLE Institute, 2005 KFO195.A75 S4 2005

Tort Law: Tort Reform Legislation Companion / Christopher M. Ernst, Thomson/West, 2005- (Volume Two) KFO195 .E78 2005

 

LexisNexis - Ohio Tort Cases   Ohio product liability, medical malpractice and personal injury case law decided by the Ohio Supreme Court, Ohio Court of Appeals and various Ohio Miscellaneous Courts.  See also Federal and States Cases --Selected Tort Material  (Includes U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal District Courts and State tort Case law for all 50 States plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands and other U.S. territories as well as specialty courts such as Military Appeals, Customs, Patents, Tax, Trade, Commerce, Veteran Appeals and Bankruptcy).

 

Westlaw - OHTRT-CS   Cases from Ohio state courts that relate to civil actions for injuries intentionally or negligently caused to persons or property. Coverage begins with 1821. See also Multi State Database - MTRT-CS Cases from the state courts of all 50 states and the District of Columbia that relate to civil actions for injuries intentionally or negligently caused to persons or property.   See also Federal Tort Claims Cases - FEDTORT-CS

 

American Tort Reform Association's ATRA Tort Reform Record - published twice a year, includes state-by-state summary of ATRA supported reforms enacted since 1986.


Major Treatises and Practice Guides


Selected significant treatises and practice guides in the Law Library collection which provide a foundation in issues of tort law include the following:

The Law of Torts / by Dan B. Dobbs. West Group, 2000 KF1250 .D6 2000   

 

Prosser and Keeton on the Law of Torts, 5th ed.   / W. Page Keeton, general editor. West Pub. Co., 1984   KF1250 .P73 1984  No longer updated, "Prosser on Torts" was long acknowledged as the standard secondary authority on tort law.

 

Restatement of the Law, Second, Torts 2d. American Law Institute Publishers, 1965- KF1249.A4 A43  LexisNexis (Legal—Secondary Legal—Restatements—Torts-- Rules; Case citations ) Westlaw (Rest-Torts )

 

Restatement of the Law, Torts : Apportionment of Liability, as adopted and promulgated   by the American Law Institute. American Law Institute, 2000-   KF1249.A4 R47   LexisNexis (Legal—Secondary Legal—Restatements—Torts---- Rules ; Case citations ) Westlaw ( Rest-Torts )

 

Restatement of the Law, Torts : Products Liability : as adopted and promulgated by the American Law Institute .   American Law Institute Publishers, 1998 - KF1296 .R477 LexisNexis (Legal—Secondary Legal—Restatements—Torts— Rules ; Case citations ) Westlaw (Rest-Torts)   

 

A Concise Restatement of Torts / compiled by Kenneth S. Abraham and Albert Clark Tate, Jr   American Law Institute Publishers, 2000 KF1249.A4 A24 2000

 

Damages in Tort Actions / Marilyn Minzer, editorial director ... [et al.] ;   M. Bender, 1982-   KF1250 .D35  LexisNexis (Legal-Area of Law-By Topic-Torts- Treatises and Analytical Materials - Matthew Bender)

 

Federal Tort Claims / Daniel A. Morris. West Group, 1993- KF1321 .M67 1993  Westlaw-FEDTORT


Jury Instructions on Damages in Tort Actions
, 5th ed. / Ronald W. Eades   LexisNexis, 2003- KF8984 .E342  LexisNexis (Legal-Area of Law-By Topic-Torts- Treatises and Analytical Materials - Matthew Bender)

 

Harper, James and Gray on Torts, 3d ed. / Fowler V. Harper, Fleming James, Jr., Oscar S. Gray Aspen, 2006 KF1250 .H322

 

Stein on Personal Injury Damages  3rd ed.  West Group, c1997-  KF1257 .S7 1997    Westlaw-STEIN  

 

Tort Law / Christopher M. Ernst  Thomson/West, 2005- (Baldwin's Ohio Practice Series) KFO195 .E78 2005 Currently, the only comprehensive Ohio specific tort law treatise. Volume Two contains complete text and analysis of recent tort reform legislation. Westlaw - OHIOPRAC-TORT

 

Exploring Tort Law / edited by M. Stuart Madden. Cambridge University Press, 2005 KF1250.A2 .E97 2005

 

Study Aids



Searching Scholar and OhioLINK:

Search the main subject heading Torts and Torts – United States   in SCHOLAR, and OhioLINK catalogs as well as the following related subject headings for additional materials:

Abuse of rights Duress (Law) Liability for oil pollution damages Personal injuries
Accident law False imprisonment Liability for water pollution damages Plagiarism
Assault and battery Fraud Libel and slander Proximate cause (Law)
Attractive nuisance Fraudulent conveyances Lost earnings damages Res ipsa loquitur doctrine
Competition, Unfair Government liability Lost profits damages Respondeat superior
Conspiracy Joint tortfeasors Malicious accusation Seduction
Constitutional torts Liability for condition and use of land Malicious prosecution Strict liability
Damages Liability for environmental damages Malpractice Trespass
Danger (Law) Liability for fire damages Negligence Trover and conversion

Discovery abuse

Liability for nuclear damages Nuisances Wrongful death


Journal Articles and Current Awareness Services


See Finding Articles in Law Reviews, Journals and Other Legal Periodicals for an explanation of the legal periodical indexes and databases available to Cleveland-Marshall College of Law students and the CSU community.

Selected specialty current awareness materials in Tort and Personal Injury Law include:

Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Law Journal  Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section, American Bar Association K6 .O78  Also available electronically via LexisNexis Academic; Westlaw - TTPILJ

The National Jury Verdict Review and Analysis  Jury Verdict Review Publications, Inc., 1985-  KF1247.8 .N36


Verdicts, Settlements and Tactics  Westlaw - VST LexisNexis


Aggregate Files and Other Web Resources

CCH Business and Finance - Products Liability and Safety

CCH Health and Human Resources - Food, Drugs and Devices

Westlaw: Topical Materials by Area of Practice - Torts

( All Databases  - Topical Materials by Area of Practice  - Tort Law)
Searchable databases include state cases relating to civil actions for injuries intentionally or negligently caused to persons or property; expert witnesses, law reviews, texts, bar journals and legal-practice oriented periodicals relating to tort issues; forms, treatises and other practice materials related to tort law; jury verdicts, settlements and judgments.

LexisNexis - Area of Law by Topic - Torts

Searchable databases include federal and state tort cases, court rules, statutes and legislative materials, administrative materials and regulations, legal reference materials, medical & healthcare journals, medical news and references, patents, jury verdicts, Mealey publications, law reviews and journals, treatises and analytical materials, legal and general news.

Findlaw: Injury and Tort Law ; Findlaw Library - Torts

Legal Information Institute: Law About...Tort Law      LexisONE Legal Internet Guide: Personal Injury and Tort Law

Hieros Gamos Tort Law

Jurist Law Guides: Torts

 

Jury Verdicts

(Hint: Usually a combination of a Westlaw or Lexis search, along with the relevant table from the JVR Personal Injury Handbooks will be sufficient to get a good idea of potential verdict amounts.)

  • Lexis, Westlaw and Casemaker contain jury verdict databases. College of Law students, faculty and staff have access to Lexis and Westlaw via passwords. The public may use Casemaker on our public access research stations. Casemaker is available for free to members of the Ohio State Bar, and the Bar has free student membership.

    On Lexis, Westlaw and Casemaker, you can do a search for the type of injury, and limit by age/sex of the plaintiff, county or how the injury occurred (motor vehicle accident, medical malpractice, etc.) .  On Lexis and Westlaw, you can even limit by damages amount or amount of specials, although such searches can be tricky and imprecise. Print Sources:

  • JVR Personal Injury Valuation Handbooks - KF1256.A8 P477 - Contain tables of figures for various bodily injuries, corresponding to the age of the plaintiff and amount of medical expenses(specials).  The figures represent a nationwide average of verdicts.  There are county deviation figures, so you can adjust for your jurisdiction.   
  • There are somesources on the web, but most give only limited information for free.

For more sources, see Jury Verdict and Damages Resource Guide.

 

JRN 8/2004 rev.7/2008
links checked 8/5/2009

 


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