LEGAL THEORY WORKSHOPS
present
Jennifer Wiggins, University of Maine Law School
Martha Chamallas, Moritz College of Law
The Measure of Injury: Race, Gender and Tort Law
Friday, April 5, 2013
12:30 - 2:00
Solarium (room FA2), Falconer Hall
84 Queen's Park
Our book, The Measure of Injury: Race, Gender and Tort Law (NYU Press 2010), adopts a critical approach to tort law, explaining how the shape of contemporary U.S. law – from the types of claims recognized, to judgments about causation, to valuation of injuries – is affected by the social identities of the parties and cultural views on gender and race. We reference hundreds of cases brought for personal injuries related to domestic violence, sexual and racial harassment and exploitation, lead paint poisoning, reproductive injuries and injuries to family members, as well as ordinary negligence and wrongful death suits requiring an assessment of damages to female and minority victims. Using historical and contemporary examples, our book re-examines the building blocks of tort law – intent, negligence, causation and damages – to uncover tacit assumptions and hierarchies that work to the detriment of women of all races and racial minorities, marginalizing and devaluing their injuries. In particular, we take issue with the traditional notion that negligently-caused physical injury is the cornerstone of the field, emphasizing the disproportionate importance of emotional harm, non-economic damages and intentional torts in the lives of women and minorities. On the positive side, we offer a vision of the field that incorporates norms and principles from civil rights and constitutional law and present an argument for making race and gender equity an objective of tort law, alongside compensation and deterrence.
A light lunch will be served.
For more workshop information, please contact Nadia Gulezko at n.gulezko@utoronto.ca.
