The AALS Section on Agency, Partnerships. LLCs and Unincorporated Associations has issued a call for papers for the 2010 annual meeting of the AALS (2010 New Orleans) on the topic of "Vicarious, Individual and Limited Liability: Responsibility for Wrongful Conduct and Unincorporated Firms".
Tort raise claims 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 latigation before the United States Supreme Court.
More generally, should the law differentiate between unincorporated and incorporated firms and their owners in resolving such questions?
Drafts, abstracts or outlines should be submitted no later than September 1, 2009 to the Section's Chair, Deborah De Mott, demott@law.duke.edu,
postd by Gary Rosin