LAW 534 Study Guide - Spring 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Risk Management, Canada, Strict Liability
LAW 534
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Lecture 1: Chapter 1
Historical Overview
• Introduction – reference to Walkerton tragedy (a tragedy of drinking water – E. coli in
drinking water. When there is a lack of regulations in important areas, there can be
tragic consequences)
• Historical and philosophical journey
o Hobbs, Industrial Revolution, laissez-faire (government letting people do as they
wish. This changes after stock market crash in 1929, the government wants more
control)
o Stock market crash of 1929 – regulation, 1970s-1990s deregulations
(government became so bloated it started deregulating)
o Current regulatory climate – post subprime mortgage crisis (around 2008)
• Deregulating Risk
o The trend towards deregulation in the Reagan/ Thatcher era (both had similar
views and at that era there was a lot of deregulation)
Key Terms (2 KEY POINTS)
• Regulation
o Can mean government attempt to control using the law (common way) –
although we legalized it, we need to regulate marijuana – using by statute or
legislation
o Not everything is in the main body of act - government passes regulations
through the act. If you put speed limit in the act, and people are still getting hurt.
You need to put it into regulation (putting it in the act is not the good idea).
• Risk Management – there are two perspectives
o Societal - Managing risks to society. Restaurants posting calories as a form of risk
management to manage excessive consumer calorie intake.
o Business – manage risk of non-compliance. Law firm managing risks for a mistake
made by junior lawyers: Education – they may not know so we have to inform
them/ regularly remind them. Junior lawyers that followed all the rules carefully
may be entitled to bonuses.
1-16.4, 1-16.8
Walkerton and other regulatory failures
• Maple Leaf Food and Listeria
• Lac-Megantic
• British Petroleum oil spill
• Fukishima Daiichi nuclear accident
• if ou ai’t heatig…
• Wells Fargo
• Canadian banks
• Volkswagen emissions
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
• The Panama Papers
Free markets vs. Government regulation – the very regulation that you say is bad for one
business may be good for another. Whether the regulation is good or bad depends on which
aspect of society/side of businesses you are looking at it from
Historical/ Walkerton
• Glass Steagall Act of 1933 – consequences of repeal
• 2008 and its aftermath
o discuss subprime mortgage crisis
o trend against criminal prosecution
o civil penalties and stronger compliance mechanisms
• Walkerton and importance of regulations
o Review facts of Walkerton tragedy
o Deregulation –> privatization (note political climate)
o Communication issue – who informs the public?
• Government privatized (private laboratories) the testing of drinking water resulting in
the ate gettig otaiated. Whe the foud out, the did’t epot it to the
public authorities. The government privatized this and when the lab discovered this they
did’t ko the ee supposed to epot this to aod. The thought the should
sta uiet eause it’s a piate etit.
o Moral of the story: The institution should have had internal regulation to control
this issue. This was a bureaucratic screw-up. There was a failure to communicate
due to the lack of regulation. The government failed to regulate.
o Important: 1. Because its Canadian. 2. Tragedy of lack of regulation.
o Section 16.1
o There was plenty of problems. Reducing timelines from 2 to 3 years to 2 months
of red tape (researching on the water). There were several warnings. There were
signs that the line of communications was not ok
o Businesses hate being regulated. There is no easy way for governments to do it.
o (16.2 last paragraph) Lessons: Justice Conner criticizes privatization
Walkerton and other regulatory failures
• Investigation into Walkerton time horizon for privatization, privatization to be
accompanied by appropriate regulation, deference to scientific experts
• Precautionary principle – a key concepts in social risk management and referred to by
courts – hat does it ea The a’t help ou ith sietifi peautioa. The a
help you answer questions.)
• Series of textbook examples on failure to manage risk – causes of each of these? Specific
relation to regulatory failures?
• Maple Leaf Food and Listeria
• Lac-Megantic
• British Petroleum oil spill
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Introduction reference to walkerton tragedy (a tragedy of drinking water e. coli in drinking water. When there is a lack of regulations in important areas, there can be tragic consequences: historical and philosophical journey, hobbs, industrial revolution, laissez-faire (government letting people do as they wish. If you put speed limit in the act, and people are still getting hurt. You need to put it into regulation (putting it in the act is not the good idea): risk management there are two perspectives, societal - managing risks to society. Restaurants posting calories as a form of risk management to manage excessive consumer calorie intake: business manage risk of non-compliance. Law firm managing risks for a mistake made by junior lawyers: education they may not know so we have to inform them/ regularly remind them. Junior lawyers that followed all the rules carefully may be entitled to bonuses.
