Institute for Civil Justice Publications

Featured Research

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  Workers' Compensation

  COVID-19's Impacts on California's Workers' Compensation System

  California Senate Bill (SB) 1159 facilitated access to workers' compensation (WC) benefits for select groups of workers with a high risk of COVID-19 exposure. What were the effects of COVID-19 claims on the California workers' compensation system and on the payment of workers' compensation benefits?

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  Report

  Disclosure of Software Supply Chain Risks

  This Perspective presents a set of proposed disclosure rules that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission could implement to help address software supply chain risks and improve security.

  May 26, 2022

  Sasha Romanosky, Jonathan W. Welburn

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  Report

  Defining Recognized and Generally Accepted Good Engineering Practices for Process Safety Management

  The author presents the origin and intention of recognized and generally accepted good engineering practices (RAGAGEP), points of disagreement about the definition, and recommendations for complying with RAGAGEP.

  Apr 11, 2022

  Tom LaTourrette

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  Journal Article

  Worker and Employer Experiences with COVID-19 and the California Workers' Compensation System: A Review of the Literature

  We conducted a literature review on worker and employer experiences surrounding COVID-19 and worker's compensation, adhering to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.

  Feb 4, 2022

  Denise D. Quigley, Nabeel Qureshi, Grace Gahlon, Courtney A. Gidengil

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  Report

  Earnings Losses and Benefit Adequacy in California's Workers' Compensation System: Estimates for 2005–2017 Injury Dates

  This final report in a series is part of an effort to monitor wage losses of injured workers in the California workers' compensation system between 2013 and 2017. It updates estimates of trends in earnings losses reported in the interim reports.

  Feb 3, 2022

  Michael Dworsky, Stephanie Rennane, Nicholas Broten

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  Report

  COVID-19 and Workers' Compensation: Considerations for Policymakers

  The authors examine how and why policymakers have extended workers' compensation benefits to employees who are required to work outside the home during the COVID-19 pandemic and pose questions to help policymakers meet future public health crises.

  Jan 11, 2022

  Michael Dworsky, Bethany Saunders-Medina

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  Report

  The Globalization of Mass Civil Litigation: Lessons from the Volkswagen "Clean Diesel" Case

  This report describes the Volkswagen "clean diesel" emission fraud litigation to illustrate the features of global mass litigation and the problems that arise in the resolution of these types of claims across transnational jurisdictions.

  Jun 22, 2021

  Deborah R. Hensler, Jasminka Kalajdzic, Peter Cashman, Manuel A. Gómez, Axel Halfmeier, Ianika Tzankova

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  Report

  COVID-19 and the Courts: Lessons from the Pandemic

  The U.S. civil justice system was forced to change in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Panelists in this virtual conference addressed the effects of COVID-19 on the civil justice system and how lessons learned can be applied going forward.

  Jun 4, 2021

  Nicholas M. Pace, Bethany Saunders-Medina, Jamie Morikawa, Sanjana Manjeshwar, Anne Bloom

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  Report

  Online Dispute Resolution: Perspectives to Support Successful Implementation and Outcomes in Court Proceedings

  Online dispute resolution provides a forum for the resolution of court matters that was especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic. A panel of experts identified strategies to improve access to justice using these platforms.

  May 14, 2021

  Amanda R. Witwer, Lynn Langton, Duren Banks, Dulani Woods, Michael J. D. Vermeer, Brian A. Jackson

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  Report

  Well-Being in the Legal Community: From Promise to Practice

  These conference proceedings from an event organized by the RAND Institute for Civil Justice summarize key points made during a discussion among stakeholders in the legal community about mental health and well-being.

  May 11, 2021

  Bethany Saunders-Medina, Jamie Morikawa

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  Journal Article

  Does Marijuana Legalization Affect Work Capacity? Evidence from Workers' Compensation Benefits

  We study the effect of state recreational marijuana laws on workers' compensation benefit receipt among adults 40–62 years old.

  Mar 23, 2021

  Rahi Abouk, Keshar M. Ghimire, Johanna C. MacLean, David Powell

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  Journal Article

  Systemic Cyber Risk and Aggregate Impacts

  High-profile attacks illustrate the potential for systemic cyber risk. We estimate the aggregate economic impact of firm-specific attacks finding potential large losses from downstream propagations.

  Feb 18, 2021

  Jonathan W. Welburn, Aaron Strong

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  Multimedia

  Opioid Litigation: What's New, and What Does It Mean for Future Litigation?

  More than 2,000 plaintiffs have joined the largest civil trial in U.S. history: National Prescription Opiate Litigation (MDL 2804). In this virtual symposium, experts discuss the opioid litigation and its effects on the future of mass litigation.

  Feb 9, 2021

  James M. Anderson, Anne Andrews, Sheila Birnbaum, Elizabeth J. Cabraser, Kenneth R. Feinberg, Rebecca Lee Haffajee, Eric Helland, Deborah R. Hensler, Rich Ives, Daniel B. Levin, Charlie Lifland, David Nachman, Robert Reville, Joseph F. Rice, William B. Rubenstein, Christopher A. Seeger

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  Journal Article

  The Effect of Mandatory Insurer Reporting on Settlement Delay

  This article examines this problem empirically, using a rich, national data set of closed automobile bodily injury claims.

  Jan 22, 2021

  Paul Heaton

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  Journal Article

  Unintended Consequences of Products Liability: Evidence from the Pharmaceutical Market

  This article explains a surprising effect of tort liability in the market for prescription drugs: punitive damages shift liability from doctors to drug companies, but not when physician malpractice liability is limited."

  Dec 11, 2020

  Eric Helland, Darius N. Lakdawalla, Anup Malani, Seth A. Seabury

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  Journal Article

  Bias in the Legal Profession: Self-Assessed Versus Statistical Measures of Discrimination

  This article uses data from the After the J.D. study to compare standard Blinder-Oaxaca measures of earnings discrimination to self-reported measures of client discrimination, other work-related discrimination, and harassment.

  Dec 11, 2020

  Heather Antecol, Deborah A. Cobb-Clark, Eric Helland

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  Journal Article

  Valid Inference in Single-Firm, Single-Event Studies

  This paper concerns single-firm event studies, which are especially important in the context of securities litigation. Event studies can be used to address directly the materiality and loss causation elements.

  Dec 11, 2020

  Jonah Gelbach, Eric Helland, Jonathan Klick

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  Journal Article

  Does It Matter Who Pays for Auto Injuries?

  In many states, auto insurers rather than health insurers pay for a substantial fraction of the medical care following auto crashes.

  Dec 11, 2020

  Paul Heaton, Eric Helland

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  Journal Article

  The Role of Ideology in Judicial Evaluations of Experts

  This article tests the legal realist theory of judicial behavior, which posits that judges' ideology impacts their legal decisions, but that the law constrains the judges' ability to exercise those preferences.

  Dec 11, 2020

  Eric Helland

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  Journal Article

  Medicare Secondary Payer and Settlement Delay

  The Medicare Secondary Payer Act of 1980 and its subsequent amendments led to a delay in the resolution of disputes involving auto accidents of about six months.

  Dec 11, 2020

  Eric Helland, Jonathan Klick

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  Journal Article

  Product Liability and Moral Hazard: Evidence from General Aviation

  We estimate the impact of tort liability on a subset of consumers who have significant control over the probability of an accident: consumers of general aviation aircraft.

  Dec 11, 2020

  Eric Helland, Alexander Tabarrok