Catherine M. Sharkey

Courses

• Administrative Law vs. Tort: The Challenges of Modern Regulation Seminar

  “Private” tort law and “public” administrative law often address the same conduct, particularly in the realms of health, safety, and consumer protection. Debates on private regulation via litigation as opposed to agency regulation of products implicate not only the relative desirability of tort versus regulation but also the level—state or federal—at which liability or regulation should occur, and the relative competence of courts versus governmental agencies to regulate. In the fall (for 2 graded credits), the seminar will examine these issues in the context of current controversies, including the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI), that lie at the intersection of administrative law and tort: regulating pharmaceutical drugs and medical devices; punitive damages; data security; autonomous vehicles; global warming; and opioids. In the spring (for 2 graded credits), students will work either solo or in smaller groups on supervised applied projects in areas of interest. This year-long seminar (with 2 graded credits in each semester) will be limited to 12 students. To enroll, you should take part in the bidding process; please also submit a statement of interest (prior to the close of bidding) via email to: catherine.sharkey@nyu.edu. Please note that you MUST attend the first session via Zoom on Tuesday 8/25 (6:40 pm - 8:30 pm) to keep your place in the seminar. Zoom links are posted on NYU Classes.

• Business Torts: Defamation, Privacy, Products and Economic Harms

  This course will explore, in depth, significant torts that are not covered in the typical 1L course on physical and emotional harms: defamation, invasion of privacy, products liability, fraud, negligent misrepresentation, and economic harms. We will study the common law origins of defamation as well as the constitutional complications that have arisen in the modern era, and we will explore the closely related issue of privacy rights, including the right to resist intrusions from the external world as well as control and commercial exploitation of one’s own name and likeness. Following a general background on products liability, we will focus on contemporary issues that arise at the contract/tort boundary as well as for the “platform economy.” We will then delve into traditional economic relationships, with our study of the law of fraud and negligent misrepresentation, and exploration of various economic harms, including the economic loss rule and intentional interference with business relations such as inducement of breach of contract, interference with prospective advantage, and unfair competition.

• Torts

  Civil liability for breach of duty causing harm to persons or property. Intentional and unintentional injury; fault and no-fault theories of liability; strict products liability; theories and analysis of causation.