This interesting piece by Anthony Sebok and Claire Kelly (both at Brooklyn) contends that President Bush’s executive order 13303 went too far:

. . . EO 13303 is now receiving scrutiny from watchdog groups. They fear that it may be used to limit the accountability of corporations doing business in Iraq.

Their fears are reasonable, as we will explain. In particular, it is possible the Executive Order will be used to cut off tort victims’ ability to sue corporations working in Iraq.

And that’s not the only problem with the Executive Order; there are two others. First, EO 13303 sets a terrible precedent for the abuse of the executive’s power over private litigation in the context of national security. Second, it is yet another example of what Professor Sebok has described on this [Findlaw] site as the Republican penchant for “sneaky tort reform.”

After comparing this EO to previous EOs that merely suspended, rather than extinguished, claims (as the authors contend this one does), they conclude that the EO seeks to place the financial burden of rebuilding Iraq disproportionately on tort victims who ordinarily could seek compensation in U.S. courts — in other words, it arguably blocks suit by U.S. citizens against U.S. companies in U.S. courts for torts committed in Iraq.

Photo of Christopher Robinette Christopher Robinette

Christopher J. Robinette, an expert in tort law and theory, was appointed Professor of Law at Southwestern Law School in 2021.  He teaches Torts, Products Liability, and Foundations of Tort Law Seminar.

Professor Robinette serves as the United States Representative to the European…

Christopher J. Robinette, an expert in tort law and theory, was appointed Professor of Law at Southwestern Law School in 2021.  He teaches Torts, Products Liability, and Foundations of Tort Law Seminar.

Professor Robinette serves as the United States Representative to the European Group on Tort Law.  In 2012, Robinette was elected a member of the American Law Institute (ALI); in 2019, the ALI Council appointed him as Adviser to the Restatement of the Law Third, Torts.  Robinette also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Tort Law, the only peer-reviewed journal devoted to tort law in the United States, where he previously served as editor-in-chief. He serves as an editor of a leading torts treatise, Harper, James & Gray on Torts, and a leading insurance treatise, New Appleman on Insurance Law Library Edition.  Additionally, Robinette edits TortsProf Blog, a member of the Law Professor Blogs Network. He is an elected member of the European Centre for Tort and Insurance Law and a contributing editor at JOTWELL Torts. Robinette served as chair of the AALS Torts & Compensation Systems Section in 2017.

He has presented on tort law across the United States and the world, including the United Kingdom (Oxford), Poland, Austria, and Malaysia (where he won a “Best Paper” award).  Professor Robinette’s work has been cited by federal and state courts in numerous jurisdictions.  He is frequently quoted in the media in outlets such as the Associated Press, Bloomberg, Reuters, and The Washington Post.

Before coming to Southwestern, Robinette was Professor of Law at Widener University Commonwealth Law School, where he won both scholarship and teaching awards on multiple occasions.  In 2018, he received the Lindback Foundation’s Award for Distinguished Teaching at Widener, a university-wide recognition awarded to one professor per year.  Robinette was also a visiting professor at the University of Iowa and Washington University in St. Louis.

Robinette served on the Advisory Board of Salvation Army corps in both Charlottesville, Virginia and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; he was Chair of the Harrisburg Capital City Region Advisory Board from 2010-2012.  He was a member of the UPMC/Pinnacle Health Ethics Committee for several years, primarily addressing end-of-life issues.

Robinette litigated tort and contract cases prior to becoming a law professor, experiences he uses to engage students in his classes.

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