About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

106 Calif. L. Rev. 325 (2018)
Valuing Black Lives: A Constitutional Challenge to the Use of Race-Based Tables in Calculating Tort Damages

handle is hein.journals/calr106 and id is 341 raw text is: Valuing Black Lives: A Constitutional Challenge to the Use of Race-Based Tables in Calculating Tort Damages Kimberly A. Yuracko* & Ronen Avraham** This Article challenges a practice in tort law that is ubiquitous, yet little noticed-namely the use of race-based wage, life expectancy, and work-life expectancy tables when calculating damage awards. The practice results in damage awards that are significantly lower for black victims than for white victims and creates an incentive for potential tortfeasors to allocate risk disproportionately to minority communities. This Article argues that the use of such tables is not only unfair; it is unconstitutional. Specifically, the Article argues that the use of race-based tables to calculate tort damages violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Article goes on to consider the broader implications of this argument and to explain why the move to truly race-neutral damage awards would require even more radical changes to our current tort system. Introduction............................................................................................. 326 I. How Race-Based Tables are Used.......................................................330 II. Race-Based Tables as a Racial Classification....................................337 A. Biomarker ............................................................................338 B. One of Multiple Factors .......................................................340 DOI: https://doi.org/10.15779/Z38K649S9M Copyright © 2018 California Law Review, Inc. California Law Review, Inc. (CLR) is a California nonprofit corporation. CLR and the authors are solely responsible for the content of their publications. * Judd and Mary Morris Leighton Professor of Law, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. ** Thomas Shelton Maxey Professor of Law, University of Texas School of Law; Professor of Law, Tel Aviv University. The authors are grateful for comments and suggestions on earlier drafts from Michael Barsa, David Dana, Charlotte Crane, Jide Nzelibe and, in particular, Mark Kelman for his close reading of this paper and several helpful conversations. The authors also benefited tremendously from comments and suggestions at faculty workshops at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, University of Texas School of Law, and George Washington Law School. Professor Yuracko would like to thank her library liaison, Jesse Bowman, for his many contributions as well as Dean Rodriguez and the Judd and Mary Morris Leighton Chair for their support. Professor Avraham would like to thank Dean Farnsworth for his support. 325

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most