claim: While Professor Croley's *Civil Justice Reconsidered* aptly describes the civil justice crisis of cost and inaccessibility, its diagnosis of under-participation by meritorious plaintiffs is not empirically proven and its reliance on win rates is misleading. Arbel contends Croley's proposed reforms, like increasing case volume, would overwhelm the system, especially concerning the neglected crisis in debt collection. He also critiques Croley's tort reform ideas and civil "Gideon" proposal,...

paper_title: Book Review: Civil Justice

evidence_quote: [p. 8] 2018] Review: Civil Justice Reconsidered 515 ideas like the class defense mechanism.10 A recent proposal in this area is the so-called Adminization of certain legal processes, whereby a governmental agency (such as the Federal Trade Commission) randomly samples cases that were filed in state courts and audits them, levying fines where wrongdoing is detected.11 This approach adds a cost-effective layer of consumer protection, that works well independent of consumers’ participation gap. Even the cases that are not audited would benefit from Adminization, because plaintiffs would be overall more hesitant to engage in abuse if there is a risk of audit and fines. But what is most...

citation: Yonathan A. Arbel, Book Review: Civil Justice, Civil Justice Quarterly (2018).

confidence: machine-linked

limitations: Machine-linked claim. Use the evidence quote and PDF before treating it as a quotation or as a complete statement of the paper's position.


claim: Writes about his "Adminization" proposal, where a governmental agency audits court cases and levies fines, creating cost-effective, scalable consumer protection. He observes that tort reform has shapeshifted, with strategies like apology laws acting as covert reform. While Croley's tort reform proposals are sensible, Arbel argues they don't address new frontiers like tortfeasors using strategic apologies. Finally, he suggests Croley's recommendation for a civil "Gideon" right, mandating subsidized lawyering for indigent plaintiffs, may prove counter-productive.

evidence_quote: emic effort to lobby for apology laws—laws that make apologies inadmissible at trial—led to legislative changes in most US states, Republican and Democratic alike. In reality, it was recently argued, these apology laws are covert tort reform, as they allow 10 A. Hamdani and A. Klement, “The Class Defense” (2005) 93 California Law Review 685. 11 Arbel, “Adminization: Gatekeeping Consumer Contracts” (2018) 71 Vanderbilt Law Review 121. [p. 9] 516 Civil Justice Quarterly [Vol. 37] tortfeasors to escape substantial liability with bespoke, strategic apologies.12 Croley’s proposals are centered on traditional tort reform efforts and so would do relatively little to address these new frontiers....