Washington Law Review

Toward a Fairer Model of Consumer Assent to Standard Form Contracts: In Defense of Restatement Subsection 211(3)

The only meaningful salve to the problem of misinformed assent to onerous clauses in standard form contracts thus far has been the unconscionability doctrine, but that doctrine tends to be reserved for the harshest and severest terms. Therefore, a new tool is needed for courts to protect consumers' interests. Section 211 of the Restatement (Second) of Contracts creates such a tool. Subsection 211(3) provides where the merchant has reason to believe that the consumer would not assent if he kne...

No, You May Not Search My Car! Extending Georgia V. Randolph to Vehicle Searches

In Georgia v. Randolph, the US Supreme Court announced that third-party consent does not always suffice to immunize the search of a residence from Fourth Amendment attack. Specifically, the Court held that a police search of a residence conducted pursuant to the consent of one occupant, but over the express refusal of a physically present co-occupant with common authority, is unreasonable as to the nonconsenting occupant under the Fourth Amendment. The Court did not indicate whether its holdi...

Freedom to Explore: Using the Eleventh Amendment to Liberate Researchers at State Universities From Liability for Intellectual Property Infringements

In Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Education Expense Board v. College Savings Bank, the Supreme Court held that the Eleventh Amendment protected states from suit for patent infringement, effectively making state universities immune from intellectual property suits. This Article analyzes how the Florida Prepaid decision affects researchers at state universities, and how those researchers may avoid liability under existing law. It first concludes that researchers at state universities might still...

Plainly Offensive Babel: An Analytical Framework for Regulating Plainly Offensive Speech in Public Schools

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees the right to free speech. The guarantee is not absolute, however, and the U.S. Supreme Court has said that the First Amendment does not fully protect student speech in public schools. In Bethel School District v. Fraser, the Court held that schools could regulate "plainly offensive" speech. Circuit courts have interpreted and applied Fraser in an inconsistent manner, disagreeing as to what constitutes plainly offensive speech. T...

Citizen's Arrest or Police Arrest? Defining the Scope of Alaska's Delegated Citizen's Arrest Doctrine

When a citizen witnesses the commission of a misdemeanor, Alaska law allows that citizen to arrest the offender on the spot. Alaska law does not clearly define how much assistance police may give before the citizen's arrest becomes a warrantless police arrest. The Alaska Court of Appeals in Moxie v. State adopted the "delegated citizen's arrest" doctrine, holding that a citizen making an arrest may "delegate" the task of taking an offender into custody to a police officer who did not witness ...