Torts Teaching Lessons from the BP Oil Spill

Abstract

This article is drawn from my talk on the topic of How to Teach Disaster as Part of a Torts Curriculum at the AALS Workshop on Torts, Environment and Disaster from June 8-10, 2012, in Berkeley. This piece draws upon an informal survey I conducted in the spring of 2012 on how torts teachers employed the BP oil spill disaster (and other disasters) in their basic torts course (to illustrate topics such as the economic loss rule, legal causation, damages, and the impact of safety regulations).