Strange Decisions
Southwestern Journal of Law and Trade in the Americas, 2006
Posted: 22 Oct 2006
Abstract
This paper examines the damages that are appropriate in cases involving accidental tort plaintiffs who are undocumented aliens. Lacking any statutory or Supreme Court guidance, the lower state and federal courts that have struggled with this issue have arrived at vastly inconsistent conclusions. In this paper, I discuss and analyze some of these cases critically and propose a consistent methodology that may be utilized by courts to award appropriate amounts of damages. The proposed methodology can also be extended to address the issue of damages for lawful temporary visitors to the US (of which there were close to 30 million in 2004), who may be injured or killed in accidents in the US.
Keywords: Migration, Unauthorized Migration, Illegal and Undocumented Aliens, Damage Awards
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
