d i v o C CIVIL LIBERTIES ❱As of early in the pan-
demic, in March 2020, most Americans of all political stripes were willing to give up several core civil liberties, such as being able to gather in houses of worship and the ability to share certain information, a survey conducted by Professors MILA VERSTEEG and KEVIN COPE found. As the pandemic stretched on into late-2020, however, that support waned, and public opinion became increasingly polarized. Versteeg and Cope were part of a team whose research appeared in The Atlantic.
CONTRACTS ❱Canceled events last
year ranged from weddings and concerts to sporting events and conferences. In times of unexpected crisis, contracts are better off renegotiated than litigated, Professor CATHY HWANG and co-author DAVID HOFFMAN of the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School said in a paper and on the Business Scholarship Podcast. “We expect to see these contract-breach cases aggregated into mass litigations or subject to arbitration, which 36
UVA LAW Y ER | Spring 2021
Over the Past Year, Law Professors Commented on Issues Posed by the Pandemic
means you’re going to get a pretty unsatisfying settlement,” Hwang told UVA Law in a Q&A. “A better option is to see if you can extend the contract, delay performance, split the losses— whatever you can to stay out of court and maintain a good relationship with your counterparty.”
ECONOMY AND TAXATION ❱Professors RUTH MASON
and ANDREW HAYASHI joined a coalition of tax scholars called Project SAFE (State Action in Fiscal Emergencies) that came together to provide policy recommendations for budget shortfalls due to the crisis. “This is no ordinary recession,” Mason told UVA Law. “Government at all levels will have to work together to weather the crisis.” Mason co-authored additional pieces for Bloomberg and Time that addressed what the states and Congress should do, including broaching the idea that it was time to enforce taxes on digital
purchases. Hayashi offered recommendations in The Washington Post for more progressive property taxes to help local governments with budget shortages.
HEALTH CARE POLICY ❱Professor MARGARET “MIMI” FOSTER RILEY addressed in separate pieces for The Conversation the U.S. vaccine rollout and how the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, guarantees all patients suffering from COVID19, including the president of the United States, freedom from disclosures about their illness. As part of a team working with the Miller Center, she also wrote about pandemic response during the presidential transition and participated in a panel discussion about the vaccine rollout.
INSURANCE ❱Professor KENNETH S. ABRAHAM weighed in on
such issues as employer liability for virus-spreading in the workplace—absent employees signing a waiver or new law, traditional tort law would apply, he told MarketWatch—and commented on “Who Pays for the Pandemic When Insurance Companies Refuse?” in Fortune.
PANDEMIC POWERS ❱Writing for The Hill, Pro-
fessor SAIKRISHNA PRAKASH said that presidents may eventually assume a pandemic power over Americans to vaccinate healthy people and quarantine the sick. He commented that “almost all legal scholars would admit that the presidency could eventually acquire a pandemic power.”
