- University News Archive - ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

Three ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students place first in national business legal writing competition

Ajani Oyindamola — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 14:07:32 +0000

Three University of Arkansas at Little Rock students have been honored for their research highlighting what they call “unjust laws” that target vulnerable populations.�� The students earned first place for their legal writing skills from the Academy of Legal Studies and Business Conference in Montreal, Canada, in August. Their scores were based on a written law review article and oral presentation.�� Madeline Burke, senior international studies major, received the top student paper award in the individual category for her investigation of the use of an outdated maritime law used to limit shipowner’s liability in maritime accidents, while Ashley Murguia, senior international business major, and Alondra Cruz, sophomore marketing major, earned the top award in the group category for their paper investigating how the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) can be used to protect vulnerable immigrant populations. Dr. Casey Rockwell, assistant professor of marketing and advertising, served as the students’ advisor. “The University of Arkansas at Little Rock and the College of Business pride themselves on providing outstanding experiential learning opportunities to our students,” Rockwell said. “Through the support of the Donaghey Scholars program, the Signature Experience grants, and the High Impact Grants through the College of Business, students are able to present their research at the national and international levels to create a reputation of top notch scholars at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. We could not be more proud of their efforts.”�� Burke’s winning paper, “Duck and Cover: The Gross Attempts of Limiting Liability in the Titanic, Deep Water Horizon, and Table Rock Lake Accidents with the 1851 Shipowner’s Limitation of Liability Act,” highlights the antiquated 1851 maritime law that has come under scrutiny to limit damages sought by victims of maritime accidents.�� Ripley Entertainment Inc. and Branson Duck Vehicles cited the obscure law in the multiple lawsuits they faced after the July 17, 2018, Duck Boat tourist accident that resulted in the death of 17 people in Missouri.�� “The law basically says that the owners of a vessel can limit their liability to the value of the boat and pending freight after the crash if they had no privity or knowledge of what directly caused the accident,” Burke said. “Because the boat sank to the bottom and there was no pending freight, the company could have theoretically owed the families of the victims nothing if the court had allowed them to use the law. Since then, they have supposedly settled most of the lawsuits against them. However, it is an example of how corporations attempt to use outdated laws as a logistical and strategic maneuver in court.”�� Burke’s paper focuses on how the 1851 Shipowner Liability Act has been used by maritime corporations to limit their liability in tragic accidents. Some of the most famous incidents include the 1912 sinking of the Titanic and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.�� “In the 1800s, maritime commerce was inherently risky,” Burke said. “The passage of the law was to promote the American maritime industry. From my research, it seems that the right of a vessel owner to limit their liability is universally recognized by many maritime nations. The importance of the Titanic is it made the law applicable to foreign vessel owners. They attempted to limit the liability to around $90,000, the value of the remaining lifeboats, but they settled out of court for significantly more. It also raises the question of why the Shipowner Liability Act should apply to foreign vessel owners if its original purpose was to protect and encourage the American maritime industry.”�� Burke hopes her paper will draw attention to the harm this law can cause for the victims of maritime accidents and their families and that the U.S. government will adopt a change to the law.�� In 1976, the International Maritime Organization adopted a treaty called the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims. This treaty increases the amount of funds that victims can be awarded for personal injury and loss of life claims. The U.S. has not ratified this treaty, but Burke hopes it will be ratified in time to bring the maritime law up to date.�� “I want to highlight the gross inequity that this act can have on victims and to possibly encourage the U.S. to ratify the 1976 convention to better align itself with other maritime nations,” Burke said.�� Deidre Smith, director of the Arkansas Waterways Commission, wrote a letter of commendation for Burke and Rockwell.�� “Dr. Casey Rockwell has immense dedication to student research and developing scholars,” Smith wrote. “I know she must be extremely proud of working with Ms. Burke and seeing her excel and gaining recognition. Ms. Burke is an extremely bright and impressive young woman that I am honored to acknowledge for her vision for a better future concerning the maritime industry. It gives me great hope for the outlook of our nation if she is an example of the country’s future leadership.”�� Meanwhile, Cruz and Murguia won the group competition for their paper, “Using RICO as a Tool for the Defense of Immigrants: Ensuring Lawyer Ethics through Civil RICO.” The paper introduces a new application of civil RICO, in which the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) can be used to prosecute attorneys in enterprises that prey on vulnerable immigrant populations seeking legal and professional assistance.�� “As Latina women, both my partner and I have very close ties to this immigrant population, and we have both witnessed or know of someone that was affected by visa fraud or malpractice committed by attorneys,” Cruz said. “There are not that many avenues of aid or protection for immigrant populations, and we hope that through our paper, we can bring to light the realities of being an immigrant in the United States and open new means of protection to victims that fit the application of RICO we proposed.” Murguia said the research has given her an opportunity to be an advocate for immigrants seeking justice.�� “This is a population who have built their whole lives within the U.S. and want to do right, but attorneys prey on that vulnerability,” Murgia said. “Having the opportunity to shed light on the problem makes me very happy because it brings awareness to this hidden problem and also enforces the fair justice system that we believe we have. My partner and I are aware that we’ve scratched only the top of the problem, but we’re determined to be the voice of those who have been silenced.”

��Vlog��ý Little Rock student wins SURF award to research outdated maritime law cited by lawyers in Missouri Duck Boat tragedy

Ajani Oyindamola — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 14:21:02 +0000

A University of Arkansas at Little Rock student has received a $2,750 Student Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) award from the Arkansas Department of Education to research an outdated maritime law that lawyers invoked in an attempt to avoid or limit legal damages sought by victims and their family members in a last summer.�� Madeline Burke, a junior international and legal studies major and Donaghey Scholar from Little Rock, is thankful to receive the prestigious award that is a “great opportunity for people to research special topics of their interest.” Burke said she was inspired to investigate the 1851 maritime law after reading newspaper articles that explained how lawyers for two companies, Ripley Entertainment Inc. and Branson Duck Vehicles, facing multiple lawsuits over the July 17 accident used the obscure law. Ripley spokeswoman Suzanne Smagala-Potts said this type of filing is “common in claims related to maritime incidents,” and the “goal is to delay the multiple court cases to give the parties time for mediation.” “One of the strategies of the lawyers was to use this outdated law to try to not pay the victims of this tragic accident or their families any money,” Burke said. “The law says that the ship owner’s liability is limited to the value of the vessel after the crash and any cargo that was on the vessel. The boat did not carry any cargo, only the tourists who stepped foot on that tragic ride. So essentially, the lawyers argued that the boat owner is only liable for what the vessel was worth after the crash.” Burke will conduct her research this semester and into the summer under the mentorship of Dr. Casey Rockwell, assistant professor of marketing and advertising in the College of Business. “In a time of crisis, we all want to be responsive, but what is our response? Do we ponder silently why this happened or do we take the time to engage in the conversation regarding the legal, societal, and political constructs that exist in the aftermath,” Rockwell said. “Maddie chose social activism through research. Her intent is to not only raise awareness of this crisis, but further engage a larger audience in the conversation of how laws, when not a perfect fit, are often contorted to meet new objectives. This further raises the question of whether modern laws need to be restrictive or have an adaptability for an ever-changing society.” Burke will investigate the history of the law and the reasons why it was originally enacted as well as how the law has been used over the years leading up to the Missouri Duck Boat incident. The problem with some older laws, Burke points out, is that, over time, they are often used for purposes that fall far outside the original scope and intention of the law. “This law was originally meant to protect ship owners from liability,” Burke said. “Back then, traveling across the ocean was very dangerous. This law was used to protect ship owners from being held responsible for accidents that were not their fault. Because the Duck Boat sunk and there was no freight on the boat, the company lawyers argued that they didn’t owe the victims and families anything.” The award will cover the cost of Burke’s research materials as well as a trip to Montreal to present her research, “Duck and Cover: How the Outdated Maritime 1851 Limitation of Liability Act Shields Shipowners from Liability,” at the Academy of Legal Studies in Business Conference in August. Upon the completion of her research, Burke plans to make a policy recommendation to change the law so it would allow victims and family members the right to sue for civil damages. “The end goal of this research is a policy recommendation to change the law,” she said. “The law is over 150 years old and so outdated. My policy recommendation would be to not only protect ship owners, but to provide victims and family members with the right to seek compensation when it’s the right thing to do, just like when you see a tragic accident like the Missouri Duck Boat incident.” Burke has a history of uncovering outdated laws. In 2017, her paper, “The 1920 Death on the High Seas Act: An Outdated and Ambiguous Admiralty Law Shielding Cruise Lines Companies from Civil Liability,” earned the top student honor, the Outstanding Student Research Paper award, at the conference and was published in the Maritime Law Journal, a top business journal in the field Her paper explored how the law protects cruise lines from certain civil lawsuits by limiting families from recovering only pecuniary damages, what the deceased would have made for the family if the family is dependent on the person who died. This limits family members from suing for monetary damages if the person who died is unemployed, retired, a minor, etc., since the family is not financially dependent on the victim. “The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is proud to make the investment in graduate and undergraduate research through SURF, the Signature Experience Grants, undergraduate research grants, and the College of Business research funding,” Rockwell said. “Through these sources, Maddie has become a top researcher in this field as an undergraduate. It is really quite impressive.”

Four ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students receive SURF research fellowships

Janea Snyder — Thu, 07 Feb 2019 17:05:26 +0000

Four ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students have received the prestigious Student Undergraduate Research Fellowships from the Arkansas Department of Higher Education to conduct research this spring with help from faculty mentors. The (SURF) program provides up to $2,750 to undergraduate students to conduct in-depth research projects in their specific fields of study with the assistance of faculty mentors. To be eligible, all fellowship recipients must have a minimum grade-point average of 3.25, at least 30 hours of credit toward a degree, and support of a faculty mentor. Funds also are provided for students to travel to conferences to present their accomplishments. The students will complete their research this spring semester and will exhibit their work at the Student Research and Creative Works Showcase on April 18 in the Jack Stephens Center. In addition to the SURF grants, the students receive some matching funds through ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Office of the Vice Provost for Research. The ��Vlog��ý Little Rock fellows include the following: Bonn Belingon – “Enzymatic Studies of BbI06 from Borrelia burgdorferi,” ($2,750 from SURF, $1,250 match to equal $4,000) Belingon, of Marion, Arkansas, is researching how to isolate and target specific enzymes that are found in ��B. burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease. Currently, drug resistance to B. burgdorferi has surged and new strategies are needed to combat the disease. Belington and his mentor, Dr. Shanzhi Wang, will purify and characterize the BbI06 enzyme and determine 10 inhibitors against the bacterium. Madeline Burke – “Duck and Cover: How the Outdated Maritime 1851 Limitation of Liability Act Shields Shipowners From Liability,” ($2,750 from SURF, $1,250 match to equal $4,000) Burke, of Little Rock, is investigating the legal and ethical considerations of the 1851 Limitation of Liability Act that protects shipowners from liability. This act was cited by Ride the Ducks, the company that owned the duck boat that sank and killed 17 people on Table Rock Lake in Missouri on July 19, 2018. Burke will use library and government databases to create a research presentation for a national conference and submit an article for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Dr. Casey Rockwell from the Department of Marketing and Advertising is Burke’s mentor. Caroline Kornelsen – “Understanding of ��ö��ٱ�� Resonance Energy Transfer in Ionic Materials,” ($2,750 from SURF, $1,250 match to equal $4,000) Kornelsen, of Fallbrook, California, and her faculty mentor, Dr. Noureen Siraj, are researching novel and inexpensive approaches to developing new materials that possess ��ö��ٱ�� Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) characteristics. FRET is a non-radiation energy transfer process between donor and acceptor moieties. Ionic material with FRET characteristics will be developed using a fluorescent organic ion as donor and counterion as acceptor. FRET characteristic in an ionic material will be understood by developing several derivatives of ionic materials using same cation but variable anion or vice versa. These materials are important in the arena of energy, healthcare, and the environment. This project will allow Kornelsen and Siraj to learn more about the parameters that depend on FRET efficiency in ionic material. Michael Meziere – “Examining the Relationships between Religiosity, Rape Myth Acceptance, and Sexual Misconduct,” ($2,125 from SURF, $625 match to equal $2,750) Meziere, of Little Rock, is examining if religiosity plays a factor in the misconceptions and myths surrounding sexual assaults on college campuses. To carry out this study, Meziere will conduct surveys to gather information on religious beliefs and sexual attitudes. The data gathered will be presented in a poster presentation at the Academy of Criminal Justice Studies annual meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, in March 2019 and the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Student Undergraduate Research Expo in April 2019. Dr. Molly Smith from the Department of Criminal Justice is Meziere’s mentor. Madeline Burke is one of four ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students to receive a��Student Undergraduate Research Fellowship. She is researching an old maritime law which says the owner of a sunken vessel is not legally responsible for its cargo. Photo by Benjamin Krain

��Vlog��ý Little Rock students selected as finalists in national legal writing competition

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 22 Aug 2018 13:55:40 +0000

Two University of Arkansas at Little Rock students were selected as finalists for a national legal writing competition held by the Academy for Legal Studies in Business.�� As finalists, Maddie Burke, junior international studies major, and Ian Wren, senior economics major, presented their papers at the academy’s national conference Aug. 11-14 in Portland, Oregon. Wren received third place for his paper, “When Equity Fails the Employee: ERISA and the Specter of Absolute Subrogation.” He was able to travel to the conference with the assistance of the Undergraduate Research Signature Experience Award he received in the spring semester. Burke received an honorable mention for her paper, “Fear of the Unknown: Drawing Back the Curtains on Shielding Laws and Regulations on Drugs Utilized in Animal Euthanasia and Lethal Injection.” Wren’s paper is about a section of employer-provided insurance plans that can leave employees worse off in some cases than if they had different insurance or no insurance at all. These plans operate under ERISA—the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974—which was passed with the intent of protecting employees’ finances from insolvent or unscrupulous employers. “Because most Americans receive insurance from their private-sector employer or belong to the plan of a family member who gets it through their employer, this area of the law can affect the lives of tens or hundreds of millions of people,” Wren said. “I think it’s important to trace the interpretation of this law over the years to see how we’ve arrived at the current, decidedly inequitable situation, and I think it’s important to discuss potential solutions.” Burke’s paper focuses on some of the controversial issues surrounding lethal injection as a method of execution, including the rising number of problematic executions, the shortage of lethal injection drugs, state secrecy statues that protect those who participate in an execution as well as the supplier of drugs, and the absence of assistance from medical professionals. Additionally, Burke finds it odd that the drugs used in lethal injection often lack Food and Drug Administration regulations, especially when drugs used in animal euthanasia are strictly regulated. “I think this is important because, almost every day, we see something in the news about lethal injection as a method of execution,” Burke said. “I wanted to highlight some of the controversies and add to the literature about Oklahoma being the first state to adopt nitrogen asphyxiation as their primary method of execution instead of lethal injection.” Last year, Burke won the top student honor, the Outstanding Student Research Paper award, for her paper, “The 1920 Death on the High Seas Act: An Outdated and Ambiguous Admirality Law Shielding Cruise Lines Companies from Civil Liability,” at the 2017 Academy for Legal Studies in Business Conference. The Academy for Legal Studies in Business is an association of teachers and scholars in the fields of business law, legal environment, and law-related courses outside of professional law schools. Utilizing their resources, they provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and encourage support and cooperation among those who teach and conduct research in the field of legal studies. In the upper right photo, students Ian Wren (left) and Maddie Burke (middle) are shown with their advisor, Dr. Casey Rockwell (right).��

��Vlog��ý Little Rock student honored for cruise passenger rights research

Ajani Oyindamola — Fri, 01 Sep 2017 13:08:29 +0000

A University of Arkansas at Little Rock student won an award for her paper researching the liability cruise ships face for the wrongful death of passengers on the high seas. �� Madeline Burke, a 19-year-old sophomore international and legal studies major from Little Rock, earned the top student honor, the Outstanding Student Research Paper award, at the conference Aug. 10 in Savannah, Georgia. Her paper, “The 1920 Death on the High Seas Act: An Outdated and Ambiguous Admiralty Law Shielding Cruise Lines Companies from Civil Liability,” examines how the law protects cruise lines from certain civil lawsuits. “If you have a loved one on a cruise ship and they have a wrongful death, cruise ships are using this outdated act to shield them from liability,” Burke said. “Basically, they don’t have to compensate the family as much as if you have a loved one that died in a plane crash. “The Death on the High Seas Act says that families can only recover pecuniary damages, which is what the deceased would have made for the family if the family is dependent on the person who died,” Burke said. If the person who died is unemployed, retired, or a minor, the deceased’s family would be unable to sue for monetary damages, because the family is not financially dependent on the victim, Burke said. This year, U.S. Reps. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., Ted Poe, R-Texas, and Jim Himes, D-Conn., introduced the. If passed, the act would strengthen passenger safety and rights on cruise ships.

Madeline Burke (left) and Professor Casey Rockwell (right) attend the Academy for Legal Studies in Business conference Aug. 10 in Savannah, Georgia.

The Death on the High Seas Act would be amended so that families of victims would be able to pursue compensation after a death on the high seas, the same right currently given to airline passengers. However, if the Cruise Passenger Protection Act is passed, Burke warns that passengers could potentially see an increase in ticket prices. Cruise lines could raise prices to cover the increase in insurance and legal costs. �� Burke was inspired to write the law review by her marketing professor, Dr. Casey Rockwell, who is helping Burke submit the paper to academic journals for publication. Burke received financial support to attend the conference from the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs and the Donaghey Scholars Program. In addition to being a Donaghey Scholar, Burke also volunteers at Project Zero, a nonprofit organization that helps children who are available to be adopted through the foster care system. Once she completes her undergraduate degree in 2020, Burke plans to attend law school. In the upper right photo,��Madeline Burke (left) and Professor Casey Rockwell (right) attend the Academy for Legal Studies in Business conference Aug. 10 in Savannah, Georgia.

- University News Archive - ����Vlog��ý Little Rock

Three ����Vlog��ý Little Rock students place first in national business legal writing competition

����Vlog��ý Little Rock student wins SURF award to research outdated maritime law cited by lawyers in Missouri Duck Boat tragedy

Four ����Vlog��ý Little Rock students receive SURF research fellowships