Gregory C. Sisk
Orestes A. Brownson Professor of Law
MSL 400,
651-962-4923
gcsisk@stthomas.edu
Professional
Positions
• Orestes A. Brownson Professor of Law, University of St. Thomas School of Law, Minneapolis, Minnesota (on faculty since 2003; named Orestes A. Brownson Professor in 2007).
Courses
Taught: Professional Responsibility;
Civil Procedure; Litigation With the Federal Government;
Religion in Public
Life (Rome Summer Program).
Author: Litigation With the Federal Government (ALI-ABA, 4th ed., 2006).
Author: Litigation With the Federal Government: Cases and Materials (with Teacher’s Manual) (2d ed., Foundation Press, 2008).
Author: Lawyer and Judicial Ethics: Iowa Practice (with Justice Mark Cady) (Thomson-West, 2007).
Scholarship
Award: Law and Society Association
Article Prize (1999) — for “Charting the Influence of the Judicial Mind: An
Empirical Study of Judicial Reasoning.”
• Richard M. & Anita Calkins Distinguished Professor of Law,
Director: Certification Program in Litigation and
Dispute Resolution
Chair,
Delegate
to Annual Meeting of the Association of American Law Schools, 1995, 1997, 1998,
1999, 2002 (description of leadership role in “Bluebook Resolution” controversy
at 1997 meeting may be found at 55 Vand. L. Rev. 59, 70-71 (2002); 23 U.
• Head of Appellate Department, Karr Tuttle
Campbell,
Headed
firm’s appellate department; briefed and argued cases in the United States
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Washington Supreme Court, and the
Washington Court of Appeals.
• Adjunct Professor,
• Attorney, Appellate Staff, Civil Division,
United States Department of Justice,
Briefed
and argued cases in ten circuits of the United States Courts of Appeals; participated
in briefing of cases before the United States Supreme Court.
Meritorious
Award (1988); Special Achievement Award (1987); Outstanding Performance Ratings
(1988, 1989).
• Judicial Clerk to Judge Robert R. Beezer,
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit,
• Legislative Assistant to
Drafted
legislation on federal assistance to the homeless; job training programs; and
labor union organizing rights.
Legal
Education and
•
• Graduated First in
the Class of 1984, with “Highest Honors in Law;” Voted “Honor Graduate” of 1984
by
• Order of the Coif.
• National Order of the Barristers.
• American
Jurisprudence Awards in Constitutional Law, Civil Procedure, Real Property,
Wills and Trusts, Personal Property Security.
•
• Moot Court Honor
Board – Board Chairman (1983-84).
• Philip C. Jessup
International Law Moot Court Team (1983) – Third Place in Nation, First Place
in Region, First Place Memorial (Brief) in Region.
Bar
Admissions and Professional and Scholarly Associations
Bar
Admissions
• State
of
Member, Iowa Supreme Court Rules of Professional Conduct Monitoring Committee (2005-present).
Reporter,
• State of
• Supreme Court of
the
•
Professional
Associations
• American Law
Institute (Elected Member).
• American
Bar Association (Committee on Appellate Practice).
Reporter,
“Local Rules — Effect on Quality of Justice,” Subcommittee to Study Local
Rules of the Federal Courts of Appeals, Appellate Practice Committee, American
Bar Association, 1993-94. (Report was
submitted to the United States Judicial Conference as comment by the Section on
Litigation on pending amendments to the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure.)
• Iowa
State Bar Association.
Received
Award for Service “Above and Beyond” to the Association, 2001.
Counsel for Iowa
State Bar Association in Brief to Iowa Supreme Court Concerning Proposed
Changes in Rules Governing Admission Pro Hac Vice, 2000.
Committee to
Study Model Rules of Professional Conduct (Proposing Adoption of Model Rules of
Professional Conduct in
• Advisory Council, United States Court of Federal Claims.
• Federal Bar Association.
• Federal Bar Association.
• Christian Legal
Society.
Scholarly
Associations
• Law and Society Association.
• Society of Empirical Legal Studies.
• American Political Science Association (Associate Member).
• Conference on Catholic Legal Thought
Publications
Books and
Book Chapters
• Litigation With the Federal Government: Cases and Materials (with Teacher’s Manual) (Foundation Press, 2000) (2d ed. 2008)
• Lawyer and Judicial Ethics: Iowa Practice (with Mark S. Cady, Justice, Iowa Supreme Court) (Thomson-West, 2008)
• Litigation with the Federal Government (ALI-ABA, 4th ed., 2006) -- Cited in Collins v. U.S., --- F.3d ---- (7th Cir. 2009) (Posner, C.J.); U.S. v. Park Place Associates, Ltd., --- F.3d ---- (9th Cir. April 22, 2009)
• Iowa Legal Research Guide (chapter on “Regulation of Lawyers and Judges”) (William S. Hein & Co., 2003)
Journal
and Law Review Articles
• Lifting the Blindfold From Lady Justice: Allowing Judges to See the Structure in the Judicial Code, 62 Florida Law Review (forthcoming 2010) [link to current draft in pdf format]
• The Dynamic Attorney-Client Privilege, 23 Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics (forthcoming 2010) [link to current draft in pdf format]
• Returning to the PruneYard: The Unconstitutionality of State-Sanctioned Trespass in the Name of Speech, 32 Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy 389 (2009) [link to article in pdf format]
• The Continuing Drift of Federal Sovereign Immunity Jurisprudence, 50 William & Mary Law Review 517 (2008) [link to article in pdf format]
• The Quantitative Moment and the Qualitative Opportunity: Legal Studies of Judicial Decisionmaking (Book Review), 93 Cornell Law Review 873 (2008) [link to article in pdf format]
• Uprooting the Pruneyard, 38 Rutgers Law Journal 1145 (Annual Issue on State Constitutional Law (2008) [link to article in pdf format]
• Change and Continuity in Attorney-Client Confidentiality: The New Iowa Rules of Professional Conduct, 55 Drake Law Review 347 (2007) [link to article in pdf format]
• John Paul II: The Quintessential Religious Witness in the Public Square, 45 Journal of Catholic Legal Studies 241 (2007) [link to article in pdf format]
• A Primer on the Doctrine of Federal Sovereign Immunity, 58 Oklahoma Law Review 439 (2006) [link to article in pdf format]
• How Traditional and
Minority Religions Fare in the Courts: Empirical Evidence from Religious
Liberty Cases, 76
University of Colorado Law Review 1021 (2005) [link to article in pdf format]
• The Willful Judging of Harry Blackmun, 70 Missouri Law Review 1049 (2005) (symposium essay) [link to article in pdf format]
• A Primer on the
Civil Discovery Against the Federal Government,
52 The Federal Lawyer 28 (June, 2005) [link to article in pdf
format]
• Judges
and Ideology: Public and Academic
Debates About Statistical Measures (with
• Signaling and Precedent in
• Abortion,
Bishops, Eucharist, and Politicians: A
Question of Communion (with Charles J. Reid, Jr.), 43 Catholic Lawyer 255
(2004) [link to article in pdf format]
• Searching
for the Soul of Judicial Decisionmaking:
An Empirical Study of Religious Freedom Decisions (with
• Yesterday and Today: Of Indians, Breach of Trust, Money, and Sovereign Immunity, 39 Tulsa Law Review 313 (2004) (symposium on Indian Trust Doctrine) [link to article in pdf format] — Cited in Navajo Nation v. United States, 501 F.3d 1327, 1334 (Fed. Cir. 2007); Skokomish Indian Tribe v. United States, 410 F.3d 506, 511 n.3 (9th Cir. 2005); Rosebud Sioux Tribe v. United States, 75 Fed. Cl. 15, 26. n.10 (Fed. Cl. 2007); Wolfchild v. United States, 62 Fed. Cl. 521, 550 n.19 (Fed. Cl. 2004)
• The Trial Courts of the Federal Circuit: Diversity by Design, 13 Federal Circuit Bar Journal 241 (2004) [link to article in pdf format] — Cited in Former Employees of Quality Fabricating, Inc. v. U.S. Secretary of Labor, 448 F.3d 1351, 1355 (Fed. Cir. 2006)
• The
Tapestry Unravels: Statutory Waivers of Sovereign Immunity and Money Claims
Against the
• Suspending
the Pardon Power During the Twilight of a Presidential Term, 67
• Above
the Rules: A Response to Epstein and
King, 69 University of Chicago Law Review 135 (2002) (with Frank Cross and
• Judges Are Human, Too, 83 Judicature 178 (2000)
• Teaching Litigation With the Federal Government, 49 Journal of Legal Education 275 (1999) [link to article in pdf format]
• Iowa’s Legal Ethics Rules—It’s Time to Join the Crowd, 47 Drake Law Review 279 (1999) — Cited in Sorci v. Iowa Dist. Court for Polk County, 671 N.W.2d 482, 494 (Iowa 2003)
• Charting
the Influences on the Judicial Mind: An
Empirical Study of Judicial Reasoning, 73
• Stating
the Obvious: Protecting Religion for
Religion’s Sake, 47 Drake Law Review 45 (1998) (Symposium on The Role of Freedoms) [link to article in .pdf format]
• The
Sun Sets on Federal Common Law:
Corporate Successor Liability Under CERCLA After O’Melveny &
Myers, 16
• The
Balkanization of Appellate Justice: The
Proliferation of Local Rules in the Federal Circuits, 68 University of
Colorado Law Review 1 (1997)
• The
Moral Incompetence of the Judiciary, First Things (November, 1995)
• The
Essentials of the Equal Access to Justice Act:
Court Awards of Attorney’s Fees for Unreasonable Government Conduct
(Part Two), 56 Louisiana Law Review 1 (1995)
[link to article in pdf
format] — Cited in Role Models America, Inc. v. Brownlee, 353 F.3d 962, 969 (D.C. Cir.
2004); Maritime Management, Inc.
v. United States, 242 F.3d 1326, 1332 n.8 (11th Cir. 2001); United States v. Real Property, 190 F.3d
977, 982 (9th Cir. 1999); Morgan v.
Perry, 142 F.3d 670, 685 n.28 (3rd Cir. 1998), cert. denied, 525 U.S. 1070 (1999); F.J. Vollmer Co. v. Magaw, 102 F.3d 591 (D.C. Cir. 1996)
• The
Essentials of the Equal Access to Justice Act:
Court Awards of Attorney’s Fees for Unreasonable Government Conduct
(Part One), 55 Louisiana Law
Review 217 (1994) [link to article in pdf
format] — Cited in Broaddus v. U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, 380 F.3d
162, 170 (4th Cir. 2004); National
Ass’n of Manufacturers v. Department of Labor, 159 F.3d
597 (D.C. Cir. 1998), cert. denied, 522
U.S. 815, 906 (1997); Kelly v. Secretary,
U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, 97 F.3d 118 (6th Cir. 1996); Texas Food Indus. Ass’n v. United States
Dept. of Agriculture, 81 F.3d 578 (5th Cir. 1996)
• Questioning Dialogue by Judicial Decree: A Different Theory of Constitutional Review and Moral Discourse, 46 Rutgers Law Review 1691 (1994) [link to article in pdf format]
• Comparative Fault and Common Sense, 30 Gonzaga Law Review 29-51 (1994/95) [link to article in pdf format]
• A Primer on Awards of Attorney’s Fees Against the Federal Government, 25 Arizona State Law Journal 733 (1994) [link to article in pdf format] — Cited in Newmark v. Principi, 283 F.3d 172, 178 (3d Cir. 2002)
• Interpretation of the Statutory Modification
of Joint and Several Liability:
Resisting the Deconstruction of Tort Reform, 16 University of Puget
Sound Law Review 1 (1992)
[link to article in pdf
format] — Cited in Tegman v. Accident & Medical Investigations, Inc., 75 P.3d 497, 504 (Wash. 2003); Hiner v. Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc., 978 P.2d 505, 512 & n.71
(Wash. 1999); Kottler v. State, 963
P.2d 834 (Wash. 1998); Juhl v. Airington,
936 S.W.2d 640 (Tex. 1996); Anderson
v. City of Seattle, 873 P.2d 489 (Wash. 1994)
• Recovery
for Emotional Distress Under the
• The Constitutional Validity of the Modification of Joint and Several Liability in the Washington Tort Reform Act of 1986, 13 University of Puget Sound Law Review 433 (1990) [link to article in pdf format]
• Interim Attorney’s Fees Awards Against the Federal Government, 68 North Carolina Law Review 117 (1989) [link to article in pdf format]
• Two
Proposals to Clarify the Tucker Act Jurisdiction of the
• Tucker Act Appeals to the Federal Circuit, 36 Federal Bar News & Journal 41 (1989) [link to article in pdf format]
• Comment, Toward a Unified Reasonable Use Approach to Water Drainage in
Washington, 59 Washington Law Review 61 (1983)
[link to article in pdf
format] — Awarded Carkeek Prize of
1984 as outstanding student article
Newspaper, Periodical Pieces
• Rules and Morality: What a Lawyer Must Do Versus What He/She Should Do, Iowa Lawyer, April 2009 [link to essay in pdf format]
• “United States v. Navajo Nation: When May a Tribe Seek Damages from the Government for Breach of Trust?”, in PREVIEW of United States Supreme Court Cases (ABA, 2008) [link to preview in pdf format]
• “Private Property (Expression on)”, in Encyclopedia of the First Amendment (CQ Press, 2008)
• Dangers of Crossing the Lines of Professionalism and Civility in the Name of Zealous Advocacy, Iowa Lawyer, March 2008 [link to essay in pdf format]
• “Standing” and “Ripeness”, in The Encyclopedia of the United States Constitution (Facts on File, 2009) (ordering book)
• Hear
Catholic Voice on Marriage, Des Moines Register,
• Court Plays Politics With Democracy, Des Moines Register,
• President Follows His Duties
and the Law, Des Moines Register, March
14, 2003 (guest editorial)
•
Outrageous
Trespass on Privacy, Des Moines Register, December 11, 2002 (with
• Using
PowerPoint in Class and on the Web, Jurist: The
Law Professors’ Network <http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/> (November,
2002)
• Protect
Children, Forgive Priests, Des Moines Register, June 7, 2002 (guest
editorial)
• Striking
a Truce in D.M. Culture Wars, Des Moines Register, July 28, 2001 (guest
editorial)
• Begging
Your Pardon, National Law Journal, April 16, 2001 (Podium Special)
• Devise
a Better Way to Count Votes, Des Moines Register, December 18, 2000 (guest
editorial)
• Illegal
Protests Harm a Democratic Community, Des Moines Register, June 26, 2000
(guest editorial)
• Treat
Ill and Disabled With More Compassion, Des Moines Register, April 20, 2000
(guest editorial) (with Rev. Msgr. Frank E. Bognanno)
• Make
Year 2000 a Time of Renewal, Omaha World-Herald, October 31, 1999 (guest
editorial)
•
• Uphold
the Integrity of Our Legal System (Pro-Impeachment of President Clinton),
Des Moines Register, November 12, 1998 (guest editorial)
• Freedom
of Speech at the Shopping Malls: Landowners
Determine Use of Property, Des Moines Register, March 20, 1998 (guest
editorial)
• Targeting
Big Tobacco; Who’s Next?, Des Moines Register,
• The
Balkanization of Appellate Justice, Appellate Practice Journal and Update,
Spring, 1997
• Court
Ruling is a Defeat for Presidency, Des Moines Register, June 4, 1997 (guest
editorial)
• Rigid
Approach to Formal Diversity, Des Moines Register, March 20, 1997 (guest
editorial)
• Keep
Drake as Marketplace of Ideas, Des Moines Register, Dec. 13, 1991 (guest
editorial)
Selected Presentations and Lectures
• “Prosecutors and the Iowa Rules of Professional Conduct,” Iowa County Attorneys Spring Conference, Okoboji, Iowa, June 10, 2008.
• “Bivens, Government Officer Liability, and Responsibility for Constitutional Wrongdoing: An Overview,” Law & Society Ass’n Annual Meeting, Montreal, Canada, May 30, 2008.
• “Tribal Claims in the Court of Federal Claims: An Introduction to Jurisdiction and the Trust Doctrine,” United States Court of Federal Claims, Judicial Conference, Boulder, Colorado, November 10, 2007.
• “John Paul II: The Quintessential Religious Witness in the Public Square,” Symposium on the Jurisprudential Legacy of John Paul II, St. John’s University School of Law, Queens, New York, March 24, 2006.
• Government Lawyers and the New Iowa Rules of Professional Conduct: The Civil Side,” Continuing Legal Education Seminar for Government Practitioners, Iowa Attorney General’s Office, Des Moines, Iowa, October 21, 2005.
• “The Willful Judging of Harry Blackmun,” Symposium: Reflection on Judging Following the Release of the Blackmun Papers, University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law, Columbia, Missouri, February 25, 2005.
• “How Traditional and Minority Religions Fare in the Courts: Empirical Evidence from Religious Liberty Cases,” Twelfth Ira C. Rothgerber, Jr., Conference, Byron R. White Center for the Study of American Constitutional Law, the Keller First Amendment Center, and the University of Colorado Law Review, Boulder, Colorado, January 28, 2005.
• “Turning Square Corners with the Government: Issues of Authority of Government Agents,” Court of Federal Claims Judicial Conference, Washington, D.C., November 8, 2004.
• “Searching for the Soul of Judicial Decisionmaking: An Empirical Study of Religious Freedom Decisions,” Law and Society Association, Chicago, Illinois, May 29, 2004.
• “The Trial Courts of the Federal
Circuit: Diversity by Design,” Fifth
Bench and Bar Conference of the Federal Circuit Bar Association, Amelia Island,
Florida, May 25, 2003.
• “The Tapestry Unravels: Statutory
Waivers of Sovereign Immunity and Money Claims Against the
• “The Tapestry Unravels: Statutory
Waivers of Sovereign Immunity and Money Claims Against the United States,”
United States Court of Federal Claims, 20th Anniversary Conference,
Co-Sponsored by George Washington University Law Review, Washington, D.C.,
October 3, 2002.
• “Increasing and Improving Empirical
Research in the Law Schools: A Positive
Approach,” Law and Society Association Annual Meeting,
• “The Transition to the Iowa Rules of
Professional Conduct,” Young Lawyers Division, Iowa State Bar Association,
October 19, 2001; Iowa Trial Lawyers Association, November 1, 2001; Federal
Practice Section, Iowa State Bar Association, December 14, 2001; Bench-Bar
Conference, Iowa State Bar Association, May 17, 2002.
• “Iowa’s Legal Ethics Rules—Why Iowa
Should Adopt the Model Rules of Professional Conduct,” Richard M. & Anita
Calkins Lecture, Des Moines, Iowa, October 25, 1999; Polk County Bar
Association, Des Moines, Iowa, October 29, 1999; Iowa State Trial Lawyers
Association, Des Moines, Iowa, November 4, 1999; American Corporate Counsel Association,
Des Moines, Iowa, December 17, 1999; United States Attorney’s Office, Southern
District of Iowa, Des Moines, Iowa, December 20, 1999.
• “Learning That Judges Are Human,” Iowa
Judges School, Des Moines, Iowa, August 3, 1999.
• “Charting the Influences on the
Judicial Mind: An Empirical Study of
Judicial Reasoning,” Law and Society Association Annual Meeting,
• “Charting the Influences on the
Judicial Mind: An Empirical Study of
Judicial Reasoning,” Law and Courts Section Panel, American Political Science
Association Annual Meeting,
• “Stating the Obvious: Protecting Religion for Religion’s Sake,”
Symposium,
• “The Vince Lombardi Doctrine v. The
Superman Principle: The Tension Between
the Duty of the Zealous Advocate and the Responsibilities of the Officer of the
Court,” National Conference of Appellate Court Clerks,
• “Placing Comparative Fault in
Historical Context: An Evolutionary
Change and a Return to First Principles,” and “Comparative Fault, Common Sense,
and Constitutionality,”
• “A Primer on Attorney’s Fees Awards
Against the Federal Government,” Litigators Conference sponsored by the
• “A Primer on Attorney’s Fee Awards
Against the Federal Government,” Seminar sponsored by Legal Assistance of
North Dakota, North Dakota State Bar Convention, Grand Forks, North Dakota,
June 9, 1993.
• Keynote speaker on freedom of
expression and intellectual diversity on the college campus, College
Significant
Appellate Litigation
Supreme
Court of the
• John R. Sand & Gravel Co. v. United States, 128 S. Ct. 750 (2008) (Supreme Court Decision) (whether the statute of limitations for claims in the Court of Federal Claims is a jurisdictional condition on the waiver of sovereign immunity) (Petitioner's Brief in pdf format) (Petitioner's Reply Brief in pdf format)
• Mistretta
v.
United
States Courts of Appeals
• Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. Brown & Bryant, Inc., 132 F.3d 1295 (9th Cir. 1997), amended, 159 F.3d 358 (9th Cir. 1998) (briefed and argued case) (suggesting that federal courts lack power to expand corporate successor liability under environmental law through federal common law, although declining to overturn earlier circuit precedent, and refusing to further extend federal common law rules; court noted: “Litigation often produces criticism for its participants. This case, however, was extraordinarily well briefed and argued by consummate professionals on both sides and we are grateful for that.”) (Brief in pdf format)
• Allende
v. Baker, 891 F.2d 7 (1st Cir. 1989) (briefed and argued case) (holding
that government’s denial of visa to alien on foreign policy grounds was not
without substantial justification so as to subject government to award of
attorney’s fees)
• In
re Joint Eastern & Southern Districts Asbestos Litigation, 891 F.2d 31
(2d Cir. 1989) (briefed and argued case) (holding that discretionary function
exception, found implicit in the Suits in Admiralty Act based upon constitutional
separation of powers, barred claims arising from exposure to asbestos on
merchant marine ships operated by government during World War II)
• Media
Access Project v. Federal Communications Commission, 883 F.2d 1063 (D.C.
Cir. 1989) (briefed and argued case) (holding that facial challenge to agency
regulations was not ripe for judicial review where the agency has discretion
in application of the challenged regulations)
• National
Security Archive v. United States Department of Defense, 880 F.2d 1381
(D.C. Cir. 1989), cert. denied, 494
U.S. 1029 (1990) (briefed and argued case) (holding that organization which
makes Freedom of Information Act requests to produce sets of documents for
sale qualifies as a representative of the news media was entitled to a fee
preference on requests for government documents)
• City
of New York v. Baker, 878 F.2d 507 (D.C. Cir. 1989), rehearing denied with concurring opinion, 888 F.2d 134 (D.C. Cir. 1989)
(briefed and argued case) (holding that presidential proclamations barring
Nicaraguan and Cuban aliens from entering the United States moots their challenges
to visa denials, and reversing court order that a visa be issued to another
alien)
• American
Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Local 2031 v. Federal Labor
Relations Authority, 878 F.2d 461 (D.C. Cir. 1989) (briefed and argued
case) (holding federal employee’s racially derogatory remarks about an agency
manager not protected under the Federal Labor-Management Relations Statute)
• United
States v. Bolding, 876 F.2d 21 (4th Cir. 1989) (briefed and argued case)
(rejecting due process constitutional challenge to federal criminal sentencing
guidelines)
• Antolok
v. United States, 873 F.2d 369 (D.C. Cir. 1989) (briefed and argued case)
(upholding international agreement and statute withdrawing jurisdiction from
United States courts over claims alleging injuries from nuclear testing in the
Marshall Islands and establishing and establishing compensation tribunal)
• United
States v. Frank, 864 F.2d 992 (3d Cir. 1988), cert. denied, 490 U.S. 1095 (1989) (briefed and argued case)
(ruling on constitutionality of Sentencing Reform Act creating the Sentencing
Commission to promulgate federal criminal sentencing guidelines)
• Rosenfeld
v. United States, 859 F.2d 717 (9th Cir. 1988) (briefed and argued case)
(holding government must pay interim attorney’s fees in Freedom of Information
Act litigation notwithstanding statute limiting payment from federal judgment
fund to final judgments)
• Gubiensio-Ortiz
v. Kanahele, 857 F.2d 1245 (9th Cir. 1988), vacated sub nom. United States
v. Chavez-Sanchez, 488
• Wells
v. United States, 851 F.2d 1471 (D.C. Cir. 1988), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 1029 (1989) (briefed and argued case) (holding
tort suit alleging negligent failure by Environmental Protection Agency to
clean up pollution site was barred by the discretionary function exception to
the Federal Tort Claims Act)
• Wagner
v. Director, Federal Emergency Management Agency, 847 F.2d 515 (9th Cir.
1988) (briefed and argued case) (holding that the federal government may not be
estopped from insisting that flood insurance claimants comply with procedural
requirements and that landslide damages is not covered by flood insurance
program)
• Gordon
v. United States, 835 F.2d 96 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 825 (1988) (briefed and argued case)
(holding admiralty action alleging injury from exposure to asbestos on merchant
marine ships operated by government during World War II was barred by
discretionary function exception)
State
Courts
• Planned Parenthood v. Iowa District Court, Iowa upreme Court, 2003 (appeal mooted) (authored amicus brief on behalf of Drake’s Middleton Center for Child Rights regarding privacy objections to county attorney’s subpoena to medical clinic for names of all women with positive pregnancy tests as part of criminal investigation into death of baby found abandoned at dump site) (amicus brief available here in Word format)
• City of West Des Moines v. Engler, 641 N.W.2d 803 (Iowa 2002) (briefed and argued case) (holding that state constitutional free speech rights does not apply on private property (a shopping center) to excuse trespass charges against protestors) (Brief in pdf format)
• Colonial
Imports, Inc. v. Carlton Northwest, Inc., 121 Wash. 2d 726, 853 P.2d 913
(1993) (briefed and argued case) (holding that duty to disclose, giving rise to
a claim of negligent misrepresentation, does not arise outside of a special relationship
between the parties)
• Marshall
v. Western Air Lines, Inc., 62 Wash. App. 251, 813 P.2d 1269 (1991)
(briefed and argued case) (upholding grant of summary judgment against airline passenger
with an inner ear injury allegedly caused by a sudden change in air pressure
and holding that airline had no duty to warn passengers of dangers of ear
damage associated with flying)
• Berger
v. Personal Products, Inc., 115 Wash. 2d 267, 797 P.2d 1148 (1990), cert. denied, 499 U.S. 961 (1991)
(briefed case) (holding that state law tort claims for inadequate warnings
about risk of contracting toxic shock syndrome associated with tampon use was
preempted by federal statutes and regulations on tampon labeling)
Personal
Information
Born
Married to
Melinda (Mindy) Sisk,
Daughter: Caitlin Anne Sisk, Born October 6, 1994.