Course Details

Advanced Torts: Business Torts

All businesses face potential assertions of liability and run the risk of having legal or equitable remedies assessed against them. This is a fact of business life and a costly one, affecting the operational life and value of the enterprise. For that reason, knowledge of business torts is critical for commercial litigation lawyers as well as those who practice transactional or business organization law. Building on their knowledge of torts learned in the first-year curriculum, students will explore the legal liability of business entities and professionals for economic losses as opposed to losses caused by bodily injuries or property damage, the primary focus of the first-year curriculum. The course is broken into three broad areas: “Contract Torts”, “Competition Torts”, and “Statutory Torts”. Particular attention will be paid by the complexities caused by the overlap between these broad areas, as well as their tension with other more traditional theories of recovery in contract, IP, and antitrust. The topics covered include: the economic loss doctrine, fraud, negligent misrepresentation, tortious interference with contract and prospective business relationships, breach of fiduciary duty, bad faith, deceptive trade practices, disparagement, theft of trade secrets, and Civil RICO. As these kinds of business torts create difficulties for courts and litigants alike, they also create complexities for businesses in their attempts to offset risk for them. This will be discussed along the way as well.

Catalog Number: PPTYTORT 635
Practice Areas: Antitrust Practice Area ,  Civil and Human Rights ,  Civil Lit. and Dispute Resolution ,  Comparative Law Practice Area ,  Environmental Law Area ,  Health Care Practice Area ,  Intellectual Property Practice Area ,  Law and Social Science ,  Tort Law Practice Area
Additional Course Information: Appellate Law Conc, Open to First Year Students

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Course History

Spring 2026
Title: Advanced Torts: Business Torts
Faculty: Lupo, James A. (courses | profile)
Section: 1     Credits: 3.0
Capacity: 70     Actual: 26

Spring 2025
Title: Torts II
Faculty: Lupo, James A. (courses | profile)
Section: 1     Credits: 3.0
Capacity: 70     Actual: 15