In 1990, the California Supreme Court decided Moore v. UC Regents, and both health law and property law has wrestled with the decision in the thirty-five years since. The case involved a cancer patient who sued his doctors and their biomedical company for using his cells without his knowledge or consent to create a valuable cell line. The court’s decision to deny the patient a property right over his cells, while awarding more nominal damages based on contractual and fiduciary duty law, has had implications for biomedical research, patients’ rights, and private law theory.

This conference discusses the legacy of Moore, its implications for contemporary health policy and medical innovation, and how property law intersects with bodily autonomy.

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Schedule

8 am - Breakfast

8:45 - 10 am: Panel 1: Moore v. UC Regents in the classroom: Contrasting Interpretations and Lessons

Moderator: Dean Dayna Matthew, George Washington University Law School

• Michael Abramowicz, George Washington University Law School
• Barak Richman, George Washington University Law School
• Sonia Suter, George Washington University Law School
• Thomas Williams, American University Washington College of Law

10:15 - 11:30 am: Panel 2: Property Law and the Body

Moderator: Sonia Suter, George Washington University Law School

• Greer Donley, The University of Pittsburgh, School of Law
• Michele Goodwin, Georgetown University Law Center
• Radhika Rao, UC Law San Francisco
• Harriet Washington, Columbia University School of Professional Studies

11:45 am - 1 pm: Lunchtime Keynote

The Henrietta Lacks Legacy at Johns Hopkins University

• Jeffrey Kahn,  Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics
• The Honorable Kweisi Mfume, U.S. Representative (invited)

1:15 - 2:30 pm: Panel 3: Property Law and Bodily Information

Moderator: Robert Brauneis, George Washington University Law School

• Jorge Contreras, University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law
• Rebecca Eisenberg, University of Michigan Law School
• Natalie Ram, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
• Jessica Roberts, Emory University School of Law

2:45 - 3:45 pm: Closing Comment: The Theory of Property and the Future of Biological Markets

• Carol Rose, Yale Law School