Litigation
Cal. Litig. 2023, Volume 35, Issue 3
Content
- California's Commitment To Wage Transparency Comes At a Cost To Employers
- Confessions From An Electronic Platform 2022: Appellate Argument
- Disclosure of Litigation Funding Arrangements: Much Ado About Nothing
- Don't Let Your Client's Bequest Be a Lawsuit
- Editor's Foreword
- From the Section Chair
- Governmental Entity Litigation: the Mirror Dimension
- New Federal Legislation Raises Dueling Experts: What Olean Might Mean For the Future of Class Certification In the Ninth Circuit
- PAST SECTION CHAIRS & EDITORS-IN-CHIEF
- Q & A WITH JUDGE VINCE CHHABRIA OF THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
- SECTION OFFICERS & EDITORIAL BOARD
- Smashing Statues: the Rise and Fall of America's Public Monuments
- Table of Contents
- The California Supreme Court In Judicial Year 2021-2022: Emerging From the Pandemic
- The Hastings College of the Law Name Change: the Real Deal About the Bad and the Ugly
- The Supreme Court's Five Arbitration Decisions
- Working: Conversations With Essential Workers
- Fraud As Hyperreality
FRAUD AS HYPERREALITY
Written by Hon. Abraham C. Meltzer*
Fraud is the central issue in many criminal prosecutions and civil lawsuits. In addition to common law fraud, there are also fraud-related statutes, such as: the federal and California False Claims Acts, wire and mail fraud statutes, identity theft laws, and various securities fraud statutes. Fraud occupies a prominent position in the legal landscape.
We rarely step back, however, to think about the fundamental nature of fraud — what is it, really? Yet, such a philosophical discussion is useful when investigating fraud cases. One tool that provides insight when analyzing fraud is French philosopher Jean Baudrillard’s concept of hyperreality. Understanding hyperreality helps us to answer the question we all want to know when we are handed a new fraud case: what is truly going on?