Law Commons^™

Reviving Antitrust Enforcement In The Airline Industry, Jonathan Edelman

Michigan Law Review

The Department of Transportation (DOT) has broad but oft overlooked power to address antitrust issues among airlines through section 411 of the Federal Aviation Act. However, the DOT’s unwillingness to enforce antitrust more aggressively may be translating into higher fares and fees for airline travelers.

More aggressive antitrust enforcement is urgently needed. Recent research has revealed a widespread practice of common ownership in the airline industry, whereby investment firms own large portions of rival airline companies. Although this practice leads to higher prices and reduced competition, antitrust regulators, from the DOT to the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade …

Houston, We Have A (Liability) Problem, Justin Silver

Michigan Law Review

The development of private manned space flight is proceeding rapidly; there are proposals to launch paying passengers before the end of 2014. Given the historically dangerous nature of space travel, an accident will probably occur at some point, resulting in passengers’ injury or death. In the event of a lawsuit stemming from such an accident, a court will likely find that a space flight entity operating suborbital flights is a common carrier, while an entity operating orbital flights is not. Regardless of whether these entities are common carriers, they face a threat of high levels of liability, as well as …

Outer Space: New Challenges To Law And Policy, Timothy J. Chorvat

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Outer Space: New Challenges to Law and Policy by J.E.S. Fawcett

Hijacking, Freedom, And The "American Way", Andreas F. Lowenfeld

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Judgment in Berlin by Herbert J. Stern

Federal Preemption Of State Law: The Example Of Overbooking In The Airline Industry, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Such complexity is common in the airline context, both because the Federal Aviation Act1 (FAA) and the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) do not purport to regulate all aspects of the industry and because airline activities are so varied that they come within the reach of numerous state statutory and common-law rules. This Note will consider the power of the CAB to preempt state law and thereby to insulate airline activities from state-law liability. It will suggest a framework for analyzing the problems of preemption by focusing on airline concealment of overbooking practices. Section I explains airline overbooking and demonstrates that …

The Constitutionality Of Airport Searches, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note will discuss airport searches in comparison to several situations in which the courts have found that the requirements of the fourth amendment do not apply or are satisfied even in the absence of a warrant: border searches, administrative searches, stop-and-frisk searches, and searches under express or implied consent. None of these are perfectly analogous to the present airport procedures. Therefore, if airport searches are to be allowed, either the procedures must be modified to fit the established exceptions, or a new exception to the warrant requirement of the fourth amendment must be created.

Fawcett: International Law And The Uses Of Outer Space, Stanley D. Metzger

Michigan Law Review

A Review of International Law and the Uses of Outer Space by J.E.S. Fawcett

Mankiewicz, Ed.: Yearbook Of Air And Space Law 1965, Howard J. Taubenfeld

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Yearbook of Air and Space Law 1965 edited by Rene H. Mankiewicz

Noise And The Law, George A. Spater

Michigan Law Review

For practical purposes the discussion of the law of noise can be considered in two parts: first, the rights of a complainant against a private person and second, the rights of a complainant against the government or an agency acting by government authority.

Space Communications And The Law: Adequate International Control After 1963?, Samuel D. Estep, Amalya L. Kearse

Michigan Law Review

During the current year, a space event of legal and technological significance will occur. The American Telephone and Telegraph Company (A.T. & T.), using the launching facilities of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), will launch its first satellite for research in the area of commercial communications.† The A.T. & T. sphere will be the first tested by a private, commercial organization specifically for business purposes- to implement a plan eventually to provide increased and improved telecommunications on a grand scale at a lower cost. The satellite will relay television signals from the United States to England, Germany, and …

Civil Aeronautics Act-Discrimination-Private Cause Of Action For Punitive Damages, L. B. Hirsch

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff held a reconfirmed tourist reservation on one of defendant's St. Louis-to-Los Angeles flights. Defendant oversold the flight and subsequently "bumped" the plaintiff from the flight in favor of a first-class passenger who was given plaintiff's accommodations in the tourist section. Defendant's agent booked a reservation for the plaintiff aboard another airline and provided plaintiff with lunch. The only expense incurred by the plaintiff as a result of being removed from defendant's flight was the cost of a telephone call to inform his wife of his new arrival time; and plaintiff was inconvenienced by a delay of four hours on …

The Law-Making Treaties Of The International Telecommunication Union Through Time And In Space, J. Henry Glazer

Michigan Law Review

On the twenty-fifth of June, the Government of the United States of America received an invitation to attend in Russia a conference of plenipotentiaries to consider the revision of an important multilateral convention. Since the conference involved matters which, by American municipal practice, were solely within the competence of private enterprise and not subject to the control of government, the United States at first refused to attend. Russia, however, assured the United States that representatives of private enterprises would be welcome. Relations between these two countries were on such a friendly basis that the United States accepted the invitation extended …

Constitutional Law-Eminent Domain-Master Flight Plan As A Taking Of Land Under Approach Area To Municipal Airport, Ralph L. Wright S. Ed

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff owned land adjacent to the Greater Pittsburgh Airport which lay under an approach area for one of the runways. Allegheny County, in compliance with rules and regulations of the Civil Aeronautics Authority, drafted a "Master Plan," approved by the CAA, which showed the approach area over part of plaintiff's property. Plaintiff sued to recover damages from the county, owner and operator of the airport, alleging an appropriation of his land because of the substantial interference with its use and enjoyment caused by flights at low altitudes above his land during landings and take-offs. Upon an award of damages by …

Air Law - The Federal Aviation Act Of 1958, John W. Gelder S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

On August 23, 1958 the President signed into law the most important piece of aviation legislation to come out of Congress in the past two decades. After several study groups had worked on the air safety problem, the President acted in February 1956 by appointing Edward P. Curtis as his Special Assistant for Aviation Facilities Planning. In May 1957 the now famous Curtis Report was submitted to Congress in which it was suggested that an independent aviation agency be set up by 1959. It took several major air tragedies, however, to awaken Congress and the nation to the need for …

Air Law - Imputed Negligence - Liability Of Airplane Owner For Negligence Of Pilot, George E. Lohr S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, passenger in an airplane owned by defendant as proprietor of the flight school and piloted by a flight trainee with defendant's permission, suffered injuries in a crash allegedly caused by the negligence of the pilot and brought this action against defendant owner to recover damages. The trial court sustained defendant's motion to dismiss the complaint. On appeal, held, reversed and remanded for new trial. If the allegations of negligence of the pilot are found to be true, defendant would be liable for plaintiff's injuries even though he was not in actual control of the airplane. The governing statutory …

Landowners' Rights In The Air Age: The Airport Dilemma, William B. Harvey

Michigan Law Review

If Lord Tennyson had been a student of the common law, he might well have qualified his poetic foresight of "the heavens fill[ed] with commerce" by some cautious reference to the complaints of landowners below against the "pilots of the purple twilight, dropping down with costly bales." The result doubtless would have been poorer poetry but a far more accurate forecast of the problems to confront mid-20th century lawyers. Although the phenomenal growth of civil aviation since the first World War has opened up a host of difficulties, the only ones of concern in this article are those presenting the …

Aviation Law - Tort Liability For Damage To Persons Or Property On The Ground - Res Ipsa Loquitur, Allan L. Bioff

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff's fishing vessel was struck and sunk by a practice bomb released from a Marine Corps aircraft. An action was brought against the government under the Federal Tort Claims Act. Plaintiff could produce no proof of negligence on the part of the government. Held, recovery allowed. The doctrine of res ipsa loquitur is applicable. Goodwin v. United States, (E.D. N.C. 1956) 141 F. Supp. 445.

Regulation Of Business - Jurisdiction Of The Civil Aeronautics Board And The Federal Trade Commission - Investigations In The Interest Of The Public, Robert W. Steele S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner, American Airlines, filed a memorandum with the Civil Aeronautics Board requesting that respondent's request for registration of the name North American Airlines be denied. Section 411 of the Civil Aeronautics Act provides that the board has the authority to prevent air carriers from engaging in unfair methods of competition in commerce and unfair or deceptive acts or practices, and may issue a complaint against any air carrier when it shall appear to the board that a proceeding by it would be in the interest of the public. The board found that the public was confused as to the origin …

Constitutional Law - Interstate Commerce - Power Of States To Recalculate Aircraft Operating In Interstate Commerce, Robert W. Steele

Michigan Law Review

Defendant village, located one mile from Idlewild Airport, passed an ordinance prohibiting air flight over the town at less than 1,000 feet. Plaintiffs brought suit to enjoin enforcement of the ordinance, with Civil Aeronautics Board intervening as· plaintiff. The Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938 gives the CAB the authority to regulate aircraft in navigable air space, and the authority to define navigable airspace by setting minimum altitudes for flight. The CAB minimum altitude rules provide that aircraft flying over congested areas shall not be operated below 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a horizontal radius of 2,000 feet, except …

Jurisdiction In Private International Air Law Cases, H. Alberta Colclaser

Michigan Law Review

Causes of action involving nationals of different countries frequently give rise to jurisdictional problems. These problems become pronounced in cases where absence of the defendant from the jurisdiction where the cause is heard results in allegations of substantive or procedural prejudice to the defendant and in cases where the failure of the defendant to satisfy a judgment awarded against him creates a necessity for the plaintiff to take his case to another jurisdiction for execution.

Negligence-Res Ipsa Loquitur-Applicability To Airplane Crashes, Karl R. Ross

Michigan Law Review

In an action for the wrongful death of an airplane passenger killed in a crash of a commercial airliner, plaintiff relied upon specific acts of negligence and the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur. Defendant moved to strike from the complaint all allegations pertaining to res ipsa loquitur, on the ground that the doctrine did not apply to airplane crashes. Held, motion denied. Smith v. Pennsylvania Central Airline Corp., (D.C. D.C. 1948) 76 F. Supp. 940.

Constitutional Law-Taking Private Property For Public Use-Control Of Airspace, Robert K. Eifler S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The airspace above land is the object of at least five conflicting claims of right. The owner of the land beneath it claims the right to use it and at least a limited right to prevent its use. The aviator demands the right to fly through it. The airport operator, whether governmental agent or private individual, has an interest in keeping it free from obstructions. The state claims sovereignty over it. The federal government claims the power to control it for the purposes of interstate commerce as well as international relations.

Aeronautic Servitudes: A Comparative Study, José Ignacio Perdomo-Escobar

Michigan Law Review

Air servitudes may be of two types: international servitudes, regulated by the law of nations, or servitudes of domestic public law, regulated by administrative law.

Air Law - Legal Status Of Airplane Flight, Philip A. Hart Jr.

Michigan Law Review

The classical statement of the extent of the landowner's right to the air space above his land is the maxim, Cujus est solum ejus est usque ad coelum. It is recognized, however, that decisions stating such a rule are not in point upon the status of air navigation today, for when those decisions were rendered flights were made in fancy only. Hence it is that all cases deciding this modern problem have disregarded the literal meaning of this maxim and tried to strike a compromise between the claims of air navigation and the claims of ownership. Three theories have …

Aviation-Trespass-Nuisance

Michigan Law Review

Land-owners sought to enjoin flight over their property as a trespass and nuisance; and to enjoin as a nuisance the use of the adjoining field as a base from which to make such flights. Held, injunction denied because of insufficient evidence of injury. Flight at 500 feet or more was impliedly authorized by the statute forbidding flight lit less than that attitude over buildings or persons. Mass. Acts, 1922, ch. 534, sec. 1 sub-sec. 55. As to occasional flights over unoccupied brush land at a height of about 100 feet in landing or taking off, injunctive relief was denied …

Aerial Navigation

Michigan Law Review

With the rapid increase of the use of the air by airplanes and other craft, courts are bound to be called upon frequently to determine the rights and liabilities of the owners and operators of aircraft with reference to other persons in various positions. It is probable that, as was found to be true in the cases of other new devices, the principles of the common law are sufficiently elastic and adaptable to determine the settlement of most, if not all, of the controversies.

Liability For Accidents In Aerial Navigation, Simeon E. Baldwin

Michigan Law Review

It cannot be long before the American courts will be called upon to decide whether, under the principles of the common law, aeronauts, who cause damage by a descent to the earth, are liable at all events, or only when chargeable with negligence or want of skill. Is there a right to navigate the air, corresponding to the right to navigate the sea? ·