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Full-Text Articles in Law
Class Action Myopia, Maureen Carroll
Class Action Myopia, Maureen Carroll
Articles
Over the past two decades, courts and commentators have often treated the class action as though it were a monolith, limiting their analysis to the particular class form that joins together a large number of claims for monetary relief This Article argues that the myopic focus on the aggregated-damages class action has led to undertheorization of the other class-action subtypes, which serve far different purposes and have far different effects, and has allowed the ongoing backlash against the aggregated-damages class action to affect the other subtypes in an undifferentiated manner. The failure to confine this backlash to its intended target …
The Supreme Assimilation Of Patent Law, Peter Lee
The Supreme Assimilation Of Patent Law, Peter Lee
Michigan Law Review
Although tensions between universality and exceptionalism apply throughout law, they are particularly pronounced in patent law, a field that deals with highly technical subject matter. This Article explores these tensions by investigating an underappreciated descriptive theory of Supreme Court patent jurisprudence. Significantly extending previous scholarship, it argues that the Court’s recent decisions reflect a project of eliminating “patent exceptionalism” and assimilating patent doctrine to general legal principles (or, more precisely, to what the Court frames as general legal principles). Among other motivations, this trend responds to rather exceptional patent doctrine emanating from the Federal Circuit in areas as varied as …
Pleading With Congress To Resist The Urge To Overrule Twombly And Iqbal, Michael R. Huston
Pleading With Congress To Resist The Urge To Overrule Twombly And Iqbal, Michael R. Huston
Michigan Law Review
In Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly and Ashcroft v. Iqbal, the Supreme Court changed the rhetoric of the federal pleading system. Those decisions have been decried by members of the bar, scholars, and legislators as judicial activism and a rewriting of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Such criticism has led members of both houses of Congress to introduce legislation to overrule the decisions and return to some variation of the "notice pleading" regime that existed before Twombly. This Note argues that both of the current proposals to overrule Twombly and Iqbal should be rejected. Although the bills take different …
Electronic Discovery Sanctions In The Twenty-First Century, Shira A. Scheindlin, Kachana Wangkeo
Electronic Discovery Sanctions In The Twenty-First Century, Shira A. Scheindlin, Kachana Wangkeo
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
At the federal level, the Civil Rules Advisory Committee has responded to the "unique and necessary feature of computer systems--the automatic recycling, overwriting, and alteration of electronically stored information"--with a proposed amendment to Rule 37. The proposed Rule 37(f) would shield litigants from sanctions for the destruction of electronic data if the party "took reasonable steps to preserve the information after it knew or should have known the information was discoverable in the action" and "the failure resulted from the loss of the information because of the routine operation of the party's electronic information system." The safe harbor provision would …
Keeping Courts Afloat In A Rising Sea Of Litigation: An Objective Approach To Imposing Rule 38 Sanctions For Frivolous Appeals, Scott A. Martin
Keeping Courts Afloat In A Rising Sea Of Litigation: An Objective Approach To Imposing Rule 38 Sanctions For Frivolous Appeals, Scott A. Martin
Michigan Law Review
As their dockets swell, federal judges' tolerance for attorney misconduct wears thin. More than ever, judges are willing to impose sanctions for abuses of federal court processes, including frivolous appeals. As one judge explained, "[w]ith courts struggling to remain afloat in a constantly rising sea of litigation, a frivolous appeal can itself be a form of obscenity." Aside from the need to reduce caseloads, other factors underlie the courts' willingness to impose sanctions for frivolous appeals. One concern is that the costs to responsible, ethical litigants increase sharply when the court system's resources are diverted to meritless claims. Another motivating …
Federal Class Action Reform In The United States: Past And Future And Where Next?, Edward H. Cooper
Federal Class Action Reform In The United States: Past And Future And Where Next?, Edward H. Cooper
Articles
Predicting the likely future developments in class action practice in the federal courts of the United States must begin in the past.
Swallowing The Apple Whole: Improper Patent Use By Local Rule, Ellisen S. Turner
Swallowing The Apple Whole: Improper Patent Use By Local Rule, Ellisen S. Turner
Michigan Law Review
During patent infringement litigation, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ("FRCP") and the federal district court's local rules govern the parties' pretrial discovery and motion practice. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has adopted the most comprehensive local rules to date covering pretrial procedures in the patent litigation context. The Northern District of California Patent Local Rules ("Local Rules") may come to have a significant impact throughout the federal courts, as it appears that other jurisdictions and commentators are looking to the Local Rules for guidance. For instance, the American Bar Association Section of Intellectual Property …
Foxes Guarding The Chicken Coop: Intervention As Of Right And The Defense Of Civil Rights Remedies, Alan Jenkins
Foxes Guarding The Chicken Coop: Intervention As Of Right And The Defense Of Civil Rights Remedies, Alan Jenkins
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
This article focuses on the recent spate of cases in which educational institutions on the grounds that their race-conscious admissions policies are unconstitutional. The author analyzes the role of minority students and organizations who are the beneficiaries of those polices at the defendant institutions and their recent attempts to intervene in the lawsuits pursuant to Rule 24 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. First, the author argues that under the traditional interpretation of Rule 24(a); intervention of right should be granted to minority students and organizations in the great majority of instances. Second, the author looks at the reasons …
Did The Civil Justice Reform Act Of 1990 Actually Expire?, Carl Tobias
Did The Civil Justice Reform Act Of 1990 Actually Expire?, Carl Tobias
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
The Civil Justice Reform Act of 1990 (CJRA) was intended to reduce the expense and delay associated with federal district court litigation by requiring courts to study and adopt new procedures. The CJRA's gains, however, may be erased by the uncertainty surrounding its sunset provision. Professor Tobias argues that Congress or the Judicial Conference should resolve the uncertainty by proclaiming that the CJRA has expired, thus forcing districts to abrogate procedures inconsistent with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
Structuring Multiclaim Litigation: Should Rule 23 Be Revised?, William W. Schwarzer
Structuring Multiclaim Litigation: Should Rule 23 Be Revised?, William W. Schwarzer
Michigan Law Review
The question whether Rule 23 should be revised therefore is not susceptible to a global answer unless revision is stylistic only, limited to making the text more elegant - and even stylistic revision is likely to have some substantive impact, even if unintended. But if the argument for revision is that the Rule is in some respect deficient and should be made to work better, one must begin by answering the question how it should work. That in tum depends on defining the Rule's purpose - what it is intended to accomplish.This paper examines briefly the purposes for which the …
Rule 23: Challenges To The Rulemaking Process (Symposium: The Institute Of Judicial Administration Research Conference On Class Actions), Edward H. Cooper
Rule 23: Challenges To The Rulemaking Process (Symposium: The Institute Of Judicial Administration Research Conference On Class Actions), Edward H. Cooper
Articles
Three decades have elapsed since Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure last underwent revision. Taking a cue from proposed amendments prepared by the Civil Rules Advisory Committee, Professor Cooper asks whether now is the appropriate time to revise Rule 23. In this Articl e he identifis three potential "big changes" to the Rule. subsantially curtailing class actions; accommodating the needs of mass-tort actions; and recognizing the class as an entity, distinct from Its representatives. After outlining and critiquing the Advisory Committee's draf4 Professor Cooper raises a host of questions about many aspects of Rule 23 and suggests …
Summary Judgment Before The Completion Of Discovery: A Proposed Revision Of Federal Rule Of Civil Procedure 56(F), John F. Lapham
Summary Judgment Before The Completion Of Discovery: A Proposed Revision Of Federal Rule Of Civil Procedure 56(F), John F. Lapham
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Part I of this Note discusses the purpose of summary judgment in a regime of notice pleading. Part II examines how the federal courts have interpreted and applied rule 56(f). Part III suggests that rule 56(f) be modified to require a more significant factual showing before a court may grant a continuance for further discovery. In addition, Part III examines the policy considerations that support a more stringent rule. Finally, Part IV provides a hypothetical example illustrating the benefits of this proposal.
Court Examination Of The Discovery File On A Motion For Summary Judgment, Michigan Law Review
Court Examination Of The Discovery File On A Motion For Summary Judgment, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
This Note examines the history and ambiguous language of rule 56 to determine whether courts have a duty to examine the discovery file before granting a summary judgment. Section I discusses courts' differing interpretations of the rule. Section II shows that the Supreme Court Advisory Committee which drafted the rule contemplated that courts would examine routinely filed discovery materials when considering a motion for summary judgment. Section III concludes, however, that the expansion of pre-trial discovery since the enactment of the federal rules renders such a trial court duty inconsistent with the drafters' intent that the rules "be construed to …
Federal Rule 44.1 And The "Fact" Approach To Determining Foreign Law: Death Knell For A Die-Hard Doctrine, Arthur R. Miller
Federal Rule 44.1 And The "Fact" Approach To Determining Foreign Law: Death Knell For A Die-Hard Doctrine, Arthur R. Miller
Michigan Law Review
The objective of this article is to analyze Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 44.1, which was developed as part of the reforms of the last decade and became effective on July 1, 1966 and to assess its capacity to rationalize the process of determining foreign law in the federal courts. What follows is an excursion through the past doctrine and into the probable future treatment of foreign law in the federal courts, an exploration of the interrelationship between the new Rule and other phases of federal civil procedure, and an analysis of the prospect that the Rule's effectiveness may be …
Contempt-Injunctions-Federal Civil Contempt Decree Orders Deputy Sheriff To Resign From Office-Lance V. Plummer, Michigan Law Review
Contempt-Injunctions-Federal Civil Contempt Decree Orders Deputy Sheriff To Resign From Office-Lance V. Plummer, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
During the summer of 1964, a federal district judge issued an injunction prohibiting various St. Augustine, Florida organizations and other persons with notice of the injunction from harassing or intimidating Negroes who were seeking motel or restaurant accommodations. Appellant Lance, an unpaid volunteer deputy sheriff, was not a member of any of the enjoined organizations, but he had actual notice of the order. Nonetheless, six days after the injunction was issued, he engaged in activities designed to intimidate a Negro citizen. In a subsequent civil contempt action arising from these activities, the federal district judge, asserting jurisdiction over him because …
Determination Of Federal Jurisdictional Amount In Suits On Unliquidated Claims, Michigan Law Review
Determination Of Federal Jurisdictional Amount In Suits On Unliquidated Claims, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
Hoping to keep federal court dockets free of petty claims and thereby to reduce the delay in bringing to trial controversies involving more substantial sums, Congress has given United States district courts jurisdiction of many civil actions arising under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States and most disputes between parties of diverse citizenship only when the alleged right forming the basis of a claimant's cause of action can be valued at more than ten thousand dollars. The value of a particular claim is determined by reference to those portions of its proponent's pleading which tend to support …
Prejudicial Reliance Upon A Trial Court's Ruling May Result In Suspension Of Federal Rules On Timeliness Of Appeals-Thompson V. Immigration & Naturalization Serv.; Wolfsohn V. Hankin, Michigan Law Review
Prejudicial Reliance Upon A Trial Court's Ruling May Result In Suspension Of Federal Rules On Timeliness Of Appeals-Thompson V. Immigration & Naturalization Serv.; Wolfsohn V. Hankin, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
In Thompson v. Immigration & Naturalization Serv., twelve days after the federal district court had entered an order denying a petition for naturalization, petitioner announced his intention of making motions for a new trial and amended findings of fact. Although the motions must be filed within ten days of the entry of judgment, the judge assured petitioner they were made in ample time, and no objection was raised by the Government. Six months later the motions were denied. Within sixty days of this denial, but not within sixty days of the original judgment, petitioner filed a notice of appeal. …
The New Michigan Pre-Trial Procedural Rules-Models For Other States?, Robert Meisenholder
The New Michigan Pre-Trial Procedural Rules-Models For Other States?, Robert Meisenholder
Michigan Law Review
The new Michigan procedural laws are embodied in a revised set of statutes and court rules which became effective January 1, 1963, after a long period of study by a Joint Committee on Michigan Procedural Revision. They abolish an anachronistic distinction between procedures in law and equity, abrogate a scattered, disorganized set of rules and statutes, and create a unified, coherent procedural system.
Evidence- Hearsay-Scope Of Federal Rule 43(A), David K. Kroll S. Ed
Evidence- Hearsay-Scope Of Federal Rule 43(A), David K. Kroll S. Ed
Michigan Law Review
The clocktower of plaintiff county's courthouse buckled and collapsed into the courtroom below. Charred timbers were found in the wreckage. Several residents reported that they saw lightning strike the tower five days before the collapse. Plaintiff carried insurance for loss by fire or lightning, and sued the insurers when they denied liability. Defendant claimed that the tower collapsed of its own weight because of faulty design, deterioration, and overloading. To account for the charred timbers defendant introduced into evidence a fifty-eight-year-old newspaper article from the files of the city newspaper describing a fire in the courthouse during its construction. The …
Attachment And Garnishment In The Federal Courts, Brainerd Currie
Attachment And Garnishment In The Federal Courts, Brainerd Currie
Michigan Law Review
Personal injuries allegedly caused by the negligent manufacture of safety fuses used in blasting operations in a coal mine were suffered by Raymond Davis, apparently a citizen of Arkansas. The manufacturer, Ensign-Bickford Company, was a Connecticut corporation that could not be personally served with process within Arkansas. But it happened that two foreign corporations, amenable to process in the state, were indebted in substantial amounts to Ensign-Bickford Company. Accordingly, counsel for Davis, invoking the diversity jurisdiction, filed an action in the District Court for the Western District of Arkansas. Without issue of summons, the plaintiff, in conformity with Arkansas statutes, …
Federal Procedure - Trial Practice - Not Reversible Error For Trial Judge To Summon Jury Sua Sponte After Waiver, Thomas A. Dieterich
Federal Procedure - Trial Practice - Not Reversible Error For Trial Judge To Summon Jury Sua Sponte After Waiver, Thomas A. Dieterich
Michigan Law Review
Plaintiff instituted this action for breach of contract and defendant counterclaimed. Neither party demanded a jury trial during the period in which it was claimable as of right. Subsequently defendant moved for a jury trial. The motion was denied and was never renewed. Seven months later, on the eve of the trial, the court issued an order sua sponte for a jury trial. Plaintiff's objection was overruled. The jury awarded damages to plaintiff in the same amount as the conceded counterclaim. On appeal, held, affirmed, one judge dissenting. Although the trial judge's action in calling a jury on his …
Rules Of Practice And Procedure: A Study Of Judicial Rule Making, Charles W. Joiner, Oscar J. Miller
Rules Of Practice And Procedure: A Study Of Judicial Rule Making, Charles W. Joiner, Oscar J. Miller
Michigan Law Review
The rule-making power of the courts in the United States is is brought into focus wherever procedural reform is undertaken. As more and more states have undertaken rev1s1on of judicial procedures, the power and authority of courts to promulgate rules of practice and the definition of the scope of such rules have claimed increasingly the attention of legal writers. This trend can be attributed in part to a growing realization that statutes governing practice and procedure in courts, enacted by legislatures meeting every year or two, have failed to achieve that minimum standard in the administration of justice necessary to …
Compulsory Joinder Of Parties In Civil Actions, John W. Reed
Compulsory Joinder Of Parties In Civil Actions, John W. Reed
Michigan Law Review
Compulsory joinder cases involving interests in land display one peculiar and important characteristic: there is almost never any need in the state courts to wrestle with the question of whether a person is indispensable as distinguished from necessary. One hastens to add that this attribute of land cases appears to have gone largely unnoticed, but it exists none the less. It arises out of the fact that in a suit involving real property it is never impossible for the court to obtain jurisdiction over all persons interested therein to an extent which will enable the court to adjudicate controversies over …
Compulsory Joinder Of Parties In Civil Actions, John W. Reed
Compulsory Joinder Of Parties In Civil Actions, John W. Reed
Articles
The plaintiff in a civil cause ordinarily is permitted to select the persons with whom he will litigate. The initial designation of parties to an action is made by the plaintiff, and if he chooses to sue B and not A,' that is ordinarily of no concern to B or to A or to the court. So also where the plaintiff without A as co-plaintiff sues B. Not always, however, is the plaintiff permitted unfettered choice in naming the parties to his lawsuit. On the one hand there are persons whose relationship to the situation in litigation is outside the …
Adequacy Of Instructions To The Jury: Ii, Curtis Wright Jr.
Adequacy Of Instructions To The Jury: Ii, Curtis Wright Jr.
Michigan Law Review
The six states in this group present some very special cases. They range from an original colony to Florida and Texas, which were admitted to statehood in 1845. National rank in population varies from sixth (Texas) to twenty-sixth (Mississippi) with the average almost within the top one-third. As to increase of population, the mean is close to the national figure of fifteen percent. That statement needs qualification, however, since Florida increased 46 percent and Texas 20 percent, whereas Mississippi had an actual loss of two percent. No docket delay of more than six months is found anywhere except in Texas, …
Adequacy Of Instructions To The Jury: I, Curtis Wright, Jr
Adequacy Of Instructions To The Jury: I, Curtis Wright, Jr
Michigan Law Review
In view of frequent judicial complaints about "instructions by the acre," it may be appropriate to begin with a short justification for an article bearing a title which might appear to suggest an antithetical problem, that is, the existence of a question as to the adequacy of instructions to the jury. To this end one might repeat the assertion that the verdict of a jury which is not instructed as to the fundamental law of the case is "crackerbarrel justice." If this is true, it certainly is also true that the mere number of instructions given is no guarantee of …
Federal Procedure-Jurisdiction-Determination Of Amount In Controversy In Class Actions Under Federal Rule 23, James W. Callison
Federal Procedure-Jurisdiction-Determination Of Amount In Controversy In Class Actions Under Federal Rule 23, James W. Callison
Michigan Law Review
Plaintiff owned 50 shares of common stock valued at $950. She brought an action in behalf of herself and all other stockholders to enjoin a sale of unissued stock by the corporation to its president, claiming a violation of her preemptive right. The district court ruled on the merits. On appeal, held, the plaintiff's interest was but a small fraction of the $3,000 required to invoke the jurisdiction of the federal courts. Although the action was representative, the claims of other stockholders in a like situation could not be cumulated. Ames v. Mengel Co., (2d Cir. 1951) 190 …
Federal Procedure-Joinder Of Legal And Equitable Claims-Trial By Jury, William O. Allen
Federal Procedure-Joinder Of Legal And Equitable Claims-Trial By Jury, William O. Allen
Michigan Law Review
Plaintiff brought an action against his employer in a federal district court under the Federal Employers' Liability Act for damages for personal injuries suffered during the course of his employment. In the same action, plaintiff sought to have a release, which he had executed, set aside on the ground that it had been obtained by defendant's fraud. Plaintiff requested a jury trial of both claims; defendant objected to a jury trial of the issue of setting aside the release, on the ground that a claim for cancellation of a release is for equitable relief triable to the court alone. Held …
Federal Courts-Use Of A Cross-Claim Under Rule 13(G) Of The Federal Rules Of Civil Procedure, Rex Eames S.Ed.
Federal Courts-Use Of A Cross-Claim Under Rule 13(G) Of The Federal Rules Of Civil Procedure, Rex Eames S.Ed.
Michigan Law Review
Under an ordinary automobile insurance policy, P insurance company promised to defend and indemnify Harvey for any suit arising from an accident involving his use of the insured truck. Collier sued Harvey in a state court alleging injuries due to the negligent use of the insured truck by two Harvey employees. Before judgment thereon, P, incorporated under the laws of Wisconsin, sued Harvey and Collier, citizens of Oklahoma, in the federal court. P sought a declaratory judgment on the grounds that (a) at the time of the accident the employees were under the control and supervision of the City …
Federal Courts-Rules Of Civil Procedure-Construction Of Rule 50 (B), Daniel W. Reddin, Ii
Federal Courts-Rules Of Civil Procedure-Construction Of Rule 50 (B), Daniel W. Reddin, Ii
Michigan Law Review
This action was brought in a South Carolina state court and removed to the federal district court on grounds of diversity of citizenship. After the evidence of both parties had been presented, the court denied defendant's motion for a directed verdict. Thereafter, the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff. Although defendant filed a motion for a new trial on grounds of newly discovered evidence which the court denied, he did not move to have the verdict and judgment set aside and to have judgment entered in his favor as he might have done under Rule 50 (b) of the …