Law Commons^™

A Sea Change In Creditor Priorities, Kristen Van De Biezenbos

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article argues that the operation of maritime law undermines a primary justification for creditor priorities under U.S. law. Under current law, when a debtor becomes insolvent, its secured creditors will be paid the full amount of their debt to the extent of their security interest, even if that leaves nothing to pay unsecured creditors. This is controversial with respect to involuntary unsecured creditors, particularly those with tort claims against the debtor. Defenders of this scheme of priorities have argued that allowing greater priority to involuntary creditors would hinder the availability or increase the cost of credit. However, involuntary creditors …

An Ind. Run Around The U.C.C.: The Use (Or Abuse?) Of Indemnity, Paul J. Wilkinson

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of Warranty Claims Instituted By Non-Privity Plaintiffs In Jurisdictions That Have Adopted Uniform Commercial Code Section 2-318 (Alternative A), William L. Stallworth

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Products Liability Tort Reform: Why Virginia Should Adopt The Henderson-Twerski Proposed Revision Of Section 402a Restatement (Second) Of Torts, Peter Nash Swisher

University of Richmond Law Review

Over the past three decades, literally thousands of American products liability judicial opinions have explicitly referred to, and analyzed, section 402A of the Second Restatement of Torts. At least thirty-four states have judicially adopted section 402A, and

five other states have passed specific statutes adopting the section.3 Since the landmark products liability case of Greenman v. Yuba Power Products,Inc.4 in 1963, at least forty-five states have now adopted some form of strict liability in tort remedy in American products liability actions.5 Only Virginia and four other states do

not recognize a strict liability in tort remedy applied to state prod- …

Comparative Negligence Under The Code: Protecting Negligent Banks Against Negligent Customers, Julianna J. Zekan

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article will examine modern banking practices with respect to processing checks and the effect of technology on liability for forged or altered checks. Part I describes the magnetic ink character-recognition system. Part II discusses check truncation. Part III recounts the evolution of contract and tort theories of liability from traditional to modern bank practices. Part IV analyzes the new comparative negligence provisions. Part V investigates the standards of ordinary care. Part VI evaluates the respective duties of the banks and their customers in light of the provisions that reflect the banking industry's transformation from the Paper Age to the …

Allocation Of Loss Due To Fraudulent Wholesale Wire Transfers: Is There A Negligence Action Against A Beneficiary's Bank After Article 4a Of The Uniform Commercial Code?, Robert M. Lewis

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that where a bank reasonably should have known of a fraud but still pays out a wire transfer to an unauthorized recipient, common law negligence should provide a basis for recovery despite the absence of an explicit Code provision imposing liability on the bank. Part I examines the UCC's language itself and analyzes possible cases, under 4A and under articles 3 and 4 by analogy, and discusses the applicability of these other parts of the UCC to wire transfers. Part II examines how extra-Code regulatory systems and the common law would determine wire transfer liability. Part II …

Blood Bank And Blood Products Manufacturer Liability In Transfusion-Related Aids Cases, Dana J. Finberg

University of Richmond Law Review

Can a blood bank or a blood products manufacturer be held liable if a patient contracts AIDS through a transfusion of blood or a blood product? And, if so, should the bank or manufacturer be held liable? As of February 1989, approximately 200 cases touching on this issue were pending in the United States.

Torts: Boyle V. United Technologies Corp.: The United States Supreme Court Accepts The Government Contractor Defense, Brian Shipp

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Collision Of Tort And Contract In The Construction Industry, Murray H. Wright, Edward E. Nicholas Iii

University of Richmond Law Review

Over the past two decades, several courts have allowed construction industry plaintiffs to assert tort claims to recover for purely economic losses (i.e. other than injury to person or property) from other participants in the construction process. Parties assert tort claims, instead of or in addition to contract claims, to take advantage of the more liberal tort damage rules and, probably more importantly, to escape unfavorable contract provisions. This article briefly discusses the different origins and goals of tort and contract law. It then reviews some of the decisions allowing recovery of purely economic losses in tort as well as …

The Warranty Of Merchantability And Computer Software Contracts: A Square Peg Won't Fit In A Round Hole, Edward G. Durney

Washington Law Review

Courts have consistently held that Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code (U.C.C.) governs transactions involving computer hardware. Treatment of computer software transactions has been less consistent. This Comment contends that computer software, an intangible, is not within the scope of Article 2. It further contends that the warranty of merchantability cannot meaningfully be applied by analogy in computer software contracts. Finally, this Comment concludes that existing tort and contract causes of action provide software users with sufficient protection.

Action Accrual Date For Written Warranties To Repair: Date Of Delivery Or Date Of Failure To Repair?, Carey A. Dewitt

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Note argues that the statute of limitations for an action for breach of a repair warranty should begin to run not when the goods are delivered (on-delivery rule), but when the manufacturer has failed to repair the goods (failure-to-repair rule). Part I considers the current division of authority relating to the action accrual date (the date at which the limitations period begins) for repair warranties. It analyzes the issue of whether the repair warranty is a species of future performance warranty under section 2-725(2) and examines non-Code law on repair promises. Part II discusses the advantages and disadvantages of …

Toxic Substances Litigation In The Fourth Circuit, Francis E. Mcgovern

University of Richmond Law Review

Personal injuries caused by toxic substances have generated problems of major concern to our social, political and legal systems. Reports in the news media concerning harm caused by toxic substances and expressions of public awareness of potential dangers associated with exposure to toxic substances are commonplace. Legislatures, administrative agencies and courts at both federal and state levels have begun to devote substantial energy to addressing issues raised by exposure to toxic Substances. Scientific, industrial, financial, and legal communities are seeking to deal with these problems from a number of different perspectives. Just as terms such as "Love Canal" and "asbestosis" …

Products Liability And The Virginia Statute Of Limitations - A Call For The Legislative Rescue Squad, Robert I. Stevenson

University of Richmond Law Review

In recent years a flood of federally-funded scientific break-throughs have on almost a weekly basis established that some form of cancer or other dreaded disease is "caused" by exposure to a man-made product often not previously suspected of having a toxic tendency. Persons so afflicted then seek recovery from the product manufacturer. Their basis in tort is either for negligence in producing so harmful (and thus defective) a product, or for having failed to warn of the danger, or for "strict liability" within Section 402A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts. Where, as in Virginia, there is uncertainty as to …

Virginia Should Adopt Strict Tort Recovery In Products Liability, John P. Rowley Iii, Sally Y. Wood

University of Richmond Law Review

Since World War H, revolutionary changes have overtaken the American law of products liability. Such changes have been in response to the increase in consumer injuries resulting from defects in sophisticated products mass-produced by sophisticated manufacturing processes. This has occurred during a time of increased litigiousness and general awareness of the need for consumer protection. Accordingly, products liability suits have multiplied, and the legal theories used to determine the outcome of such suits have similarly been in an era of dramatic transition. Such legal changes have significantly affected both tort and warranty law across the country. Until 1960 products liability …

A Guide To Federal Warranty Legislation-The Magnuson-Moss Act, Richard H. Matthews

University of Richmond Law Review

One of the primary causes of concern in the recent movement toward greater consumer protection has been in the area of product warranties. Limited express warranties, liability disclaimers and ambiguous remedy

procedures often have been used by manufacturers and merchants to strip the consumer of all but a bare minimum of protection against defective products. Finding state laws incapable of adequately solving this problem, Congress preempted the field by enacting the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.' This Act makes major changes in the law of warranties and places much heavier legal burdens upon manufacturers and other warrantors. This comment will attempt to …

Uniform Commercial Code- Breach Of Warranty- Applicable Statute Of Limitations For Personal Injury

University of Richmond Law Review

Statutes of limitation are statutes of repose, the object of which is to compel the exercise of a right of action within a reasonable time. They are designed to suppress fraudulent and stale claims from being asserted after a great lapse of time, to the surprise of the parties, when the evidence may have been lost, the facts may have become obscure because of defective memory, or the witnesses have died or dis- appeared.

Sales - Implied Warranty Of Fitness - An Interpretation Of U.C.C. 2-318. Miller V. Preitz, 422 Pa. 383 (1966), John B. Gaides

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Products Liability--Some Observations About Allocation Of Risks, Page Keeton

Michigan Law Review

Virtually all of the activities of mankind involve the use of some product. Consequently, nearly all losses in the nature of physical damage to persons or things, and a great deal of the economic losses flowing from inferior or unfit products, are factually caused by characteristics or conditions of products, or at least occur during the use of products. Therefore, when fault, in the sense in which fault has been used in the Anglo-American law of torts (a usage which frequently results in the imposition of liability without personal fault), is abandoned as a basis for shifting or allocating losses, …

The Contractual Aspect Of Consumer Protection: Recent Developments In The Law Of Sales Warranties, William C. Pelster

Michigan Law Review

As might have been expected, the courts have not confined their efforts in updating the law of products liability to fostering innovations in that segment dealing with warranties. The struggle to impose strict tort liability upon a manufacturer for harm caused by his defective products has made significant advances and is continuing: However, the citadel has yet to be taken. Indeed, even the California Supreme Court, which may be considered the leading proponent of this strict tort theory, has limited its availability so that only those seeking redress for harm to person or property may invoke the doctrine; thus, a …

Contracts -- 1963 Tennessee Survey, Paul J. Hartman

Vanderbilt Law Review

Both the one year provision and the sale of goods provision of the Statute of Frauds were construed in Anderson-Gregory Co. v. Lea.'Regarding the duration of the contract, the facts in the opinion are somewhat sparse... The court held that the contract did not come within this provision of the statute. If a contract could have been performed, under its terms, within a year from the time of its making, it is not within the Statute of Frauds, even though it is improbable that the contract would be performed within a year.

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The Tennessee Supreme Court case of Oman …