Law Commons^™

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Injunctions--Contempt Power--Citation Proper Against Nonparty Who Violates Court Order in School Desegregation Case

Whether an injunction or other order binds one not a party to the underlying suit or proceeding so that he may be held in contempt for violation is a question that always has troubled the courts. Some early cases purported to announce a sweeping and apparently absolute rule--that an injunction or other order does not bind nonparties. The principle underlying this rule is that due process forbids a court to adjudicate the legal rights and relationships of a person who has not had the opportunity to be …

Dependency In Workmen's Compensation:Letting The Expectations And Conduct Of Affected Parties Play A More Significant Role, Clifford Davis

Vanderbilt Law Review

The death benefits provided by compensation legislation must satisfy two tests. First, the benefits should cover the net economic loss resulting from occupational death.' Second, those survivors who could have expected to benefit from future earnings ought to share appropriately in the sum total of the benefits provided. This article focuses primarily upon this second question. The inadequacy of available benefits, however, may require the exclusion as beneficiaries of some survivors with expectations of support in order more adequately to provide for others. Thus, inadequacy of total benefits will be considered when it is relevant to the determination of who …

Workmen's Compensation For Radiation Injuries In Tennessee, E. Blythe Stason

Vanderbilt Law Review

We lay to one side, so far as this article is concerned, the impact of the atom on general tort liability in Tennessee. Such important aspects of the total subject as strict liability, nuisance actions, third-party liability, and joint and several liability we reserve for another occasion. Hopefully radiation will be so well regulated that the injuries to outsiders will be few and far between. We also lay to one side possible injuries in Tennessee resulting from the extensive operations of the federal government in the nuclear field. Such injuries receive special handling either by federal agencies (e.g.,the Bureau of …

The General Structure Of Law Applicable To Employee Injury And Death, Ben F. Small

Vanderbilt Law Review

The author here shows how the failure of the common law to cope with the problem of industrial injury led to the passage of workmen's compensation legislation. After examining the basic structure of that legislation, he turns to an extensive discussion of the problems of federal preemption and the interrelation of workmen's compensation with other wage loss programs (including a comparison with the British system). In conclusion, he catalogues the criticisms of the present system, and suggests that the area is ripe for further action by the federal government.

Trial Practice And Tactics In Employee Injury Cases -- The Defendant's Viewpoint, Don M. Jackson

Vanderbilt Law Review

Due to the liberal construction that courts give workmen's compensation statutes, the employer has heavy odds against him in most cases. Nevertheless, the author concludes, defense counsel should not despair. Hard work and proper preparation will still yield handsome rewards, especially in those cases in which the principal issue is the nature and extent of disability.

The Law Of Workmen's Compensation And Employers' Liability: A Selected List Of Materials 1950-1963, Cyril L. Mcdermott

Vanderbilt Law Review

Professor McDermott has compiled in this article a comprehensive reference guide to the materials of workmen's compensation law. In addition to general works, current specialized sources are arranged by jurisdiction for easy reference.

Some Recent Developments In The Substantive Law Of Workmen's Compensation, Wex S. Malone

Vanderbilt Law Review

After setting out the factors which make for change in the compensation structure, the author goes on to discuss three problem areas in which that change is clearly visible: distinguishing between employees and independent contractors, determining tho rights of a borrowed employee, and deciding whether an accident arose out of the employment. He concludes that the law of workmen's compensation is developing in consonance with the social philosophy which underlies it.

Workmen's Compensation And The Social Security Disability Program: A Contrast, Arthur Abraham, Irwin Wolkstein

Vanderbilt Law Review

Recently, concern has been expressed that the federal disability insurance program may expand and engulf state workmen's compensation systems; legislation aimed at eliminating this possibility has been introduced in Congress. The authors attempt in this article to shed some light on the controversy; after describing the various disability protection programs, they turn to a detailed discussion of the overlap, interrelationship, and differences between the protection offered by the federal social security and state workmen's compensation programs. They conclude by discussing the arguments which can be made both for and against an "offset" provision in the social security law.

Trial Practice And Tactics In Employee Injury Cases -- The Plaintiff's Viewpoint, Benjamin Marcus

Vanderbilt Law Review

The author, a practitioner with extensive experience in the workmen's compensation field, sets out a number of "do's" and "don't's" for the successful representation of plaintiffs in employee injury cases, especially with regard to the handling of medical evidence. He also points out defects in the existing law, and calls upon the bar to fulfill its social role by supporting remedial legislation.

Workmen's Compensation -- 1962 Tennessee Survey, J. Gilmer Bowman, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Tennessee Supreme Court was again faced with a substantial number of workmen's compensation cases during the current survey year. Fewer of the cases than usual were concerned primarily with whether the decision below was supported by sufficient evidence. However, a number of them were illustrative of aspects of the statutory requirement that an employee suffer an injury by accident arising out of and in the course of his employment in order to be eligible for workmen's compensation benefits.

Agency -- 1961 Tennessee Survey (Ii), W. Harold Bigham

Vanderbilt Law Review

I. Employee and Independent Contractor Distinguished

During the abbreviated survey period there were no significant or momentous decisions by Tennessee courts--state or federal--involving agency principles. Indeed the only state appellate case properly to be considered here involved the rather pedestrian question of whether a petitioner for workmen's compensation benefits was, vis-a-vis the defendant prime contractor, an employee or an independent contractor.

=================================

II. Misrepresentations of Agent

Butts v. Colonial Refrigerated Transportation, Inc. is merely another example of the Sixth Circuit's unfortunate proclivity for writing per curiam affirmances. It is well-nigh impossible to determine whether the liability of the defendant which …

Workmen's Compensation -- 1961 Tennessee Survey (Ii), J. Gilmer Bowman, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Since the workmen's compensation statute was designed to provide benefits for an employee's work-connected injury or death, it necessarily follows that there must have been an employment relationship within the coverage of the statute and that the person or persons claiming the benefits must be within the class entitled to do so. The application of this basic premise, which on its face appears simple enough, was involved in three cases before the Tennessee Supreme Court during the survey period.

Bowling v. Whitley was a workmen's compensation suit brought by an employee against his immediate employer, a subcontractor, as well as …

Workmen's Compensation -- 1961 Tennessee Survey, J. Gilmer Bowman, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Two bills amending the Workmen's Compensation Law' were enacted during the survey year. The first placed a limit of $12,500 on compensation payable for any permanent partial injury, not limited to those set forth in the schedule. It also added the following self-explanatory sentence to the first paragraph of section 50-1027, Tennessee Code Annotated: To receive benefits from the Second Injury Fund, the injured employee must be the employee of an employer who has properly insured his workmen's compensation liability or has qualified to operate under the Tennessee Workmen's Compensation Law as a self-insurer. The second amendment changed the definition …

Labor Law And Workmen's Compensation -- 1960 Tennessee Survey, Paul H. Sanders, J. Gilmer Bowman, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Labor law is concerned with the rules governing the various phases of the employment relation and the activities of employers and labor organizations vis-a-vis such phases. Sometimes such rules are embodied in criminal law or tort law. If the substance of the alleged crime or tort is not directed toward or used in some respects as a regulation of employment or labor relations, it is excluded by the above definition even though some "labor" aspect is prominently identified with the case. For example, during the survey period the Supreme Court of Tennessee decided the case of Smith v. State, affirming …

Remaining Tort Liability Of Employers And Third Parties Under Workmen's Compensation Statutes, Ben F. Loeb, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Workmen's compensation is a mechanism designed to provide cash benefits to employees to recompense for loss of wages due to injuries sustained in work-connected activities. Theoretically, the cost of the program is charged to the consumer by increasing the price of goods and services sold to the public. An employee, covered by a compensation act, is entitled to payments if he is injured by an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment; and the fact that such employee was at fault or guilty of negligence himself is normally of no consequence.

Compensation benefits, in contrast to …

Labor Law And Workmen's Compensation--1959 Tennessee Survey, Paul H. Sanders, J. Gilmer Bowman, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

What is the meaning of the term "actual cash value" in the standard fire policy? The middle section of the court of appeals, following a prior Tennessee case and the weight of authority, held that the phrase is synonomous with "market value" only where the goods are readily replaceable in a current market. Where there is no market, or where the market value is inadequate to properly indemnify the insured, "actual cash value" means the "'value to the owner' or the loss he suffers in being deprived of the goods." Since the goods involved in this case were personal effects, …

Book Review, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

The National Probation and Parole Association has been working for over 35 years to improve the administration of justice and in the publication of "Guides for Sentencing" it has provided one of its most important services to judges who are charged with the administration of criminal justice and to juvenile and domestic relations courts. The book is the first of a series of practical manuals for all of the above named courts and it is the result of the combined labors of 37 specially selected United States, state and juvenile judges for a period of about five years. Bolitha J. …

Labor Law And Workmen's Compensation -- 1958 Tennessee Survey, Paul H. Sanders, J. Gilmer Bowman, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

The federal Labor-Management Relations (Taft-Hartley) Act sets forth as a basic right the freedom of choice of covered employees with respect to unionization and the establishment of collective bargaining. While protecting certain concerted activities, this statute makes it unlawful, among other things, for a labor organization to strike or picket for certain proscribed objectives. In this area of regulation (i.e., the purposes of labor combinations and economic pressures) the federal machinery is exclusive to the extent that the necessary relationship to interstate commerce is present and exceptions to coverage are inapplicable. While the Supreme Court of the United States has …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Recent Cases

Conflict of Laws--Jurisdiction--Assumption of Personal Jurisdiction over Non-Resident Insurer on the basis of a Single Insurance Contract

================================

Constitutional Law--Taxation--Tax Immunity of Federal Government not Infringed by Local Taxes upon Possession of Government Property

================================

Evidence--Hearsay--Utterance of Employee under Emotional Stress Admissible to Establish Scope of Employment and Render Employer Vicariously Liable

================================

Insurance--Automobile--Duplicating Recoveries allowed under Liability and Medical Payment Clauses of Automobile Liability Insurance Policy

================================

Insurance--Business Indemnity--Radiation Decontamination Expenses not Recoverable under a Business Interruption Clause

=================================

Insurance--Life--Variable Annuity Contracts not Subject to Regulation by Securities and Exchange Commission

=================================

Physicians--Unprofessional Conduct--Willful Evasion of Federal …

Labor Law And Workmen's Compensation -- 1956 Tennessee Survey, Paul H. Sanders, James G. Bowman, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Labor Law

Inducing Breach of Contract: Howard v. Haven' was the only case during the survey period which presented a legal problem relating to the activities of a labor organization. In this case an electrical contractor sought an injunction and damages because of the acts of a local labor union, its business agent, and other named defendants in preventing the plaintiff from carrying out a hospital construction contract. On the trial of the case the determinative issue became whether or not the defendants brought about a breach of the contract which the complainant claimed to have had with the general …

Labor Law And Workmen's Compensation -- 1955 Tennessee Survey, Paul H. Sanders, James G. Bowman Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

In Stokeley Van Camp, Inc. v. United Packinghouse Workers of America, the company and the union had entered into a collective bargaining agreement under which there were to be no strikes or lock-outs pending the use of the grievance and arbitration procedures provided in the contract. The chancellor enjoined members of the union from participating in a strike, and in such incidental activities as mass picketing, and threatening and intimidating persons seeking to enter and leave the plant. The company's bill and affidavits indicated the existence of a strike with mass picketing and threats of violence. The union did not …

Some Problems Arising Under The Workmen's Compensation Law Of Tennessee, R. Wayne Estes, Doris A. Dudney

Vanderbilt Law Review

Although there are many problems arising under the Workmen's Compensation Laws of Tennessee, it appears that here, as elsewhere, the most difficult questions are those arising out of the interpretation of the phrases "injury by accident," "arising out of," and "in the course of," employment. The present study is therefore limited to a consideration of these three particular problems, and does not purport to be a comprehensive treatment of the entire topic of Workmen's Compensation Law in Tennessee.

Restitution -- 1954 Tennessee Survey, John W. Wade

Vanderbilt Law Review

The title, Restitution, is a comparatively new one. Over a period of many years there grew up separately a number of distinct legal and equitable remedies--quasi-contract, constructive trust, equitable lien, reformation, rescission and others. Only recently has it been perceived that a pervading general principle underlies all of these remedies--the principle that "a person who has been unjustly enriched at the expense of another is required to make restitution to the other." Now that these several types of relief are being classed together it is more generally realized that their composite whole involves a very broad field of the law. …

Labor Law And Workmen's Compensation -- 1954 Tennessee Survey, Paul H. Sanders, James G. Bowman Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Labor Law is best defined, perhaps, as that body of law which is directed toward, and peculiar to, the various incidents of the employer-employee relationship, whether viewed individually or collectively.' In this sense it includes all laws, such as those on workmen's compensation, wages and hours and unemployment insurance, setting forth the rights and limitations of the individual employee as against the employer (directly or indirectly), as well as those concerned with union organizational activity and collective bargaining.

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

A Commentary on Recent Case Law --By Subject:

Constitutional Law--Due Process--Use in State Prosecution of Evidence obtained by Illegal Invasion of Privacy

==============================

Constitutional Law--Unlawful Search and Seizure--Admissibility of Evidence for Impeachment Purposes

===============================

Evidence--Radar Evidence of Speed--Coincidence of Radar and Speedometer Readings as Hearsay

===============================

Federal Courts--State NonResident Motorist Statute--Waiver of Federal Venue Privilege

===============================

Federal Jurisdiction--Diversity of Citizenship--Retroactive Effect of Amendments to Perfect Jurisdiction

===============================

Income Taxation--Deductions--Periodic Alimony Payments

===============================

Labor Law--Preemptive Effect of Taft-Hartley--Scope of State Jurisdiction

===============================

Torts--Dog Bite--Owner's Scienter

===============================

Workmen's Compensation--Accident Arising out of Employment--Pre-Existing Heart Disease

Workmen's Compensation, John M. Cate

Vanderbilt Law Review

A review of the past year in Workmen's Compensation in Tennessee must of necessity take into account any legislative change in the Compensation Act itself' as well as trends disclosed through the decisions of the courts. The modern development and growth of this new theory, that of liability without fault, make pertinent the inquiry. Although a development of one generation, the theory of Workmen's Compensation is now almost universal in application. Under it, industry bears its fair share of the cost of injuries to workers, without any reference to fault or blame or negligence, where there is a reasonably apparent …

Intervertebral Disc Injuries In Workmen's Compensation, Larry A. Bear

Vanderbilt Law Review

No lawyer regularly involved in workmen's compensation litigation can do a worthwhile job for his client unless he has a comprehensive and intelligent acquaintance with all branches of medicine. In the ordinary course of his practice, the workmen's compensation lawyer must deal with all types of industrial diseases, and even with disorders in the field of neurology and psychiatry.' Familiarity with a variety of medical conditions is made necessary because of such basic medico-legal problems as causation, involving the industrial or non-industrial origin of the disability at issue, dilration and the like. Of all the industrial injuries with which the …

Legal Aspects Of Allergy, Doran E. Perdue

Vanderbilt Law Review

Discussions of allergy have appeared frequently in medical journals and treatises' but only rarely in legal periodicals and treatises. In recent years, however, allergy and problems of hypersensitivity have become increasingly important in law. Whether this is due to the fact that a greater number of persons today are actually allergic because of new products and processes, or whether it is because there is today a better understanding of allergy cannot be categorically stated. Perhaps it would be safe to assume that the increased number of allergy cases is due in some measure to a combination of both causes.

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Attorney and Client--Unauthorized Practice of Law--Drafting of Legal Instruments by Realtors

=================================

Bailments--Bailee for Hire--Validity of Contract Provision Limiting Liability for Negligence

=================================

Brokers (Real Estate)--Statement that Principal Might Take Less than List Price as Breach of Fiduciary Obligation--Breach as Defense to Action for Commission

==================================

Corporations--Preferred Stock--Cancellation of Accrued Dividends by Charter Amendment

==================================

Criminal Law--Evidence--Admissibility of Uncommunicated Threats under Plea of Self-Defense

==================================

Domestic Relations--Consortium Right of Wife to Sue for Loss Due to Negligent Injury to Husband

==================================

Eminent Domain--Lessee as Condemnor--Requirement that Compensation be Given for Improvements to Land Made by Lessee

==================================

Evidence--Unanswered Letters--Admissibility on …