Law Commons^™

A Fresh Start: The Evolving Use Of Juvenile Records In College Admissions, Eve Rips

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Questions about criminal and juvenile records in the college application process are common and frequently fail to account for the unique characteristics of juvenile justice systems. The ways in which colleges and universities ask about juvenile records often encourage applicants to disclose information in spite of statutory protections. These questions fly in the face of the public policy underlying a range of legal safeguards that are intended to help individuals with records from juvenile systems in moving forward and receiving a second chance.

In recent years, a series of legislative and institutional changes have begun to restrict how colleges and …

Government Ethics In The Age Of Trump, Adam Raviv

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Americans’ trust in government officials has never been lower. Despite the intense public focus on ethics in government in recent years, legal scholarship on the subject has been sparse. This Article fills the gap by examining the ethics regime of the federal executive branch in depth, with a discussion of both the applicable ethics standards and the agencies and offices that are charged with ensuring that government officials comply with those standards. The Article describes how the current system heavily emphasizes prevention, education, and highly detailed disclosures while it rarely enforces the law against wrongdoers. A federal official in the …

Between The Ceiling And The Floor: Making The Case For Required Disclosure Of High-Low Agreements To Juries, Richard Lorren Jolly

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Parties are increasingly using high-low agreements to limit the risks of litigation. High-low agreements are contracts in which defendants agree to pay plaintiffs a minimum recovery in return for plaintiffs’ agreement not to execute on a jury award above a maximum amount. Currently no jurisdiction requires high-low agreements to be disclosed to the jury. This Note argues that disclosure should be required. It contends that non-disclosed high-low agreements are a type of procedural contract modifying the jury’s core adjudicative function. Drawing on theories of procedural justice, it suggests that by usurping the jury’s role these agreements undermine the legitimacy of …

Reconciling Tax Law And Securities Regulation, Omri Marian

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Issuers in registered securities offerings must disclose the expected tax consequences to investors investing in the offered securities (“nonfinancial tax disclosure”). This Article advances three arguments regarding nonfinancial tax disclosures. First, nonfinancial tax disclosure practice, as the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) has sanctioned it, does not fulfill its intended regulatory purposes. Currently, nonfinancial tax disclosures provide irrelevant information, sometimes fail to provide material information, create unnecessary transaction costs, and divert valuable administrative resources to the enforcement of largely-meaningless requirements. Second, the practical reason for this failure is the SEC and tax practitioners’ unsuccessful attempt to address investors’ heterogeneous …

Opening Schumer’S Box: The Empirical Foundations Of Modern Consumer Finance Disclosure Law, Hosea H. Harvey

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article explores the fundamental failure of Congress’ twenty-five-year quest to utilize disclosure as the primary tool to both regulate credit card issuers and educate consumers. From inception until present, reforms to this disclosure regime, even when premised on judgment and decision-making behavioralism, were nomothetic in orientation and ignored clear differences in population behavior and the heterogeniety of consumers. Current law prohibits credit card issuers from acquiring consumer socio-demographic data and prevents issuers and regulators from using market and policy experimentation to enhance disclosure’s efficacy. To explain why this regime was structured this way and why it must change, this …

A New Prescription To Balance Secrecy And Disclosure In Drug-Approval Processes, Gerrit M. Beckhaus

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

To obtain approval to market a drug, a manufacturer must disclose significant amounts of research data to the government agency that oversees the approval process. The data often include information that could help advance scientific progress, and are therefore of great value. But current laws in both the United States and Europe give secrecy great weight. This Article proposes an obligatory sealed-bid auction of the sensitive information based on the experience with similar auctions in mergers and acquisitions, to balance manufacturers' interest in secrecy and the public interest in disclosure.

Protecting Anonymous Expression: The Internet's Role In Washington State's Disclosure Laws And The Direct Democracy Process, Karen Cullinane

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Note proposes that the Washington State Legislature amend its Public Records Act to exempt from public disclosure personal information legally required to be disclosed by signers of referendum petitions. This Note also proposes that the Washington State Legislature designate an electronic system, to be detailed in its election law, by which referendum petitions can be checked for fraud without violating the right to anonymous expression protected by the First Amendment. Part I describes Washington State's referendum process and the path of Doe v. Reed, the case animating the reform presented in this Note. Part II illustrates how the rise …

Electronic Mail And Michigan's Public Disclosure Laws: The Argument For Public Access To Governmental Electronic Mail, Daniel F. Hunter

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Note explores the potential for citizens to request electronic mail (e-mail) records from government agencies using public disclosure laws, with emphasis on the Michigan Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). E-mail is a medium that has come to replace both telephone calls and paper documents for many purposes. The applicability of public disclosure laws to e-mail, however, is less than clear. Telephone conversations by public employees for most purposes are confidential, while paper records created by those same employees can be requested under the FOIA. Thus, should public e-mail remain private and confidential or should it be subject to FOIA …

Furthering The Accountability Principle In Privatized Federal Corrections: The Need For Access To Private Prison Records, Nicole B. Cásarez

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

As American prisons face unprecedented overcrowding, both the federal and various state governments have engaged private entrepreneurs to operate correctional facilities on a for-profit basis. In the federal context, one overlooked consequence of prison privatization involves decreased public access to prison records. When a federal agency delegates a public function, like the provision of correctional services, to a private contractor, the agency frustrates the purpose of the Freedom of Information Act. Prison records that otherwise would have been available to the public become insulated from disclosure by virtue of the contractor's nonagency status. To safeguard prisoners' liberty interests and well-being, …

Promulgating The Marriage Contract, Lynn A. Baker

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

I begin Part I of this Article by positing several logically necessary, but insufficient, conditions that precede a state's decision to promulgate a law more aggressively than usual. I then show that each of these conditions was met with regard to the economic terms of the marriage contract in virtually all states by 1975. In Part II, I explore what Louisiana's unusually aggressive promulgation of certain terms of the marriage contract reveals about the legal system's conception of the marital relationship as of 1975. In Part III, I discuss what is added to that conception of the modern marital relationship …

Taking A Byte Out Of Abusive Agency Discretion: A Proposal For Disclosure In The Use Of Computer Models, John P. Barker

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Note examines the need for comprehensive requirements for the release of information pertaining to the use of computer-generated simulations used by federal administrative agencies or parties appearing before regulatory bodies. Part I of this Note defines computer models, identifies some of their current uses in administrative proceedings and describes the advantages of these models. Part II reviews the current requirements for documentation of computer models and the judicial review standards for agency findings. Part III examines the potential problems in the use of models and discusses the need for more adequate disclosure. Part IV describes several tests for verifying …

Protection For Trade Secrets Under The Toxic Substances Control Act Of 1976, Paula R. Latovick

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This article will examine the protection provided by the Act and the measures the EPA has adopted for implementing the Act's provisions. The approach will be to focus on the different functional areas in which disclosure may take place. Part I examines the scheme for designating information as confidential and the mechanics of the reporting system under TSCA. Part II deals with disclosures of confidential information made while implementing the TSCA. Part III focuses on legal disclosures of information submitted as confidential. Finally, Part IV examines the measures taken within the EPA to guarantee the safety of confidential information, the …

The Right To Financial Privacy Act Of 1978-The Congressional Response To United States V. Miller: A Procedural Right To Challenge Government Access To Financial Records, Nancy M. Kirschner

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This article will review the factors leading to the Miller decision and the legislative response to that decision. Part I will examine the bank customer's expectation of privacy and the way Miller affects this expectation. Part II will discuss the congressional response to Miller and the competing interests which led to the Right to Financial Privacy Act. The Act itself will be discussed in detail in Part III. Part IV will evaluate the Act, and offer recommendations for reform. The article concludes that the Act, by adopting a purely procedural approach, fails to provide adequate protection to bank customers.

Financial Disclosure By Small Corporations, Russell J. Bruemmer

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This note will focus upon the desirability of compelling financial disclosure by corporations not subject to control under the existing federal securities legislation, which includes the vast majority of American corporations. While differing in degree and extent of application to corporations of varying sizes, the benefits derived from disclosure by large, widely-held corporations would also be obtained when disclosure is made by smaller, less widely-held corporations. The extension of federal or state disclosure requirements to corporations of all sizes and ownership dispersions, requiring them to place financial information before their shareholders at least once each year, is suggested.

Scope Of Disclosure Of Internal Revenue Communications And Information Files Under The Freedom Of Information Act, Peter R. Spanos

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This article will discuss the proper scope of disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act of the files and administrative and policy materials of the IRS, with particular attention to the following currently contested issues: (1) the extent to which IRS guideline documents and private letter rulings are subject to disclosure; (2) the proper scope of the FOIA exemption for "interagency or intra-agency memorandums or letters which would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the agency" as applied to the IRS; and (3) the scope of the exemption for "investigatory records …

To Tell The Truth, The Whole Truth, And Nothing But The Truth - Help For Florida's Frazzled Condominium Buyers?, Elizabeth Snider

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The condominium has become an increasingly familiar arrangement in the United States. In 1972, some 235,000 condominium units were built; this number swelled to about 420,000 in 1973, an increase of almost 79 percent. Accompanying this tremendous increase in building and selling has been an increasing awareness of the need for regulation of this multi-million dollar industry. This note explores the legislative background of condominium regulation; examines the recent Florida Condominium Act amendments, focusing on the Act's disclosure requirements, what they mean, and what their impact will be on developers and purchasers; and offers alternatives to the Florida scheme.

Information Disclosure And Consumer Behavior: An Empirical Evaluation Of Truth-In-Lending, William K. Brandt, George S. Day

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This article offers some empirical insight into the debate over the efficacy of disclosure legislation. The primary concern is the effect of the Act on (1) the level of consumer knowledge of interest rates and finance charges; (2) the extent of comparison shopping; and (3) the decisions to postpone purchases, to use cash instead of credit, or to reduce the finance charges by increasing the downpayment or reducing the number of payments. The article also evaluates patterns of consumer behavior and credit-granting procedures which may constrain the long-run potential of TIL.

Michigan "Freedom Of Information Act", David T. Alexander

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

A policy of public disclosure is as appropriate at the state level as it is at the federal level. There are comparable state agencies for almost all Federal departments concerned with commerce and the public health, safety and welfare. Through licensing and supervisory powers over businesses and individuals, state agencies exercise extensive quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial powers of immediate concern to the public. The resulting rules, records, regulations, orders and opinions serve as both the factual findings and the substantive law of the particular area administered by each agency. Recognizing this need for public disclosure at the state level, the Michigan …

The Newsman's Privilege: Protection Of Confidential Associations And Private Communications, Wayne C. Dabb Jr., Peter A. Kelly

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The purpose of this comment is to determine whether the confidential associations and-or private communications of a newsman are privileged.

Proposed Amendments To The Welfare And Pension Plans Disclosure Act, Stephen E. Dawson

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Proposals to regulate private pension and deferred profit-sharing plans are by no means new to Congress. With the rapid growth in size, number and complexity of such plans in the late 1940's and early 1950's, Congress began to give increasingly close attention to their defects and, particularly, to their mismanagement. The first congressional attempt to reduce the instances of private pension plan mismanagement occurred in 1958 when Congress enacted the Welfare and Pension Plans Disclosure Act. The Act was amended once in 1962, and further proposed amendments are presently before the Congress. This note will examine two of the proposed …

Souped Up Affirmative Disclosure Orders Of The Federal Trade Commission, William F. Lemke Jr.

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Under section 5(b) of the Federal Trade Commission Act the Commission is given authority to conduct hearings, make findings and issue cease and desist orders requiring any person, partnership or corporation to cease and desist from use of unfair methods of competition or unfair or deceptive practices in commerce. The Commission also issues consent orders in cases which are concluded by agreement between the Commission and the allegedly offending party. Consent orders have the same force and binding effect as those issued after hearings and findings. Although it is well established that the Commission has very broad discretion and authority …