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Full-Text Articles in Law
Muddied Waters: A Review Of Joint Venture Jurisprudence In Missouri, Colin W. Byrd
Muddied Waters: A Review Of Joint Venture Jurisprudence In Missouri, Colin W. Byrd
Missouri Law Review
Nearly four decades ago, the Supreme Court of Missouri issued an opinion that continues to generate confusion on what constitutes a joint venture. Johnson v. Pacific Intermountain Express Co. not only distorted the elements required to establish a joint venture but also provided for the business organization’s wrongful creation by operation of law through implication.1 Upon this shaky foundation, corporate law jurisprudence in Missouri has grappled for decades with the same essential questions of what constitutes a joint venture and how this species of partnership may come into existence.
Gutting Bivens: How The Supreme Court Shielded Federal Officials From Constitutional Litigation, Alexander J. Lindvall
Gutting Bivens: How The Supreme Court Shielded Federal Officials From Constitutional Litigation, Alexander J. Lindvall
Missouri Law Review
“No man in this country is so high that he is above the law. . . . All officers of the government, from the highest to the lowest, are creatures of the law, and are bound to obey it. . . . [And the] Courts of justice are established, not only to decide upon the controverted rights of the citizens as against each other, but also upon rights in controversy between them and the government.” —United States v. Lee (1882)
The Smokescreen Problem In Abortion Jurisprudence: How The Undue Burden Standard And Long-Term Legislative Tactics Allow Courts To Turn A Blind Eye To True Legislative Intent, Lucy Downing
Missouri Law Review
The issue of abortion has been passionately debated in this country for many years. For decades, our legal system has recognized that legitimate interests in the subject lie with both women and the State.1 From the time the right of free choice was found to be granted by our Constitution in Roe v. Wade, however, the legal standard with which to assess these competing interests has been a source of debate and confusion.2 Abortion is undoubtedly an issue that implicates deeply rooted moral considerations for many people, but the United States Supreme Court has carefully undertaken the responsibility of formulating …
The Public Policy Argument Against Trademark Licensee Estoppel And Naked Licensing, James B. Astrachan
The Public Policy Argument Against Trademark Licensee Estoppel And Naked Licensing, James B. Astrachan
Missouri Law Review
Federal courts have sometimes applied the doctrine of licensee estoppel to prohibit a trademark licensee from challenging its licensor’s rights to the licensed mark, particularly where the licensor has failed to establish and monitor quality control and the licensee contends that abandonment has occurred. This Article examines the history of licensee estoppel and those cases on which courts have and have not enforced licensee estoppel; often on the grounds that enforcing licensee estoppel would not serve the public policy of protecting consumers from deceitful practices. This Article also compares trademark licensee estoppel to patent licensee estoppel and recognize that courts …
A Comprehensive Consideration Of The Structural-Error Doctrine, Zachary L. Henderson
A Comprehensive Consideration Of The Structural-Error Doctrine, Zachary L. Henderson
Missouri Law Review
Court proceedings are rarely perfect – far from it. Errors happen regularly before and during litigation, and when they do, courts must decide how to handle them. Gone are the days when a typo might demand a new trial: many errors – typos certainly, but also much more serious mistakes – are regularly deemed harmless by the court, meaning those errors had no prejudicial effect on the outcome of the case (and so do not warrant a new trial). Yet even after the development of the harmless-error doctrine in the early part of the twentieth century, errors involving constitutional rights …
Terminating The Parental Rights Of Mothers With Disabilities: An Empirical Legal Analysis, Robyn M. Powell, Susan L. Parish, Monika Mitra, Michael Waterstone, Stephen Fournier
Terminating The Parental Rights Of Mothers With Disabilities: An Empirical Legal Analysis, Robyn M. Powell, Susan L. Parish, Monika Mitra, Michael Waterstone, Stephen Fournier
Missouri Law Review
A sizable body of scholarship indicates parents with disabilities – including physical, intellectual, psychiatric, and sensory disabilities – experience pervasive inequities that threaten their fundamental right to parenthood. In particular, compared to nondisabled parents, parents with disabilities are overrepresented in the child welfare system, receive inadequate family preservation and reunification services, and have disproportionate rates of termination of parental rights. Despite extensive legal and social science scholarship, however, there are no empirical analyses of judicial opinions to identify factors that predict termination of parental rights in cases involving parents with disabilities.
No Holds Barred: The Use Of Restrictive Behavioral Intervention In Missouri Public Schools, Claire Hawley
No Holds Barred: The Use Of Restrictive Behavioral Intervention In Missouri Public Schools, Claire Hawley
Missouri Law Review
While students in public school still retain certain constitutional rights, these rights are not coextensive to those of adults in other settings. This is largely due to the traditional deference in American jurisprudence to school officials on decisions of student discipline. This deference is generally understood to reflect the uniquely difficult nature of student discipline, which involves the delicate balancing of students’ constitutional right to a public education with their right to a safe learning environment.
Show Me Your Id: Missouri Voter Identification Laws And The Right To Vote, Tyler M. Ludwig
Show Me Your Id: Missouri Voter Identification Laws And The Right To Vote, Tyler M. Ludwig
Missouri Law Review
Nearly fifteen years ago, the Supreme Court of Missouri held that “the right to vote is fundamental to Missouri citizens” and is afforded protections against voter identification requirements beyond what is provided by the United States Constitution.1 Since that time, state lawmakers have made numerous attempts to impose more stringent voter identification requirements.2 In Priorities USA v. State, the Supreme Court of Missouri struck down the latest of those attempts for unconstitutionally infringing upon the right to vote.3 Part II of this Note examines the facts and holding of that case. Part III examines the history, critiques, and challenges of …
“Alternative Method Required” And The Injection Of Imaginary Language Into The Missouri Constitution, Calla M. Mears
“Alternative Method Required” And The Injection Of Imaginary Language Into The Missouri Constitution, Calla M. Mears
Missouri Law Review
Mike Kehoe was appointed to Lieutenant Governor of Missouri in 2018 after Michael Parson became Governor of Missouri following the resignation of Eric Greitens.1 A lawsuit raising interesting questions about the constitutional process for filling public office vacancies quickly followed the appointment of Lieutenant Governor Kehoe.2 Article IV, Section 4 of the Missouri Constitution states: “The governor shall fill all vacancies in public offices unless otherwise provided by law, and his appointees shall serve until their successors are duly elected or appointed and qualified.”3 First, what exactly does the phrase “unless otherwise provided by law” mean in the context of …
Greening The Old New Deal: Strengthening Rural Electric Cooperative Supports And Oversight To Combat Climate Change, Gabriel Pacyniak
Greening The Old New Deal: Strengthening Rural Electric Cooperative Supports And Oversight To Combat Climate Change, Gabriel Pacyniak
Missouri Law Review
New Deal cooperatives succeeded in electrifying rural America when for-profit utilities would not. Today, however, rural electric cooperatives are lagging behind when it comes to meeting the challenge of climate change. Cooperatives have collectively been slower to embrace the shift to low-carbon electricity than for-profit and municipal utilities and have served as a drag on state and federal clean energy and climate policies. This is partially because of the structural differences between cooperatives and other utilities, but also because of a weak and underdetermined federal and state regulatory structure. A few cooperatives in Colorado and New Mexico are seeking to …
The Diminishing Dominion Of Expert Opinion: Missouri’S Imposition Of The Ultimate Issue Rule, Michael S. Figenshau
The Diminishing Dominion Of Expert Opinion: Missouri’S Imposition Of The Ultimate Issue Rule, Michael S. Figenshau
Missouri Law Review
In August 2017, the Missouri General Assembly amended its expert testimony statute, Section 490.065. The newly-enacted Section 490.065.2(3)(b) states, “In a criminal case, an expert witness shall not state an opinion about whether the defendant did or did not have a mental state or condition that constitutes an element of the crime charged or of a defense. Those matters are for the trier of fact alone.” Section 490.065.2(3)(b) is identical to Federal Rule of Evidence 704(b) (“Rule 704(b)”). This change is significant because issues in criminal cases, such as deliberation with respect to homicide and the affirmative defense of insanity, …
Big Sports Have Big Environmental And Social Consequences, Gina S. Warren
Big Sports Have Big Environmental And Social Consequences, Gina S. Warren
Missouri Law Review
Big sporting events result in significant and long-lasting environmental and social consequences for host cities and their residents. This Article discusses the spectrum of harms including environmental degradation, excess energy consumption, sidestepping the rule of law, and social segregation through eviction. It outlines the current inefficient, or nonexistent, legal framework available to address these harms and analyzes how this lack of legal framework results in host cities relinquishing local control and oversight to event organizers. It then draws upon the social license literature and recommends host cities establish a solid legal framework prior to an event to reduce the emergency …
Risk Of Choking To Death On One’S Own Blood Is Not Cruel And Unusual Punishment, Calla M. Mears
Risk Of Choking To Death On One’S Own Blood Is Not Cruel And Unusual Punishment, Calla M. Mears
Missouri Law Review
Missouri began executing inmates in 1810 by hanging Peter Johnson, a man accused of murder. Since Johnson’s execution, Missouri executed 374 inmates between 1810 and 2019. Hanging was the most common method of execution in Missouri until 1936. Lethal gas was first used in Missouri in 1937 and became the most common execution method until 1987, when lethal injection took over as the predominant method.
Chemtrails And Solar Geoengineers: Governing Online Conspiracy Theory Misinformation, Charles R. Corbett
Chemtrails And Solar Geoengineers: Governing Online Conspiracy Theory Misinformation, Charles R. Corbett
Missouri Law Review
This Article assesses legal obstacles to regulating chemtrail misinformation and proposes responses that work within prevailing norms and laws governing online speech. It explains how chemtrail content complicates public deliberation on solar geoengineering and, by extension, hurts the legitimacy of research activities. It also sharpens the general contributions of misinformation scholarship by applying them specifically to chemtrail content. It concludes with recommendations on how to limit chemtrail misinformation’s spread and impact. Reckoning with climate change, geoengineering, and online misinformation is a multigenerational project. Legal and policy analysis must accordingly adopt a long-time horizon when devising regulatory responses.
Consent Decrees As Emergent Environmental Law, Tracy Hester
Consent Decrees As Emergent Environmental Law, Tracy Hester
Missouri Law Review
Consent decrees – the unheralded workhorses of regulatory law – play a critical role in environmental law. The bulk of major environmental disputes at the federal level are resolved through consent decrees lodged under judicial supervision, and key federal environmental statutes and policies directly require settling parties to use consent decrees to resolve their claims. These proposed decrees, however, typically receive only a restrained judicial review that does not yield a formal judicial opinion on the full merits of the agreement. Parties, in fact, will frequently insist that the decree will not involve an admission of liability or any conclusions …
Indoctrination And Social Influence As A Defense To Crime: Are We Responsible For Who We Are?, Paul H. Robinson, Lindsay Holcomb
Indoctrination And Social Influence As A Defense To Crime: Are We Responsible For Who We Are?, Paul H. Robinson, Lindsay Holcomb
Missouri Law Review
A patriotic prisoner of war is brainwashed by his North Korean captors into refusing repatriation and undertaking treasonous anti-American propaganda for the communist regime. Despite the general abhorrence of treason in time of war, the American public opposes criminal liability for such indoctrinated soldiers, yet existing criminal law provides no defense or mitigation because, at the time of the offense, the indoctrinated offender suffers no cognitive or control dysfunction, no mental or emotional impairment, and no external or internal compulsion. Rather, he was acting purely in the exercise of free of will, albeit based upon beliefs and values that he …
The Unappealing Nature Of Guilty Plea Agreements: Johnson’S Restrictions On Appeals Of Intellectual Disabilities, Alexander M. Brown
The Unappealing Nature Of Guilty Plea Agreements: Johnson’S Restrictions On Appeals Of Intellectual Disabilities, Alexander M. Brown
Missouri Law Review
In 2008, Ronald Johnson was charged with the murder of Luke Meiners, a St. Louis attorney. On the advice of his appointed defense counsel, Johnson pleaded guilty to the charge of first-degree murder to avoid the death penalty. Johnson was ineligible, however, for the death penalty because he was intellectually disabled. After his conviction, Johnson appealed for postconviction relief. Johnson received a mental evaluation, which concluded he was competent to stand trial. Thus, the court upheld his guilty plea. In an appeal to the Supreme Court of Missouri, Johnson argued that his conviction should be set aside because he received …
A Judicial Balancing Act: Evaluating The First Amendment Claims Of Sitting Judges, Zeb J. Charlton
A Judicial Balancing Act: Evaluating The First Amendment Claims Of Sitting Judges, Zeb J. Charlton
Missouri Law Review
On April 14, 2017, members of the New Millennium Church in Little Rock, Arkansas, gathered outside of Arkansas’s Governor’s Mansion to protest capital punishment. The mansion’s resident, Governor Asa Hutchinson, had recently scheduled eight executions for the month of April. Two members of the congregation held signs reading, “Other states are trying to abolish the death penalty[,] mine’s putting it on express lane.” New Millennium Church’s lead minister Wendell Griffen lay on a cot in front of his parishioners to symbolize the use of capital punishment on Jesus Christ.
Twenty-Nine Photographs And The Deterioration Of The Missouri Relevance Rule, Luke A. Hawley
Twenty-Nine Photographs And The Deterioration Of The Missouri Relevance Rule, Luke A. Hawley
Missouri Law Review
Courts generally prohibit the admission of unfairly prejudicial evidence. The idea is that jurors should not be shown evidence if it has a substantially greater likelihood of prejudicing the jurors against the defendant than it does of helping them determine the facts of the case. Barring objections on other evidentiary grounds, if a piece of evidence provides substantially more probative than prejudicial value, the evidence can be shown to the jury. For decades, Missouri courts have limited the admissibility of unfairly prejudicial evidence. While federal courts are governed by the Federal Rules of Evidence, Missouri is one of the few …
Out For Blood: The Expansion Of Exigent Circumstances And Erosion Of The Fourth Amendment, Tyler M. Ludwig
Out For Blood: The Expansion Of Exigent Circumstances And Erosion Of The Fourth Amendment, Tyler M. Ludwig
Missouri Law Review
The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution requires police officers to obtain a warrant before conducting a search of an individual. However, doing so is not always possible, and courts have created exceptions to this requirement in order to deal with pragmatic limitations. The need for these exceptions has often been presented to the United States Supreme Court in the context of obtaining blood alcohol concentration (“BAC”) tests from drivers suspected of driving under the influence. In Mitchell v. Wisconsin, the Supreme Court dealt with a new problem in this area: drawing blood from a suspected drunk driver who …