Law Commons^™

Catastrophic Oil Spills And The Problem Of Insurance, Kenneth S. Abraham

Vanderbilt Law Review

The BP oil spill of 2010 focused considerable attention on the operating conduct of BP, on the potential liability of BP and other entities associated with the spill, and on the fund that BP established to provide compensation to victims of the spill. Much less attention has been paid, however, to the nature and scope of insurance covering losses caused by catastrophic environmental disasters such as oil spills. BP's establishment of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, and the compensation that will be paid by that facility, will likely dampen awareness of the mismatches between the resulting losses and the insurance …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Antitrust-Section 2(b) of the Robinson-Patman Act Permits Seller To Use a Pricing System To Meet the Prices of Competing Goods of Equal Saleability

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Constitutional Law--First Amendment--State Legislature May Not Require Local School Boards To Lend Textbooks to Pupils of Parochial Schools

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Constitutional Law--Imports Shipped Directly to Dealer Under Consignment Contracts With the Importer Are Not Immune to State Taxation Under the Import-Export Clause

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Constitutional Law--Reapportionment--One Man-One Vote Principle Applies to Popularly Elected Local School Boards

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Criminal Law--Admissibility in Evidence of Blood Tests Over Defendant's Objection

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Criminal Law--Resentencing--Court Has Duty To Make Known Reasons for Increased …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Conflict of Laws--Mexican Bilateral Divorce Decree Recognized Even Though Neither Party was a Mexican Domiciliary At Time of Divorce

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Constitutional Law--Section 504 of LMRDA a Bill of Attainder

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Corporations--DeFacto Merger--Dissenters' Rights--Construction of Merger and Amendment Statutes

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Criminal Law--Search and Seizure--Standing Granted for Dyer Act Prosecutions Without Allegation of Possession

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Damages--Restitutionary Relief for Breach of Contract Granted Under the Tucker Act to a Government Contractor

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Federal Employers' Liability Act--Applicability of "In Whole or in Part" Rule of Proximate Cause to Employer's Efforts To Prove Contributory Negligence Plaintiff brought suit under the Federal Employers' Liability Act'

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Insurance -- 1964 Tennessee Survey, Robert N. Covington

Vanderbilt Law Review

In Phoenix Ins. Co. v. Brown,' the named insured in a fire policy was Walter Brown. Walter had at one time owned the property insured. He had, however, conveyed it to his divorced wife Elsie, for whom he "was looking after the property," prior to the taking out of this policy. It was not alleged that the defendant's agent (who had previously written other policies on the property in Walter's name at the time Walter was the title-holder) knew of the conveyance to Elsie. After total destruction by fire the defendant refused to pay on the grounds of the lack …

Insurance -- 1963 Tennessee Survey, Robert N. Covington

Vanderbilt Law Review

1. Definition of "Temporary Substitute Automobile." Defendant issued a public liability policy covering insured's use of a described vehicle (a 1955 Ford) as a taxicab. The policy contained a standard temporary substitute automobile clause, covering a non-owned auto-mobile "while temporarily used as a substitute for the described automobile when withdrawn from normal use because of its break-down, repair, servicing, loss or destruction."

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2. Application of Automobile Policy Liability Limits. A husband and wife (hereinafter H and W) were injured in an accident caused by the insured. In their actions against the insured W was awarded 4,500 dollars and H …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Administration of Justice-Federal Rules of Civil Procedure--District Court Has No Power To Penalize Counsel for Delay Which Violates Standing Orders of Court

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Carriers--Routes-Action for Reparation Available Under Motor Carrier Act for Unreasonable Routing Defendant motor carrier transported shipments for plaintiff shipper

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Constitutional Law--Full Faith and Credit--Collateral Attack on Errors of Court of Prior Forum

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Restraint of Trade--Labor Law-Where Defendants Stipulated They Were Independent Contractors and Joined Union To Fix Prices, Having No Other Legitimate Union Interest, Membership May Be Terminated Under Sherman Act

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Domestic Relations--Annulment--Female Impotence Is Made Curable by the Surgical Creation of a Functional …

Insurance -- 1962 Tennessee Survey, Robert N. Covington

Vanderbilt Law Review

The courts of Tennessee were confronted by a number of interesting problems of insurance law during 1962. For the most part, the results were neither startling nor unsettling. There were, however, decisions that seem to qualify previous opinions, sometimes without citation, and there was one very troublesome opinion concerning credit life insurance.

Insurance -- 1961 Tennessee Survey (Ii), Robert N. Covington

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Tennessee decisions in the field of insurance law during the survey period dealt almost exclusively with problems that may be characterized as the selection and control of risks. The importance of the principles used in the solution of these problems is obvious. Only by being able to select carefully those risks for which insurance will be offered can the insurer properly determine the premium that is to be charged. If policy language is interpreted to grant broader coverage than that actually intended, then the insurance fund is subjected to greater potential loss than estimated,so that the insurer's profits will …

Insurance -- 1961 Tennessee Survey, Robert N. Covington

Vanderbilt Law Review

The developments in the Tennessee law of insurance during the past year were important without being surprising. The various courts delivered opinions dealing with a number of the central issues in insurance law, especially in the field of risk control, and by and large followed the line of thinking established by past years. Many of the decisions are of less significance than one might suppose, because of their extreme involvement in particular fact situations.

Ancillary Rights Of The Insured Against His Liability Insurer, Robert E. Keeton

Vanderbilt Law Review

The primary right of the insured against his liability insurer is the right to reimbursement of loss falling within the coverage defined in the policy. The scope of that right is ordinarily determined by construction of the clauses defining the Bodily Injury Liability and Property Damage Liability Coverages.' The present article is concerned with ancillary rights, arising in part from these and other policy provisions and in part from the relationship created by liability insurance. These rights of the insured are, from the opposite point of view, duties of the insurer--duties concerned principally with settlement of the tort claim or …

Semi-Direct Action Against Liability Insurers: Current Problems, Ronan E. Degnan

Vanderbilt Law Review

The legislatures of the various states of the union have by and large seen fit to forbid actions by an injured party directly against a liability insurer. This limitation, founded upon policy reasons which are doubtless apparent to the reader, has led the interested parties to seek out various indirect or semi-direct methods for reaching the insurance fund. This article is designed to discuss two particularly difficult problems which have arisen because of this semi-direct mode of proceeding: (1) By what appropriate methods can a judgment be obtained against a nonresident tort feasor or his estate so as to create …

Overlapping Coverages In Liability Contracts; Subrogation, John A. Appleman

Vanderbilt Law Review

Within the last twenty-five years, approximately, a considerable transition has taken place in approaching the coverages of automobile policies. At one time, liability insurers used to require their policy-holders to pledge that they did not carry other insurance of like character. It is difficult to understand why this situation ever arose. It may have been an outgrowth of fire coverages, or health and accident provisions, in which a moral hazard actually might exist where excessive protection is carried. Thereafter, instead of making this a matter of warranty, policies frequently provided that in the event there should be any other valid …

Insuring Against Medical Professional Liability, Bernard D. Hirsh

Vanderbilt Law Review

The purpose of this article is to analyze the protection provided in medical professional liability policies. Part I consists of a discussion of some of the factors involved in the purchase of malpractice insurance and an examination of the principal insuring agreements, exclusions, and conditions stated in the standard policy. Part II is a summary of the results of a questionnaire sent by the Law Division of the American Medical Association to insurance companies to determine their opinions regarding insurance coverage in a series of hypothetical cases.

Book Reviews, Stanley D. Rose (Reviewer), Wallace Mendelson (Reviewer), Lawrence Herman (Reviewer), William R. Anderson (Reviewer)

Vanderbilt Law Review

THE PRESIDENCY OF JOHN ADAMS, THE COLLAPSE OF FEDERALISM, 1795-1800. By Stephen G. Kurtz-- Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1957. Pp. 448. $8.50.

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THE JEFFERSONIAN REPUBLICANS, THE FORMATION OF PARTY ORGANIZATION, 1789-1801. By Noble E. Cunningham, Jr.-- Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1957. Pp. x, 279. $6.00.

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THE SUPREME COURT FROM TAFT TO WARREN-- By Alpheus T. Mason-- Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1958. Pp. 250. $4.95.

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THE LAW OF AWOL. By Alfred Avins. New York: Oceana Publications, 1957. Pp. xxxi, 288. $4.95. --

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TRAFFIC VICTIMS, TORT LAW & INSURANCE. By Leon Green. …

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. …

Insurance -- 1958 Tennessee Survey, Robert W. Sturdivant

Vanderbilt Law Review

The case of Clinchfield R.R. v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co.' involved the question of whether the insured, in a suit against his insurer, is bound by findings adverse to him in prior litigation between the insured and a third person.The liability insurance policy involved covered certain vehicles of the railroad company but expressly excluded from coverage injuries to employees in the course of their employment. One Harrison, a regular railroad employee, was injured while riding in an insured vehicle with a fellow employee. He sued the railroad company under the Federal Employers Liability Act. Before he could recover …

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Restitution -- 1957 Tennessee Survey, John W. Wade

Vanderbilt Law Review

Compulsion of Judgment: This year's most important decision in the field of Restitution is the famous case of New York Life Ins. Co.v. Nashville Trust Co.' This was the case in which one Buntin disappeared from his home in Nashville under circumstances which led the Supreme Court of Tennessee to hold that he had committed suicide and thus died while an insurance policy was still in effect. As a result the plaintiff insurance company was compelled to pay the defendant trust company, as trustees for the beneficiaries of the policy (Buntin's family), an amount of $60,000. Years later, Buntin was …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Recent Cases

Constitutional Law--Equal Protection--Automatic Reversion of Land to Grant or Upon Use by Non-Whites

Constitutional Law--Federal Eminent Domain--Potentiality for Water Power Development as Element of Compensation

Contracts--Place of Making--Acceptance by Instantaneous Means of Communication

Insurance--Automobile Liability Omnibus Clause-Coverage of Sub-Permitee

Insurance--Insurer's Right of Subrogation--Waiver by Refusal to Pay Claim

Master and Servant--Borrowed Servant Doctrine--Contract as Proof of Assumption of Control

Wills--Anti-Lapse Statutes--Beneficiaries of Class Gift Dead at Will's Execution

Insurance -- 1955 Tennessee Survey, Robert W. Sturdivant

Vanderbilt Law Review

If a period of three years be sufficient time to detect any trend in the field of insurance litigation, there is reflected a decrease in the number of cases reaching our appellate courts having to do with automobile liability insurance and an increase in the number of cases having to do with health and accident policies--the latter probably being the result of the extension of group insurance. In the past year there were only two reported decisions in the state courts and one in the federal court sitting in Tennessee involving automobile liability policies. During the present Survey period, there …

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

RECENT CASES

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--INTERSTATE COMMERCE--VALIDITY OF CARRIER REGULATION REQUIRING RACIAL SEGREGATION

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CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--POLITICAL QUESTIONS--GEORGIA COUNTY UNIT VOTE SYSTEM

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DIVORCE--ALIMONY IN DEFAULT DECREES--POWER OF COURT TOWARD ALIMONY IN ABSENCE OF PRAYER THEREFOR IN COMPLAINT

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EVIDENCE--PROOF OF CORPUS DELICTI--CORROBORATION OF DEFENDANT'S CONFESSION BY HIS OWN SPONTANEOUS STATEMENTS

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FEDERAL COURTS--VENUE--USE OF STATE NONRESIDENT MOTORIST STATUTE TO IMPLY WAIVER

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GIFT TAXES--TRANSFER MADE UNDER DIVORCE DECREE INCORPORATING PREDIVORCE PROPERTY SETTLEMENT--EFFECT OF PROVISION IN SETTLEMENT THAT IT WOULD BE BINDING REGARDLESS OF TERMS OF DIVORCE DECREE

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INSURANCE--NOTICE TO AGENT REPRESENTING TWO INSURERS--ESTOPPEL PREVENTING COMPANY SECONDARILY LIABLE FROM CLAIMING AGAINST COMPANY …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

RECENT CASES

ATTORNEYS--REINSTATEMENT PROCEEDINGS--JURISDICTION OF DISBARRING COURT

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AUTOMOBILE LIABILITY INSURANCE--ESTOPPEL BY JUDGMENT--PRIOR JUDGMENT AGAINST INSURED AS BAR TO INSURER'S DEFENSE OF LACK OF COVERAGE

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BURGLARY INSURANCE--CRIMINAL ACT OF EMPLOYEE OF INSURED--HARM TO THIRD PERSON AS JUSTIFICATION

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CHATTEL MORTGAGES--MORTGAGEABILITY OF I.C.C. CERTIFICATE OF PUBLIC CONVENIENCE AND NECESSITY--APPROVAL OF COMMISSION AS CONDITION PRECEDENT

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CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--DUE PROCESS--MANDATORY MINIMUM PRICE MARK-UPS ON INTOXICATING LIQUORS

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CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--OATH OF ALLEGIANCE AND OATH OF OFFICE--POWER OF LEGISLATURE TO ENLARGE UPON CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISION

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CONVEYANCES--CONSTRUCTION OF LIMITATIONS--ENTAILING LANGUAGE AS WORDS OF PURCHASE OR WORDS OF INHERITANCE

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CRIMINAL LAW--PRIVILEGE OF SELF-DEFENSE--DUTY OF OCCUPANTOF …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Recent Cases

Automobiles--Family Purpose Doctrine--Automobile Owned by other than Head of Family

Contracts--Effect of Illegality--Recover Where No Moral Turpitude involved and Purpose of Statute Not Violated

Corporations--Liability of Officer to Creditors for Excessive Salary--Burden of Proof on Defendant to Show Reasonableness

Criminal Law--Proximate Cause--Responsibility for Death Due to Acts of Persons Opposing a Felony

Criminal Law--Violation of the Mann Act--Actual Transportation Entirely within a Single State

Evidence--Confidential Communications between Spouses--Admissibility of Testimony as to Conduct of Party Spouse

Insurance--Commercial--Radius Endorsement in Automobile Insurance--Effect of Breach after Return to Designated Area

Personal Property--Finding Lost Goods--Chambermaid's Right to Goods Found by Her …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

CONFLICT OF LAWS--DOMICIL FOR PURPOSES OF INCOME TAXATION--ABSENCE OF FIXED INTENT TO REMAIN IN RESIDENCE OR TO RETURN TO DOMICIL OF ORIGIN

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CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--INTERSTATE COMMERCE--VALIDITY OF STATE TAX UPON GROSS RECEIPTS OF SEGMENT OF INTERSTATE COMMERCE

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CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--PEACEFUL PICKETING--POWER OF STATE COURT TO ENJOIN

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CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--POWER OF COURT TO PUNISH FOR DIRECT CONTEMPT--OPPORTUNITY TO OBTAIN COUNSEL

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EVIDENCE--ADMISSIBILITY OF SCIENTIFIC TESTS--HARGER DRUNKOMETER TEST TO DETERMINE INTOXICATION

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FEDERAL JURISDICTION--REQUIREMENT THAT FEDERAL QUESTION APPEAR ON FACE OF COMPLAINT--APPLICATION TO DECLARATORY JUDGMENT ACTION

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INCOME TAXES--DEDUCTION OF BUSINESS EXPENSES--DEDUCTIBILITY OF PENALTIES FOR VIOLATION OF PRICE REGULATIONS

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INSURANCE--"COMPREHENSIVE" COVERAGE …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Recent Cases

Bills and Notes--Fictitious Payee Known only to Fraudulent Employee of Drawer--Negotiable Instruments Law v. Fictitious Payee Act

Constitutional Law--Amendment and Revision--Power to Call Constitutional Convention Limited to Consideration of Specific Topics

Constitutional Law--Interstate Commerce--Dental of License to Ship Milk Held Invalid

Constitutional Law--Separation of Powers--Legislative Control over Admission to the Bar

Contracts--Recited Cash Consideration--Effect of Non-payment

Contracts--Statute of Frauds--Letterhead as a Signature

Criminal Procedure--Communication between Judge and Jury--Effect of Inquiry as to Pronounced Majority

Criminal Procedure--Constitutional Right to Public Trial--Power of Court to Order Courtroom Cleared of Spectators

Estates--Disability of Life Tenant to Purchase Tax Title to Exclusion …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

ADJOINING LAN DOWNERS--OVERHANGING BRANCHES--INJUNCTION AGAINST MAINTENANCE REFUSED

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ADMINISTRATIVE LAW--ZONING BOARD--RIGHT OF BOARD TO APPEAL FROM ADVERSE DECISION OF LOWER COURT

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CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--FREEDOM OF RELIGION--STATUTE OUTLAWING SNAKE-HANDLING

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CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--STATE CONSTITUTIONAL REQUIREMENT FOR VOTING TO "UNDERSTAND AND EXPLAIN" THE CONSTITUTION--EFFECT OF DISCRIMINATORY ADMINISTRATION AGAINST NEGROES

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CONTRACTS--OFFER AND ACCEPTANCE--EFFECT OF ATTEMPTED REVOCATION OF UNILATERAL OFFER AFTER PART PERFORMANCE

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CRIMINAL LAW--DOUBLE JEOPARDY--CONVICTION OF HIGHER OFFENSE ON RETRIAL

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CRIMINAL LAW--LARCENY--SINGLE ACT CONSTITUTING SEPARATE OFFENSES

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FEDERAL JURISDICTION--AMOUNT IN CONTROVERSY--DEGREE OF EVIDENCE REQUIRED

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INSURANCE--INCONTESTABLE CLAUSE--EFFECT ON ACTION BY INSURER TO REFORM POLICY

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LOTTERIES--SLOT MACHINES--FREE GAMES AS PROPERTY OF …

Stockholder Attacks On Corporate Pension Systems, F. Hodge O'Neal

Vanderbilt Law Review

This article considers the legal issues raised when a corporate pension system is attacked by minority stockholders. These issues perhaps best can be delineated by focusing attention on a representative fact-situation.

The board of directors of a corporation formulate a pension plan for corporate officers and employees. Retirement benefits under the plan are to be based on employees' "past service" (i.e., service rendered the company prior to the effective date of the plan) as well as on their "future service" (i.e., service rendered after the plan is in operation). The plan includes provisions for funding the pensions with either a …

A Symposium On Estate Planning: Foreword, Mayo Adams Shattuck

Vanderbilt Law Review

The power and increasing value of conferences and symposia of the sort which the Vanderbilt Law Review has arranged is that a team of first class men are gathered together to give testimony and useful advice upon the various independent factors which must be taken into account in solution of this fascinating problem. When a group of distinguished scholars and practitioners like those participating in this symposium are willing to make thoughtful contributions to this sort-of round table, without hope of compensation except for the satisfaction that comes from the provision of sound ideas and the education that stems from …

Some Aspects Of Estate Planning In Tennessee, Alec B. Stevenson

Vanderbilt Law Review

Not many years ago a large New York bank circulated privately booklet with the provocative title "The Passing of the Simple Will." The choice of the title and the text itself underlined the complexities which surround the owner of property and his advisers when they jointly attempt to plan the disposition of a modern estate for modem needs. The now almost legendary owner of Blackacre could, indeed, write a simple will, quite effective and satisfactory as a plan for the disposition 'and use of the family property. One need scarcely recite the changes which have taken place in more recent …