Law Commons^™

Can A Person's "Slate" Ever Really Be "Cleaned"? The Modern-Day Implications Of Pennsylvania's Clean Slate Act, Kimberly E. Capuder

St. John's Law Review

(Exceprt)

In 2006, Khalia was arrested for a “low-level counterfeiting charge.” While Khalia was innocent and never convicted for the charged offense, she still had a criminal record. Because she was concerned that future employers would “view her as a thief,” she never applied to any of her dream jobs. But once Khalia’s arrest record was automatically sealed, she finally had enough confidence to send in a job application to a prestigious consulting firm, and was offered the position. Khalia believes that her newly sealed criminal record “means a future without judgment.” And this future without judgment was made possible …

Zoning For Families, Sara C. Bronin

Indiana Law Journal

Is a group of eight unrelated adults and three children living together and sharing meals, household expenses, and responsibilities—and holding themselves out to the world to have long-term commitments to each other—a family? Not according to most zoning codes—including that of Hartford, Connecticut, where the preceding scenario presented itself a few years ago. Zoning, which is the local regulation of land use, almost always defines family, limiting those who may live in a dwelling unit to those who satisfy the zoning code’s definition. Often times, this definition is drafted in a way that excludes many modern living arrangements and preferences. …

Recommendations For Improving Firearms Vetting In Massachusetts, Robert C. Devine

University of Massachusetts Law Review

The United States is in a state of conflict over the ability to obtain firearms as well as their use in highly publicized mass shootings. On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza obtained several firearms that were lawfully owned by his mother, but were improperly secured. Lanza killed his mother that morning and then drove a short distance to the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut where he murdered twenty-six people, many of whom were small children. Lanza eventually turned a gun on himself before being confronted by responding officers. Though mass shootings are often headlines in this country, the …

Is Groton The Next Evenwel?, Paul H. Edelman

Michigan Law Review Online

In Evenwel v. Abbott the Supreme Court left open the question of whether states could employ population measures other than total population as a basis for drawing representative districts so as to meet the requirement of "one person, one vote" (OPOV). It was thought that there was little prospect of resolving this question soon as no appropriate instances of such behavior were known. That belief was mistaken. In this Essay I report on the Town of Groton, Connecticut, which uses registered voter data to apportion seats in its Representative Town Meeting and has done so since its incorporation in 1957. …

Without Representation, No Taxation: Free Blacks, Taxes, And Tax Exemptions Between The Revolutionary And Civil Wars, Christopher J. Bryant

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

This Essay is the first general survey of the taxation of free Blacks in free and slave states between the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. A few states treated all equally for tax purposes, but most states enacted taxation systems that subjected free Blacks to different requirements. Both free and slave states viewed free Blacks as an undesirable population, and this Essay posits that—within the relevant political constraints—states used taxes and tax exemptions to dissuade free Black immigration and limit the opportunities for free Blacks within their borders. This topic is salient for at least two reasons. First, the Essay sheds …

An Incomplete Revolution: Feminists And The Legacy Of Marital-Property Reform, Mary Ziegler

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

As this Article shows, the conventional historical narrative of the divorce revolution is not so much incorrect as incomplete. Histories of the divorce revolution have focused disproportionately on the introduction of no-fault rules and have correctly concluded that women's groups did not play a central role in the introduction of such laws. However, work on divorce law has not adequately addressed the history of marital-property reform or engaged with scholarship on the struggle for the Equal Rights Amendment to the federal Constitution. Putting these two bodies of work in dialogue with one another, the Article provides the first comprehensive history …

Climate Change And Public Nuisance Law: Aep V. Connecticut And Its Implications For State Common Law Actions, Jeffrey N. Stedman

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Reading The Standing Tea Leaves In American Electric Power Co. V. Connecticut, Bradford C. Mank

University of Richmond Law Review

The U.S. Supreme Court by an equally divided vote offour to four affirmed the Second Circuit's decision finding standing and jurisdiction in the case in American Electric Power Co. v. Connecticut. While not binding as precedent beyond the Second Circuit,the case offers clues to how the Court is likely to rule in future standing cases. This article discusses the likely identities of the four Justices on each side of the standing issue in the case, as well as how Justice Sotomayor might have voted if she had not recused herself. Furthermore, the article examines how the decision expand- ed on …

Sliding Towards Educational Outcomes: A New Remedy For High-Stakes Education Lawsuits In A Post-Nclb World, Christopher A. Suarez

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Sheff v. O'Neill ushered in a new wave of education reform litigation that may challenge the constitutionality of de facto segregation under state education clauses, but its remedy has been inadequate. This Note proposes a new desegregation remedy-the sliding scale remedy-to address socioeconomic isolation in this unique constitutional context. The remedy employs varying degrees of equity power depending on students' academic outcomes. It balances concerns over local control and separation of powers with the court's need to effectuate right, establishes a clear remedial principle, and ensures that states and school districts focus on students as they implement remedies.

State Legislative Update, Ashley Brittain, Sean Dolan, Alicia Hammond, Meghan Prideaux

Journal of Dispute Resolution

The purpose of this Bill is to provide notice to owners of residential real property owners that mediation with the mortgagee is an option at the onset of foreclosure proceedings. The Bill changes the mechanism by which borrowers are notified of foreclosures; instead of receiving a writ and summons, borrowers receive a notice of mediation, a foreclosure mediation certificate, and a blank appearance form. Borrowers still receive the writ, summons, and complaint, however. The lender must appear at the mediation with the authority to approve a proposed settlement in order to receive a remedy, and no attorney's fees will be …

Triaging Family Court Services: The Connecticut Judicial Branch's Family Civil Intake Screen, Peter Salem, Debra Kulak, Robin M. Deutsch

Pace Law Review

No abstract provided.

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell": Negligent Hiring Law In Virginia And The Necessity Of Legislation To Protect Ex-Convicts From Employment Discrimination, Nancy B. Sasser

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

State Legislative Update, Christopher Benne, Tracy Justis, Brandon Lawson, Marty Seaton

Journal of Dispute Resolution

As a response to a growing number of states enacting legislation regarding mediations 0 , the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) and the Dispute Resolution section of the American Bar Association, drafted the Uniform Mediation Act (UMA). The goal of the drafters in creating the UMA was to promote uniformity in an area of law that varied greatly from state to state. After observing the approach of several states , the drafters chose to place a broad confidentiality privilege for all mediation participants at the heart of the Act. In addition, the UMA requires the mediator …

Mohegan Indians V. Connecticut (1705-1773) And The Legal Status Of Aboriginal Customary Laws And Government In British North America, Mark D. Walters

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

This article examines the eighteenth century case of Mohegan Indians v. Connecticut in order to determine its significance for arguments about the legal status of Aboriginal customary law and government in British North America. The article concludes that the Mohegan case confirms that in certain circumstances native nations on reserved lands in British colonies were subject, not to colonial jurisdictions established for settlers, but to their own traditional customs and institutions. It also concludes that the case is less clear than some recent commentators have suggested about whether British law recognized such nations as having rights of sovereignty.

Is The Mental Health History Of An Applicant A Legitimate Concern Of State Professional Licensing Boards? The Americans With Disabilities Act Vs. State Professional Licensing Boards, John D. Mckenna

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Connecticut's Trail By Lawyer: Contract Disputes And The Attorney Fact-Finder - Beizer V. Goepfert, Craig R. Heidemann

Journal of Dispute Resolution

The rules of professional conduct in most states require attorneys to enter into written agreements with their clients when contracting on a contingent fee basis.2 In so doing, the parties define the existence and limits of their attorney-client relationship. In the present case, an attorney and his client agreed to a ten percent contingent fee; however, the lawyer transferred to a new firm prior to the conclusion of the case.4 Subsequently, the client signed a new, identical agreement provided by the attorney's new firm.5 In the contract, the attorney used the previously agreed-upon fee percentage instead of the standard office …

Informed Choice: Physicians' Duty To Disclose Nonreadily Available Alternatives, Halle Fine Terrion

Case Western Reserve Law Review

No abstract provided.

Has Connecticut Thrown Out The Baby With The Bath Water? Termination Of Parental Rights And In Re Valerie D., Jennifer M. Mone

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Note focuses on the termination of parental rights in the context of drug-addicted parents. Termination of parental rights has been characterized as a unique kind of deprivation which has the effect of ending a fundamental liberty interest. In In re Valerie D., Connecticut has established a new precedent in the area of termination of parental rights by holding that parental rights may be terminated at birth solely on the basis of prenatal conduct. This Note discusses Valerie D. in the context of the governmental obligation to promote family integrity and the penumbra of rights residing in the parents, the …

Law And Disputing In Commercializing Early America, Cornelia Dayton

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Neighbors and Strangers: Law and Community in Early Connecticut by Bruce H. Mann

The Process Is The Punishment: Handling Cases In A Lower Criminal Court, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Book Notice about The Process Is the Punishment: Handling Cases in a Lower Criminal Court by Malcolm M. Feeley

Constitutional Law - Substantive Due Process - Statute Prohibiting Use Of Contraceptives, Erik J. Stapper S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

A Connecticut statute prohibits the use of contraceptives to prevent conception. Plaintiff-doctor sought a declaratory judgment to have the statute declared unconstitutional as an unreasonable restraint on his right to practice his profession inasmuch as his advice would render him an accessory to a violation of the statute. Three companion cases were also brought, one by a patient to whom another pregnancy would present serious danger, and two by married couples who could not give birth to normal children. The patients claimed that the statute deprived them of the doctor's best medical advice which would relieve them of a dangerous …

Advancements: Ii, Harold I. Elbert

Michigan Law Review

A voluntary inter vivos transfer by a parent to a child is not an advancement so long as the transferor lives. The purpose of the doctrine is to equalize an intestate' s property among his children. It is auxiliary to the distribution of his estate that the question of advancement is raised. The death of the transferor is not enough to give rise to the doctrine. The person seeking to charge the intestate's heirs with an advancement must prove several additional facts. The legislation of each state determines what must be proved in order to charge the transferee with an …

Constitutional Law-Commerce Clause-State Taxation Of Interstate Commerce, William H. Bates

Michigan Law Review

Appellant, a Missouri corporation, was domiciled in Illinois and engaged in interstate trucking of commodities to and from Connecticut. The appellant had twenty-seven employees, office equipment, pick-up trucks and two terminals within Connecticut. Approximately one-third to one-half of appellant's business originated in Connecticut, but a very small percentage of the total mileage traveled by its trucks lay within the state. Appellant was not engaged in intrastate commerce, nor had it been authorized to transact such business. Under the Connecticut Corporation Business Tax Act of 1935 appellant was assessed for taxes and penalties. The statute imposed a franchise tax upon certain …

Federal Procedure-Venue-Waiver Of Title 28, United States Code, Section 1391(A), Under Nonresident Motorist Statutes, Nolan W. Carson S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

A Connecticut resident brought a suit based on diversity of citizenship in a United States district court in Massachusetts against an Ohio corporation, alleging a cause of action arising from an automobile collision upon a Massachusetts highway. Plaintiff secured personal jurisdiction over the defendant by serving process upon the Registrar of Motor Vehicles for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and by giving notice to defendant in accordance with the Massachusetts nonresident motorist statute. Upon defendant's motion, the action was dismissed for improper venue. Held, defendant is not a Massachusetts resident for purposes of federal venue as defined by Title 28, …

Conflict Of Laws-Domicile Of Child Living With Mother, Charles E. Becraft S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff and defendant, husband and wife, were domiciled in New York. Because of temporary unemployment, plaintiff took his wife and minor child to Connecticut. He later returned to New York and resided in the apartment the family had formerly occupied. The wife and child did not return to New York, and the court found that she had at all times intended to remain in Connecticut and establish a domicile there. Plaintiff at all times intended to make New York his permanent residence. When defendant would not return to New York, plaintiff brought action for separation in a New York court, …

Bankruptcy-Bankrupt's Petition To Reopen Estate, Joseph N. Morency, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner's no-asset estate in bankruptcy was closed and a discharge was granted in 1942. In 1945 a judgment creditor of the bankrupt sued in a Connecticut court on a judgment which antedated the bankruptcy proceeding and the existence of which was unknown to the bankrupt at the time he filed his schedules. It appeared that the bankruptcy proceeding was likewise unknown to the judgment creditor. Petitioner sought an order reopening the estate for the purpose of amending schedules to include the judgment inadvertently omitted; and the district court entered such an order over the objection of the judgment creditor. On …

Corporations-Foreign Corporations-Jurisdiction In Derivative Suits, E. M. Deal S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

As an aftermath of the much publicized circus fire in Hartford, Connecticut, on July 6, 1944, owners of 37 per cent of the stock of the circus corporation brought a derivative action against the officers and directors alleging failure to observe proper precautions and asking that the corporation be indemnified for losses sustained and for an accounting for certain corporation funds spent for the benefit of one of the- defendant directors. The suit was instituted in New York where the corporation was licensed to do business although the circus was incorporated in Delaware, wintered in Florida, and the cause of …

Federal Procedure-Impleader Under Rule I4-Lack Of Diversity Of Citizenship Between Original Plaintiff And Third-Party Defendant, Frank E. Roegge S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a citizen of Connecticut sued defendant, a citizen of Ohio, for injuries received when the car in which plaintiff was a passenger collided with a truck driven by defendant. Defendant removed the case from a Connecticut state court to a federal district court and then obtained an order citing plaintiff's husband, a citizen of Connecticut and the driver of the car in which plaintiff was riding, as a third-party defendant under Rule 14 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Defendant had no claim against the third party by Connecticut substantive law which does not recognize contribution between tort-feasors. …

Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act - Right Of Prospective Bidder To Question Wage Determination Of Secretary Of Labor, David Loeb

Michigan Law Review

Complainants, small steel companies in eastern Pennsylvania, Maryland and Connecticut, brought this action to enjoin the secretary of labor and others from applying the provisions of the Public Contracts Act, as construed, to the iron and steel industry. It was contended that the secretary's wage determination was the result of an erroneous interpretation of the word "locality" as included in the act. The district court dismissed the complaint. Upon appeal the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia granted the injuction. On certiorari, held, reversed. The complainants have no standing in court to sue. Perkins v. Lukens Steel …

Evidence - Availability Of Evidence For Consideration By The Jury- Effect Of Lack Of Motion To Strike, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff sued a city for personal in juries sustained as a result of a fall in the street while she was using due care, the fall being caused by a defect in the street. Plaintiff testified on cross-examination that the defect was two and one-half inches from the street car rails, which fact would relieve defendant of liability under sections 3752 and 3755 of the Connecticut General Statutes. The plaintiff, on rebuttal, testified that the defect was twenty-eight inches from the rail. Defendant's counsel objected to this after the answer was given, and the objection was sustained. The verdict …