Contracts Commons^™

Contracts -- 1963 Tennessee Survey, Paul J. Hartman

Vanderbilt Law Review

Both the one year provision and the sale of goods provision of the Statute of Frauds were construed in Anderson-Gregory Co. v. Lea.'Regarding the duration of the contract, the facts in the opinion are somewhat sparse... The court held that the contract did not come within this provision of the statute. If a contract could have been performed, under its terms, within a year from the time of its making, it is not within the Statute of Frauds, even though it is improbable that the contract would be performed within a year.

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The Tennessee Supreme Court case of Oman …

Agency -- 1961 Tennessee Survey, Elvin E. Overton

Vanderbilt Law Review

The topic "agency" includes the areas of "master and servant" as well as those of "principal and agent." There were few cases in these areas decided by the Tennessee courts during the period under survey. Generally, basic principles were applied to routine cases.In certain instances the reliance upon a prior fact determination avoided the necessity of an elaborate treatment of the facts. In one or two cases the court reached a result that may not be deemed desirable though supported by much authority. Significant points received less attention than they deserved in certain cases. In one case the basic question …

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 …

Automobile Policy Exclusions, A. L. Plummer

Vanderbilt Law Review

The exclusions in the automobile liability insurance policies have required much litigation to clarify and interpret the intent of the draftsmen and underwriter who wrote them. An exclusion takes away or modifies certain coverages given in the insuring agreements. The giving and taking-away provisions of insurance policies are necessary in the making of a limited contract. They tend to avoid duplication of coverage, limit the assumed risk or hazard, avoid underwriting the primary liabilities of others that should be covered by other policy forms, and otherwise limit the scope of coverage. Since 1936 there has been a constant effort by …

Liability Of Funeral Directors For Negligence, Edgar E. Smith

Vanderbilt Law Review

Funeral directing cannot be classed absolutely as a "profession."'On the contrary, the funeral director's principal concern probably is the sale of caskets and burial supplies, thus making him a "merchant"or "trader." However, for purposes of rendering services in connection with the care and burial of the dead as well as in accommodating the family and friends of the deceased, the funeral director is considered a "professional man." It is the latter capacity which is under consideration here. It is inconsequential for legal purposes whether a mortician is referred to as a "funeral director," an "embalmer," or an "undertaker." An embalmer …

Professional Negligence Liability Of Public Accountants, Carl S. Hawkins

Vanderbilt Law Review

At least since 1905, in this country, accountants have been recognized as "a skilled professional class ... subject generally to the same rules of liability for negligence in the practice of their profession as are members of other skilled professions."' The question, then, is not whether the usual concepts of professional negligence apply to accountants, but how. What situations have produced malpractice litigation? What are the specific practices or omissions which have resulted in liability? And what are the limits of liability? Like other professionals, the accountant usually gets into the position where he must exercise his professional skill as …

Business Associations, Paul J. Hartman

Vanderbilt Law Review

Use of Corporate Entity to Evade Contractual Obligations. Scott v. McReynolds afforded the Court of Appeals an opportunity to pierce the corporate veil. Plaintiff and defendant McReynolds were partners in the business of selling butane-propane gas and appliances. In a contract dissolving the partnership, McReynolds agreed not to sell gas or appliances within a specified area. Shortly thereafter, the other defendant, a corporation, was formed, and it sold gas within the exempted area in competition with plaintiff. McReynolds was president of the defendant corporation, was actively engaged in the business and was a "prime mover in the organization of the …

Bases For Master's Liability And For Principal's Liability To Third Persons, Merton Ferson

Vanderbilt Law Review

The law with regard to principal and agent grew up as part and parcel of the law of contracts. The law with regard to master and servant grew up as part and parcel of the law of torts. Each one takes its origin far back in the history of the common law.

Agents were used in an early day to effect livery of seisin, to create covenants, and to carry on commercial transactions. The terms "principal" and "agent" may be of modern origin. But the power of one person to bind another in legal transactions was familiar in the days …