Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Evidence Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 30 of 57

Full-Text Articles in Evidence

Civil Procedure - Pre-Trial Discovery - Disclosure Of Amount Of Defendant's Liability Insurance, David L. Genger Apr 1958

Civil Procedure - Pre-Trial Discovery - Disclosure Of Amount Of Defendant's Liability Insurance, David L. Genger

Michigan Law Review

In an action arising out of a highway collision, plaintiff sought disclosure of the amount of defendant's liability insurance in a pre-trial discovery proceeding. The defendant was adjudged to be in default for his refusal to disclose this information. On a writ of certiorari, held, the order of the trial court is quashed. Only matters which can actually be admitted and used as evidence or matters which might lead to the finding of such evidence are proper subjects of discovery under the Florida rule. The amount of defendant's insurance is not relevant to the litigation since it will accomplish …


Evidence-Probative Value Of Inferences From Failure To Call A Witness, Cleaveland J. Rice S.Ed. Dec 1950

Evidence-Probative Value Of Inferences From Failure To Call A Witness, Cleaveland J. Rice S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

lnsured sued to recover sickness benefits under an insurance policy. The defense was that the insured was not in good health when the policy was issued. The only evidence introduced by the defendant insurance company was plaintiff's refusal to consent to taking the deposition of an examining hospital physician. Defendant's request for a directed verdict on the issue of good health was refused. After being instructed that from the refusal to permit taking of the deposition they might "presume that such evidence . . . would operate against plaintiff and be against his interest in this suit," the jury returned …


Evidence -Witnesses - Privileged Communications Between Physician And Patient--Statutory Effect Of Asserting Privilege In Actions On Insurance Contracts, William H. Buchanan S.Ed. Nov 1946

Evidence -Witnesses - Privileged Communications Between Physician And Patient--Statutory Effect Of Asserting Privilege In Actions On Insurance Contracts, William H. Buchanan S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, beneficiary of an insurance policy (but not the personal representative of the deceased insured), sued to recover the amount of the policy from the insurance company. As a defense the defendant claimed that the policy never became effective because the insured had made material misrepresentations in the application as to his state of health. To show that there had been such misrepresentations, the defendant proved that the insured had been treated by physicians during the five years preceding the issuance of the policy. Upon objectionμ by plaintiff the court excluded the testimony of the doctors as to the nature …


Evidence-Effect Of Presumption Against Suicide, Edwin Boos Feb 1945

Evidence-Effect Of Presumption Against Suicide, Edwin Boos

Michigan Law Review

Asserting that the deceased met his death by accidental drowning, appellant sued as beneficiary to recover under a double indemnity clause of an insurance policy issued to the deceased by the defendant. The defense was that the deceased committed suicide and that a clause in the policy prevents recovery of double liability under such circumstances. The jury found for the defendant and, on appeal, the beneficiary contended that the trial judge committed prejudicial error against her by refusing to instruct the jury that there was a strong presumption against suicide and in favor of accidental death. Held, the code …


Evidence - Admissibility Of Age In Hospital Record As Business Entry, Craig E. Davids Oct 1944

Evidence - Admissibility Of Age In Hospital Record As Business Entry, Craig E. Davids

Michigan Law Review

Representing his birth date as 1866, deceased purchased from defendant insurance company in 1921 a policy on his life, which provided that in the event of any misrepresentation of age the insured's beneficiary would receive only that amount which a standard policy issued at his true age would stipulate for the premiums paid. In a suit by the beneficiary to recover on the policy, defendant attempted to prove that deceased was born at least as early as 1862. Among other evidence, defendant introduced a hospital record of deceased's visit to a particular institution in 1936 where he represented his age …


Evidence - Admissibility Of Hospital Records As Business Entries, Robert C. Lovejoy May 1942

Evidence - Admissibility Of Hospital Records As Business Entries, Robert C. Lovejoy

Michigan Law Review

As a defense to a suit on an insurance policy, the defendant insurer claimed that the plaintiff was intoxicated at the time of the fatal accident. Defendant offered in evidence a portion of the case record of the hospital to which plaintiff was taken after the accident, the record stating that he was "apparently well under influence of alcohol." Although it was duly authenticated under the federal statute permitting business entries to be used as evidence, this evidence was excluded by the trial court as being an observation rather than a diagnosis. Held, reversed. There was no basis for …


Evidence Of Survivorship In Common Disaster Cases, John E. Tracy, John J. Adams Apr 1940

Evidence Of Survivorship In Common Disaster Cases, John E. Tracy, John J. Adams

Michigan Law Review

Almost daily, newspapers recount the details of another automobile accident or airplane crash in which numerous persons are killed--a common disaster. And determination of survivorship in common disaster cases presents some of the most vexing problems that lawyers and judges meet. Lawyers must search for evidence, frequently hard to obtain, and then must face difficult questions of relevancy, materiality, and probative value, since in almost all cases where any evidence is available it is wholly circumstantial. Judges must decide preliminary disputes over who shall bear the burden of proof, and then must rule on the sufficiency of evidence, which is …


Evidence - Hearsay Rule - Use Of "Res Gestae", Henry L. Pitts Apr 1939

Evidence - Hearsay Rule - Use Of "Res Gestae", Henry L. Pitts

Michigan Law Review

In an action on a life policy which acknowledged receipt of the first premium, the insurer-defendant claimed that no premium payment was made and that delivery was only to allow inspection and comparison with a specimen copy of the policy already in the hands of insured's wife. The district court admitted testimony by the insured's wife, the beneficiary and plaintiff in the action, to the effect that when the insured turned the policy over to her he said it was hers and paid for. The Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit sustained the ruling and, on motion for …


Insurance - Estoppel - Parol Evidence Rule Dec 1931

Insurance - Estoppel - Parol Evidence Rule

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff sued on a fire policy. The insurer defended on the ground that plaintiff had violated a condition of the policy which provided that there would be no liability if loss occurred while the property was encumbered by a chattel mortgage, unless the company's written consent thereto was endorsed on the policy. Plaintiff sought to estop the defendant as to this defense because of insurer's agent's assurances, given before and after the issuance of the policy, that the policy would permit him to encumber the goods. Held, defendant's demurrer to plaintiff's replication should be sustained because of plaintiff's …


Insurance-Misrepresentations-Insertion Of False Answers By Medical Examiner Jan 1931

Insurance-Misrepresentations-Insertion Of False Answers By Medical Examiner

Michigan Law Review

If an applicant for life insurance, in answering the many questions put to him by the company's medical representative, tells the truth, but the examiner, in recording the answers, distorts them without the knowledge of the insured, may the beneficiary or the personal representative of the insured show this distortion by parol, and collect on the policy in spite of the presence of false written answers in the application? The New York court of appeals, in the very recent case, Minsker v. John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co., 254 N. Y. 333, 173 N.E. 4, answers this question in …


Witnesses-Refreshing Memory-Past Recollection Dec 1930

Witnesses-Refreshing Memory-Past Recollection

Michigan Law Review

Action on a claimed oral renewal of a burglary insurance policy. Nearly six months after the alleged renewal W made an affidavit stating that she heard defendant's agent tell plaintiff that plaintiff's policy had been renewed. This affidavit was drawn up by plaintiff's attorney. On the trial eight years later W was unable to recall any such conversation and the affidavit did not refresh her memory. The court over objection admitted the affidavit itself in evidence. Held, since the affidavit was not made at or near the time of the event recorded, and was drawn up by one of …


Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review Apr 1922

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Admiralty - Workmen's Compensation - Is a Hydroplane a Vessel? - Claimant was employed in the care and management of a hydroplane which was moored in navigable waters. The hydroplane began to drag anchor and drift toward the beach, where it was in danger of being wrecked. Claimant waded into the water and was struck by the propeller. Held, claimant is not entitled to compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Law, since a hydroplane while on navigable waters is a vessel, and therefore the jurisdiction of the admiralty excludes that of the State Industrial Commission. Reinhardt v. Newport Flying Service Corp. …


Recent Important Decisions Jun 1915

Recent Important Decisions

Michigan Law Review

A collection of recent important court decisions.


Recent Important Decisions May 1915

Recent Important Decisions

Michigan Law Review

A collection of recent important court decisions.


Recent Important Decisions Mar 1915

Recent Important Decisions

Michigan Law Review

A collection of recent important court decisions.


Recent Important Decisions Feb 1915

Recent Important Decisions

Michigan Law Review

A collection of recent important court decisions.


Recent Important Decisions Mar 1914

Recent Important Decisions

Michigan Law Review

A collection of recent important court decisions.


Recent Important Decisions Feb 1913

Recent Important Decisions

Michigan Law Review

Bankruptcy - Jurisdiction of the District Court Exclusive Within Its District - A trustee in bankruptcy appointed, by the District 'Court for the District of Illinois filed a petition in the District Court for the Western District of Michigan for a summary order to require the respondent to surrender to the trustee certain moneys claimed as the property of the bankrupt. The respondent was a resident of the Eastern District of Michigan, and denied the jurisdiction of the court to issue an order to be enforced in another district. Held that the jurisdiction of the District Courts, in all bankruptcy …


Note And Comment, Ralph W. Aigler, Wilson W. Mills, Sidney E. Doyle, Joseph J. Kennedy Jan 1913

Note And Comment, Ralph W. Aigler, Wilson W. Mills, Sidney E. Doyle, Joseph J. Kennedy

Michigan Law Review

The Renvoi Theory Repudiated as a Test for Determining the Negotiability of a Note - A recent case decided by the Supreme Court of Oklahoma (Bell v. Riggs, 127 Pac. 427) involving, among others, a question as to what law governs the negotiability of a note made in one State and payable in another, though of little intrinsic value so far as that point is concerned, is of some interest because the attorney for the holder of the note made a curious attempt to adapt the renvoi theory to his case. The term renvoi is used as a convenient descriptive …


Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review Dec 1912

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Adverse Possession--Railroads--Effect of Change of Line; Bankruptcy--Extension of Time for Filing Petition for Discharge; Bankruptcy--Voidable Preferences--Proceeds of Fire Insurance Policy; Bills and Notes--Liability of Irregular Indorser--Questions for Jury; Bills and Notes--Negotiability--Law Governing; Boundaries--Street--Land Made by Change in Street; Commerce--Interstate Commerce on Route Between Two Points in Same State; Criminal Law--Dead Bodies--Proper Burial; Constitutional Law--Involuntary Servitude; Deeds--New Grantee in Habendum--Construction; Deeds--Parol Reservation of Growing Crops by Vendor of Land; Evidence--Admissibility of Statements of a prior Holder of Negotiable Paper Against Transferee; Evidence--Right to Introduce Secondary Evidence of Contents of a Document When the Original is Beyond Jurisdiction of the Court; Guardian …


Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review Dec 1911

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Attachment--Jurisdiction Over Non-Resident; Bankruptcy--Debts Entitled to Priority--Workman, Clerk, Etc.; Bankruptcy--Title of Trustee Under Unrecorded Conditional Sale--Effect of Amendment of 1910; Bills and Notes--Actions--Real Party in Interest; Carriers--Limiting Liability for Loss of Baggage--Interstate Commerce; Commerce--Constitutionality of State Regulation of Rates; Commerce--Natural Gas as Subject of Interstate Commerce; Covenants Running with the Land--Establishment of Railroad Station; Damages--Penalty or Liquidated Damages--Construction of Stipulation in Contract; Deeds--Covenant to Stand Seised to Uses; Divorce--Recrimination--Dismissal of Bill-When Both Parties Guilty; Equity--Jurisdiction--Adequate Remedy at Law; Evidence--Admissibility of Admissions and Confessions of Accused to Prove the Corpus Delicti; Insurance--Suicide--Waiver of Statutory Provisions; Judgment--Collateral Attack on Judgment of Probate …


Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review Jun 1911

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Attachment--Power of Notary Public to Take Affidavit Where He is an Attorney for One of the Parties; Bankruptcy--Effect of Discharge--Res Adjudicate; Bills and Notes--Presentment and Demand by Telephone; Constitutional Law--Commerce--State Regulation of Interstate Telegrams; Constitutional Law--community Property--Alienation Without Consent of Wife; Corporations--Criminal Responsibility--Imputation of Intent and Knowledge; Corporations--Dividends--Compulsory Declaration; Corporations--Stockholder's Right to Examine Books--Motive; Easements--Grants for Pipe Lines--Rights Acquired--Telephone Line; Evidence--Character of Disbarment Proceedings--Use of Deposition; Evidence--Uncorroborated Testimony of an Accomplice; Fraudulent Conveyances--Voluntary Conveyances--Solvency and Insolvency of Grantor; Homestead--When Liable for Debts; Husband and Wife--Exception to Presumption of Coercion--House of Ill Fame; Injunction--Action on Note by Attorney Against Client--Remedy at …


Note And Comment, Ralph W. Aigler, Edson R. Sunderland, Clarence E. Eldridge, Mckee Robison May 1911

Note And Comment, Ralph W. Aigler, Edson R. Sunderland, Clarence E. Eldridge, Mckee Robison

Michigan Law Review

The Corporation Tax Decision; The Rights of Passengers in an Unregistered Automobile; Expert Testimony in Michigan; Federal Supreme Court's Jurisdiction Unalterable;


Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review May 1911

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Appearance--appeal from Action in Rem as General Appearance; Bankruptcy--Suit by Trustee--Right to Trial by Jury; Bills and Notes--Draft by Agent on Principal--Necessity of Acceptance; Carriers--Merchandise as Baggage--Notice; Constitutional Law--Impairing Obligation of Contract--Clause of Insurance Contract Limiting the Time in Which to Bring Action; Constitutional Law--Invalidating Existing Contracts for Free Transportation; Contracts--Mutual Promises--Independent or Conditional; Courts--Supreme Court--Jurisdiction--Mandamus to Compel Entry of Judgment by Lower Court; Eminent Domain--Damages; Evidence--Confession of an Alleged Accomplice; Evidence--Statutes--Enrolled bill as Evidence; Homestead--Does Joinder of Wife to Release Dower Bar Her Homestead Right?; Insurance--Increase of Hazard; Libel and slander--Absolute Privilege--Judicial Proceedings; Parent and Child--May Parent Authorize Agent …


Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review Apr 1911

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Attachment--Conflicting Attachments; Bills and Notes--Liability of Assignee of Bill of Lading, Attached to Draft, to Consignee for Defects in the Goods; Bills and Notes--Reformation in Equity to Bind Signer of Separate Communication; Carriers--Rights of Bona Fide Assignee of a Bill of Lading; Chattel Mortgages--Sufficiency of Description as to Third Parties; Constitutional Law--Impairing Contract Obligations--Inheritance Tax--Community Property; Contributory Negligence--Negligence Imputed to Passenger; Damages--Personal injuries--Predisposition to Disease; Discovery and Inspection of Burried Human Body; Evidence--Presumptions--Law of Another State; Husband and Wife--Consortium--Is Husband's Right Impaired by Purely Physical Injury to Wife?; Insurance--Interst of Beneficiary--Prior Death; Insurance--Statements Made by Applicant--How Construed; Judgment--Collateral Attack Based …


Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review Mar 1911

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Accident Insurance--Accident or Disease; Antenuptial Contract; Waiver of Performance; Bankruptcy--Arrest of Bankrupt--Exemption from Arrest; Bankruptcy--Effect upon a Surety of Bankrupt's Discharge; Charities--Validity--Certainty as to Purpose of the Gift; Constitutional Law--Equal Protectin of the Laws--Abrogation of Fellow-Servant Rule; Constitutional Law--Equal Protection of the Laws--Permit to Woman Pharmacist to Sell Liquors; Constracts--Public Policy; Corporations--Injury to Minority Stockholders--Remedy by Injunction; Corporations--Nature of a Corporation--Franchises; Deeds--Specific Performance of a Condition Subsequent; Elections--Primary Elections--Failure of Nominee to File Expense Account; Evidence--Parol Testimony--Admissibility; Husband and Wife--Personal Torts Between; Husband and Wife--Subrogation of Wife to Rights of Creditors for Necessaries; Inn-Keepers--Liability for Goods of Guest--Termination of Liability; …


Note And Comment, John R. Rood, Arthur J. Abbott, Allen Mck. Bond, Howard H. Campbell Feb 1911

Note And Comment, John R. Rood, Arthur J. Abbott, Allen Mck. Bond, Howard H. Campbell

Michigan Law Review

Ignorance and Mistake of Law Caused by Over-Ruled Cases; The Doctrine of Exemplary Damages in Its Application to Corporations; When is a Will Signed "At the End?": Construction of the Code Phrase "Subject of Action"


Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review Apr 1910

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Bankruptcy--Surety's Rights to Subrogation--Preferred Claim; Bills and Notes--Negotiability--Effect of Words "Not Transferable" Added to Negotiable Note; Bills and Notes--Transfer of Note by Indorsement--What Law Governs the Indorser's Contract; Boundaries--Private Way--Title to Fee--Presumption; Civil Rights--Equal Privileges--Place of Amusement--Advertising Material; Constitutional Law--Inequality--classification--Child Labor; Constitutional Law--Limitations on the Taxing Power--Convict-Made Goods--Equal Protection of Laws; Contracts--Real Estate Brokers--Oral Authorization for Sale of Land--Commissions; Criminal Law--Post Office--Fraudulent Use of Mails; Damages--Measure of, in Case of Wrongful Death; Damages--Mitigation of, in Action for Personal Injuries--Duty to Submit to Medical Operation; Deed of Standing Timber--Time of Removal; Divorce--Extent of Relief--Absolute Divorce; Divorce--Vacation of Decree--Perjured Testimony; Evidence--Offer to …


Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review Mar 1910

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Appeal and Error--Meaning of "Person Aggrieved"; Bankruptcy--dower Rights of Bankrupt's Wife; Bankruptcy--Mechanic's Lien--Set Off; Bills and Notes--Usury--when note is Void as to Both Principal and Interest; Boundaries--Meander Line--Riparian Rights; Citizenship--Marriage of Alien Woman to a Citizen--Naturalization; Constitutional law--Constitutionality of Office of Supreme Judge--Construction of State Constitution; Constitutional Law--Full Faith and Credit--Chancery Power to Affect Foreign Property; Constitutional Law--Police Power--License and Registration of Automobiles; Contracts--Restraint of Trade--Limitation as to Time; Damages--Breach of Warranty of Title--Attorney's Fees and Costs; Deeds--Support and Maintenance as Consideration--Condition Subsequent; Evidence--Crimes Affecting Credibility of Witnesses; Evidence--Letters Between Husband and Wife--Not Privileged in Hands of Third Parties; Husband …


Recent Important Decisions, Michigal Law Review Feb 1910

Recent Important Decisions, Michigal Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Appeal and Error--Attorney's Interest in Case on Appeal--Contingent Fee; Bankruptcy--discharge--subsequent Action for Fraud; Bills and Notes--Usury No Defense Against a bona Fide Holder--Construction of Negotiable Instruments Statute; Boundaries--Street, Terminus A Quo; Carriers--Hepbern Act--State and Federal Courts--Phrase "Caused by It"; Chattel Mortgages--Payment without Notice of Assignment--Construction of a Mortgage Provision; Constitutional Law--Equal Protection of Laws--Statute Requiring Screens on Cars Operated by Corporations; Constitutional Law--Equal Protection of the Laws--Class Legislation; Contracts--No Recovery Under an Entire Illegal Contract; Contracts--Validity of Contract in Contemplation of Divorce; Courts--Federal Courts--authority of Decision of State Courts--"Telegraph"; Covenants--Breach of that Against Incumbrances; Elections--Ballots--Indication of Choice by Voter; Evidence--Facts …