Evidence Commons^™

Apologies And Legal Settlement: An Empirical Examination, Jennifer K. Robbennolt

Michigan Law Review

It is often said that U.S. legal culture discourages apologies. Defendants, defense counsel, and insurers worry that statements of apology will be admissible at trial and will be interpreted by jurors and judges as admissions of responsibility. In recent years, however, several legal commentators have suggested that disputants in civil lawsuits should be encouraged to apologize to opposing parties. They claim that apologies will avert lawsuits and promote settlement. Consistent with this view, legislatures in several states have enacted statutes that are intended to encourage and protect apologies by making them inadmissible. In addition, some commentators argue that defendants might …

Conjunction And Aggregation, Saul Levmore

Michigan Law Review

This Article begins with the puzzle of why the law avoids the issue of conjunctive probability. Mathematically inclined observers might, for example, employ the "product rule," multiplying the probabilities associated with several events or requirements in order to assess a combined likelihood, but judges and lawyers seem otherwise inclined. Courts and statutes might be explicit about the manner in which multiple requirements should be combined, but they are not. Thus, it is often unclear whether a factfinder should assess if condition A was more likely than not to be present - and then go on to see whether condition B …

Antitrust-Clayton Act-Admissibilty Of Criminal Conviction Entered On A Plea Of Guilty As Prima Facie Evidence In Civil Suit For Treble Damage, Arthur M. Sherwood

Michigan Law Review

In a civil action for treble damages under section 4 of the Clayton Act, the plaintiff sought to allege as prima facie evidence of a Sherman Act violation a criminal conviction entered on a plea of guilty by the defendant in an earlier prosecution by the government. The trial court sustained a motion by the defendant to strike from plaintiff's complaint any reference to the criminal prosecution. On appeal, held, reversed, one judge dissenting. A judgment entered on a plea of guilty is not a consent judgment within the meaning of the proviso to section 5(a) of the Clayton …

The Civil Investigative Demand: New Fact-Finding Powers For The Antitrust Division, Richard L. Perry, William Simon

Michigan Law Review

The complexity, scope and length of modem antitrust litigation bring to prominence the procedures by which evidence - particularly documentary evidence - is discovered and placed before the courts and administrative agencies. Fact-finding mechanisms now available for ferreting out and prosecuting violations make up an imposing array. These include the grand jury subpoena, the discovery provisions of the Federal Rules of Civil and Criminal Procedure and the subpoena and visitorial powers of certain administrative agencies. The "civil investigative demand," a precomplaint compulsory process, is a new weapon proposed to be added to this arsenal. Few dispute the desirability of new …

Eminent Domain - Procedure - Relation Of Judge And Jury In Michigan Condemnation Proceedings, John H. Jackson S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The relationship of judge to jury in Michigan condemnation proceedings presents in many ways a merger of some of the problems and questions contained in the relationship of judge to jury in civil trials, and of court to tribunal in administrative law. Theorists as well as the practicing lawyer in Michigan and some other states" may well find in the development of the Michigan condemnation proceeding an interesting example of the growth of a procedure for adjudication, in a context of cross-fire between legislative ideas and judicial interpretation of a constitutional provision.

Civil Procedure - Compensation Of Witnesses In A Civil Action, David W. Belin S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

As the amount and complexity of litigation has increased, there have been corresponding increases in demands for added compensation of witnesses. Like the juror, the witness often receives the time-honored answer that he cannot be heard to complain that his compensation is inadequate; the administration of justice is a mutual benefit to all members of the community, and each is under a public duty to further it.

At common law witnesses received no compensation. Time spent in testifying was held to be claimed by the public as a tax, paid by the witness to the system of law which protected …

Evidence - Office Custom To Prove Fact Of Mailing, R. J. Nordstrom S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff agreed to purchase land from defendant by a contract in which it was stipulated that the performance of the mechanics of purchase would be completed through a third party, Webster. Plaintiff deposited the purchase money with Webster with instructions to deliver it to defendant only after he (Webster) had, inter alia, procured a policy of title insurance. Webster absconded with the funds. In a suit to determine the incidence of loss, plaintiff sought to prove that Webster had procured the policy before he absconded and therefore held the purchase money as agent for defendant. The proof that plaintiff …

Evidence-Hearsay-Admissibility Of History Statements In Hospital Record Under Business Entries Statute, Ralph E. Hunt

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff sued for injuries allegedly resulting when the door of defendant's bus closed on plaintiff's ankle as he was attempting to board the bus, throwing him to the ground. Defendant offered in evidence, under the Uniform Business Records as Evidence Act, in effect in Delaware, hospital records containing the entry: "Patient states he twisted ankle while walking along the street." The interne who treated plaintiff and qualified the records had no independent recollection of the statement. On appeal from judgment for defendant, held, the record was properly admitted, although no witness could testify of his own memory that he …

Note And Comment, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The Law Review; Citizenship and Identity of Corporations Incorporated in Two States; Duty of Court to Limit by Instruction the Effect of Evidence; Land Records as Notice of Chattel Mortgage; Appeal from a Satisfied Judgment to Avoid Estoppel; When Government Surveys are not Conclusive; Jurisdiction over the Ohio River;

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Action to Quiet Title--Venue--change of Venue; Agency--Secret Commission--recovery of both Secret and Stipulated Commission; Attorney and Client--Attorney's Lien--Fund in Court; Bankruptcy--Discharge--New Promise; Bankruptcy--Exemptions--discharge; Bankruptcy--Judgment in Bastardy--Discharge; Banks and Banking--Trust funds--Misappropriation--Subrogation; Contracts--Agreement for Advertising in Street Cars--Breach While Executory--Measure of Damages; Contracts--Agreement to Build with Materials Furnished by Owner--Destruction by Vis Major; Conveyance of Pretended Title--Maintenance--Adverse Claimant--Real Party in Interest; Corporations--Fiduciary Relation Existing Between Directors and Stockholders; Corporations--Fiduciary Relation Existing Between Stockholders and Directors; Courts--Limited Jurisdiction--Effect of Counterclaim; Criminal Law--Burden of Proof--Reasonable Doubt--Insanity--Contradictory and Inconsistent Instructions; Criminal law--Evidence--competency of Wife--Manner of Showing Incompetency--Suppression of Evidence; Damages--Exemplary Damages Where Actual Damage Purely …

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Acknowledgment--Who May Take--Stockholder; Agency--Notice to Agent--Liability of Principal; Carriers--Express Messengers--Contracts Exempting from Liability--Validity--Public Policy; Carriers of Passengers--Elevators--Negligence--Degree of Care; Code Pleading--Allegation of Duty; Conflict of Laws--Wills--Execution of Power; Constitutional Law--Liberty--Police Power--Use of Trading Stamps; Corporations--Legaility of Voting Trust--Power to Revoke Authority; Covenants--Benefits and Burdens--Privity of Estate; Damages--Breach of Contract--Mental Suffering; Damages--Breach of Contract--Mental Suffering; Damages--Pleading--Special Injury--Admissibility of Evidence; Elections--Right of Board of Aldermen to Judge of Election of its own Members--Construction of Charter; Equity--Mortgages--Redemption by Co-Tenant--Improvements--rents and Profits--Executors' and Administrators' Liability for Unpaid Claims; Evidence--Competency--Wife's Testifying Against Husband--Mock Marriage; Insolvency--Partnership--Secured Creditors--Mortgage on Exempt Property--Mortgage on Property of Individual Partner; Insurance--Benefit …