Legal Remedies Commons^™

Civil Procedure And Economic Inequality, Maureen Carroll

Articles

How well do procedural doctrines attend to present-day economic inequality? This Essay examines that question through the lens of three doctrinal areas: the “irreparable harm” prong of the preliminary injunction standard, the requirement that discovery must be proportional to the needs of the case, and the due process rights of class members in actions for injunctive relief. It concludes that in each of those areas, courts and commentators could do more to take economic inequality into account.

Class Actions, Indivisibility, And Rule 23(B)(2), Maureen Carroll

Articles

The federal class-action rule contains a provision, Rule 23(b)(2), that authorizes class-wide injunctive or declaratory relief for class-wide wrongs. The procedural needs of civil rights litigation motivated the adoption of the provision in 1966, and in the intervening years, it has played an important role in managing efforts to bring about systemic change. At the same time, courts have sometimes struggled to articulate what plaintiffs must show in order to invoke Rule 23(b)(2). A few years ago, the Supreme Court weighed in, stating that the key to this type of class action is the “indivisible” nature of the remedy the …

The Future Of Classwide Punitive Damages, Catherine M. Sharkey

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Conventional wisdom holds that the punitive damages class action is susceptiblenot only to doctrinal restraints imposed on class actions but also to constitutionaldue process limitations placed on punitive damages. Thus, it would seem that theprospects for punitive damages classes are even grimmer than for class actionsgenerally.This conventional picture misunderstands the role of punitive damages and, inparticular, the relationship between class actions and punitive damages. It eitherignores or underestimates the distinctly societal element of punitive damages, whichmakes them especially conducive to aggregate treatment. Furthermore, punitivedamages classes offer a solution to the constitutional due process problem of juriesawarding "classwide" damages in a …

Understanding Pleading Doctrine, A. Benjamin Spencer

Michigan Law Review

Where does pleading doctrine, at the federal level, stand today? The Supreme Court's revision of general pleading standards in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly has not left courts and litigants with a clear or precise understanding of what it takes to state a claim that can survive a motion to dismiss. Claimants are required to show "plausible entitlement to relief' by offering enough facts "to raise a right to relief above the speculative level." Translating those admonitions into predictable and consistent guidelines has proven illusory. This Article proposes a descriptive theory that explains the fundaments of contemporary pleading doctrine in …

What Do We Talk About When We Talk About Mass Torts?, Anthony J. Sebok

Michigan Law Review

Twenty years ago, Deborah Hensler and a team of scholars at the RAND Corporation's Institute for Civil Justice issued a report entitled Trends in Tort Litigation: The Story Behind the Statistics. Pressure had been mounting both in the business community and the Republican Party to "reform" tort law throughout the 1980s. There was concern that Americans "egged on by avaricious lawyers, sue[d] too readily, and irresponsible juries and activist judges wayla[id] blameless businesses at enormous cost to social and economic well-being." The RAND report argued that the real risk of a torts "explosion" came from the world of mass …

Against Irreparable Benefits, Omri Ben-Shahar

Articles

In a recent essay in The Yale Law Journal, Douglas Lichtman argues that courts considering preliminary injunctions should account for irreparable benefits in addition to irreparable harms. This is a provocative idea. If a preliminary injunction harms one party but benefits the other, and if both effects are equally difficult to subsequently undo, why focus on one effect (harm) and ignore the other (benefit)? There is a compelling geometric validity to this symmetry observation. But is this a valuable “flipping” exercise? Does it shed a new light and provide useful insight into the law of injunctions? In this Response I …

Justice For The Collective: The Limits Of The Human Rights Class Action, Paul R. Dubinsky

Michigan Law Review

The class action lawsuit is our grand procedural experiment in collective justice. As against the U.S. legal system's strong orientation toward individual rights rather than group rights, the class action is a countercurrent. Through Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, large numbers of previously unaffiliated individuals can proceed in federal court as a group, litigating through representatives. A recent form of this litigation, the human rights class action, takes this experiment to its far reaches. In the human rights class action, the tension between individual claimants and the group as a whole can be heightened. The class …

The Indulgence Of Reasonable Presumptions: Federal Court Contractual Civil Jury Trial Waivers, Joel Andersen

Michigan Law Review

Large institutions such as banks, franchisers, international companies, and lessors distrust juries' ability to properly resolve disputes and award reasonable damages. As a result, these and other actors have attempted to limit juries' potential influence on the contracts to which they are parties. They have done so through contractual jury trial waiver clauses in these agreements. The Seventh Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the jury trial right. Whether the right is determined to exist in an individual instance is a matter of federal common law, which merely preserves the jury trial right as it existed when the Amendment was adopted …

Pleading Under Section 11 Of The Securities Act Of 1933, Krista L. Turnquist

Michigan Law Review

The Securities Act of 1933 ("Securities Act") requires full and fair disclosure of the nature of securities sold in interstate and foreign commerce. Section 11 of the Securities Act prohibits false or misleading registration statements. It also provides buyers a private remedy for false or misleading statements against any signer of the registration statement, any partner or director of the issuer, any professional involved in preparing or certifying the statement, and any underwriter. The rule appears simple: if there is a material misstatement or omission in the registration statement, the buyer may sue the seller. Courts disagree, however, over how …

Class Actions For Punitive Damages, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that a Rule 23 class action offers the best way to manage multiple actions for punitive damages. It begins by examining the policy underlying punitive damages and the plaintiffs interest in recovering them. It then explains why a limited fund is created when courts deny punitive damage recovery as a matter of law or when punitive claims exceed defendant's assets. The Note contends that a Rule 23(b)(l)(B) class action provides the best means to manage this limited fund and reviews the circumstances in which a district court may properly certify a class action for punitive damages. It …

Manageability Of Notice And Damage Calculation In Consumer Class Actions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Comment will examine the likelihood that Rule 23, as it has been interpreted since its amendment, will provide a mechanism through which consumers may successfully resolve their grievances. The focus will be on the manageability problems of providing the requisite notice and of devising a method of calculation and distribution of damages.

Federal Civil Procedure-Existence Of Federal Cause Of Action For Abuse Of Federal Process, Laurence D. Connor

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner was served with a subpoena ordering him to appear before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. He subsequently brought an action in federal district court asking for damages and injunctive relief and praying that the subpoena be declared void and of no effect. He alleged it had been signed in blank by the Committee chairman and that respondent, an investigator for the Committee without delegated subpoena power, had filled in petitioner's name without authorization and caused it to be served on him at his place of employment. Petitioner also alleged that respondent intended to subject him to public shame …

Procedural Problems Of Class Suits, Joseph J. Simeone

Michigan Law Review

The purpose of this article is to discuss numerous aspects of the class device, to discuss the many procedural problems confronting court and counsel, to determine the effectiveness of one type of class suit-the spurious-and in the conclusion, to propose legislation for a new rule independent of the rules regarding class actions, a remedy which would more effectively permit the dispatch of numerous claims arising from similar fact patterns.

Specific Performance In France And Germany, John P. Dawson

Michigan Law Review

Edgar Durfee studied long and closely the subject of specific performance. He taught it for many years, wrote about it and planned to ·write more. He conceived it broadly, as he did every subject that ever had his attention, but he had a lively interest in details, including very technical details. Long before others and much more than most, he saw the importance of our remedial system both in shaping law and as a reflection of its larger purposes. All those who learned from him will remember as long as memory lasts the insight he gave and the hidden meanings …

Judgments - Res Judicata - Limitation Of California Doctrine Of Collateral Estoppel In Multiple Claimant Cases, Sidney B. Hopps

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiffs were injured when their car was struck by defendant. They commenced separate negligence actions, which were consolidated for trial. These actions resulted in a judgment for plaintiff son, but judgments were entered against the plaintiffs mother and father. These parties were granted a new trial, with no limitation upon the issues to be tried. On the second trial the parents asserted the son's judgment, which had become final and been satisfied, as conclusively establishing defendant's negligence. The trial court ruled against them and submitted the issue of defendant's negligence to the jury. On appeal by the parents, held, …

Civil Procedure - Judgments - Effect Of Prior "Compromise" Judgment As Collateral Estoppel, Peter H. Hay S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In a negligence action for injuries sustained in an automobile accident, one of three successful plaintiffs was granted a new trial because damages awarded her were inadequate. In the new trial the issue of negligence was relitigated over plaintiff's objection that the question of liability was res judicata. The jury found for the defendant and plaintiff appealed. Held, affirmed, one justice dissenting. Although the judgment in favor of the other two plaintiffs in the prior action establishing defendant's liability has become final, this prior judgment is not res judicata. Since the judgment was entered pursuant to a verdict which …

The Union Of Law And Equity, Charles W. Joiner, Ray A. Geddes

Michigan Law Review

This paper was prepared for the guidance of a Committee on Michigan Procedural Revision jointly created by the Michigan Legislature, the Supreme Court of Michigan, and the Michigan State Bar to recommend revision of Michigan statutes and rules. Toe need for the joinder of law and equity procedure was thought to be so fundamental that this paper was prepared as a basic study for the committee. In it an attempt is made to bring to the attention of the Michigan lawyers, judges, and legislators an analysis of the Michigan Constitution, statutes, and cases and the experience of other states that …

Compulsory Joinder Of Parties In Civil Actions, John W. Reed

Michigan Law Review

Compulsory joinder cases involving interests in land display one peculiar and important characteristic: there is almost never any need in the state courts to wrestle with the question of whether a person is indispensable as distinguished from necessary. One hastens to add that this attribute of land cases appears to have gone largely unnoticed, but it exists none the less. It arises out of the fact that in a suit involving real property it is never impossible for the court to obtain jurisdiction over all persons interested therein to an extent which will enable the court to adjudicate controversies over …

Family Responsibilty Under The American Poor Laws: Ii, Daniel R. Mandelker

Michigan Law Review

No substantive statutory provision fulfills the purpose for which it was enacted unless fair and efficient procedures are provided for its enforcement. Under the Elizabethan family responsibility law, enforcement was confined to the parish justices of the peace, who at that time exercised both administrative and judicial functions. The blending of administrative and judicial functions no longer being the rule in American local government, practically all of the American family responsibility statutes provide for some judicial procedure by which the support duty may be enforced. The basic issue with which the courts have been concerned in applying these statutory remedies …

Practice And Procedure - Conditional Judgments At Law - Validity And Advantages

Michigan Law Review

Some modern courts have asserted and many lawyers have assumed that in common law actions a court can not render a judgment conditional in form. It is argued that the court is without jurisdiction so to decide a case, and that in any event the common law has never recognized such a form of judgment as valid. The first point is not so difficult to disprove, and the second, so far as actual decision is concerned, is clearly incorrect." In several early cases common law courts were willing not only to stay execution of judgments until conditions were performed, but …

Federal Practice - Class Suits - Community Of Interest Under Federal Equity Rule 38

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff filed suit in a federal court, sitting in equity, in behalf of himself and others, to enjoin the collection of an illegal tax imposed by North Carolina upon peddlers of foreign fruit within that state. He alleged that 400 others were similarly situated and that over 100 of them had contributed to the expense of the litigation. Held, the individual legal remedy available under state statute was inadequate in view of the multiplicity of suits it necessitated, and the plaintiff was entitled under Federal Equity Rule 38 (post) to bring a class suit to enjoin the collection of …

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. …

Patent Law, John Barker Waite

Books

The comparatively small size of the book is not due to any conscious superficiality of treatment nor omission of pertinent subject matter. It purports to cover only the substantive law of patents, their nature, validity, effect, and their characteristics as property. Matters of procedure in securing patents or suing on them, and the difficult subject of the amount of compensation recoverable by suit, would require a volume for themselves and are not included here. But of the matter which is included, it has been my desire to present every issue which has come before the courts....

This book is intended …

Options And The Rule Against Perpetuities, John R. Rood

Articles

"The question to be discussed in this article is whether an option to buy property is void by reason of the fact that it may be exercised at a period more remote from the time of its creation than the law of the state permits contingent interest to vest."

Is A Judgment Open To Collateral Attack If Rendered Without Written Pleadings As Required By Statute, Or If The Writings Do Not Comply With The Statutory Requirements?, John R. Rood

Articles

It is believed that no good reason can be assigned for answering the above question in the affirmative. Certainly none has yet been discovered in a careful search of the cases involving the point. And yet the assurance and unanimity with which lawyers and judges give the affirmative answer to it on first thought is indeed remarkable. For instance, Mr. Justice FIELD in speaking for the Supreme Court of the United States, on the question as to whether a judgment is subject to collateral attack if one served with process is not permitted to make any defense when he appears …