Torts Commons^™

Leonard V. Watsonville Community Hospital [Dissent], Jesse W. Carter

Jesse Carter Opinions

Grant of nonsuit as to doctor was proper because the testimony of patient's adverse parties was clear and uncontradicted to effect he was not responsible for leaving clamp in patient's abdomen and there was no rational ground to disbelieve testimony.

Tucker V. Lombardo [Dissent], Jesse W. Carter

Jesse Carter Opinions

No prejudicial error existed when the jury instructions correctly informed the jury about the shooter's degree of care in firing a gun on a skeet range and informed the jury about contributory negligence and assumption of the risk.

Nuisance--Aesthetic Grounds Held Valid For Injunctive Relief Against Lawful Business, C. H. B. Jr.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Administrative Officers' Tort Liability, Kenneth Culp Davis

Michigan Law Review

Case law on tort liability of public officers and employees is much more interesting than one might expect on the basis of abstract contemplation. The traditional common-law notion that an employee should, as against the employer, bear the ultimate responsibility for his negligence has been exposed as seriously unrealistic in a holding by a unanimous Supreme Court; the decision concerning the government employee is potentially applicable to corporate employees. The many holdings that officers are not liable for deliberate and malicious torts are based on the intriguing view that justice cannot be done when malice is proved, without opening the …

Negligence - Breach Of Duty - Assured Clear Distance Ahead Doctrine, Herbert A. Bernhard

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, while driving an automobile through a tunnel, collided with defendant's truck, which was stopped without lights. The Pennsylvania Vehicle Code requires an operator to drive at such a speed as will enable him to stop within the "assured clear distance ahead." Plaintiff alleged he was temporarily blinded by the sudden change from bright sunlight to the darkness of the tunnel. The jury found for plaintiff, but defendant's motion for judgment n. o. v. was granted. On appeal, held, affirmed, one justice dissenting. Plaintiff's failure to stop his automobile within the assured clear distance ahead constituted contributory negligence as …

Torts - Nuisance - Personal Annoyance As Sole Injury, Michael Scott

Michigan Law Review

Several thousand sales slips, mistakenly printed to bear plaintiff's telephone number, were supplied to the defendant store and were circulated widely by the latter's employees incident to normal sales transactions. Calls from defendant's customers soon burdened plaintiff's telephone, and despite numerous complaints by plaintiff over a two-year period, defendant refused or neglected to terminate use of the incorrect slips. On appeal from judgment for plaintiff in a suit for damages, held, affirmed. Defendant's acts resulted in an actual invasion of plaintiff's right to enjoy her property without unreasonable interference. Damages for personal annoyance and inconvenience alone are allowable in …

Negligence - Breach Of Duty - Liability Of Telephone Company For Failure To Relay Fire Alarm, Cyril Moscow S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Upon discovering a fire within his business building, plaintiff immediately went to the telephone and dialed the operator. After telling her his address and requesting that she call the fire department, he left the telephone to fight the fire. The message was not transmitted. When the fire department finally arrived in response to an alarm by a neighbor, the fire was out of control and the entire building was destroyed. Plaintiff sought damages, alleging that the telephone company held itself out to the public as willing to convey messages in case of emergency, and that failure to transmit his message …

Danner V. Atkins [Dissent], Jesse W. Carter

Jesse Carter Opinions

In a case involving a truck's unexplained collision with a building, doctrine of res ipsa loquitur did not apply as to truck driver where the truck was under the control of a mechanic rather than of the driver just before the accident.

Panopulos V. Maderis [Dissent], Jesse W. Carter

Jesse Carter Opinions

Passengers who were injured in an accident while they were guests in car, just after the driver stepped out, could not recover for their resulting injuries unless they showed that the driver was intoxicated or engaged in wilful misconduct.

Restitution - Waiver Of Tort And Suit In Assumpsit - Amount Of Recovery Where There Has Been A Sale, Charles B. Renfrew S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In a prior action one of the defendants obtained a judgment against the plaintiff. The present action for conversion was brought because of an allegedly irregular execution sale of plaintiff's business property under that judgment. The trial court granted defendants' motion to dismiss on the ground that the action was barred by the statute of limitations. On appeal, held, affirmed. The applicable statute of limitations was not tolled by fraudulent concealment and plaintiff, having elected his remedy in tort, was not entitled to a trial in an action of assumpsit on the theory of a contract implied by law. …

Negligence - Duty Of Care - Duration Of Status Of "Driver" For Puropses Of Guest Statute, George Kircos

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiffs were guests riding in defendant's automobile. Defendant stepped out of the vehicle leaving the motor running, the hand brake unset, and the automatic shift in neutral position. A departing passenger brushed against the gear lever and started the vehicle which struck a wall causing injuries to the plaintiffs. On appeal from judgment adverse to the plaintiffs, held, reversed. Defendant may be held liable for ordinary negligence. California's "guest" statute limiting guests to recovery for injuries sustained by the driver's willful misconduct does not apply in this case, since the defendant ceased to be a driver the moment he …

Torts - Libel And Slander - Calling A Person A Communist As Slader Per Se, Ross Kipka S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In an action for slander, plaintiff alleged that on three separate occasions defendant had orally called or referred to plaintiff as a communist. The court rendered judgment against the defendant, holding that calling a person a communist is slander per se. On appeal, held, affirmed. Since membership in the Communist Party is a felony under Pennsylvania statute, falsely referring to a person as being a communist is slander per se. Solosko v. Paxton, (Pa. 1956) 119 A. (2d) 230.

Torts—Statutory Duty Of Subcontractor, Tamara Pasichniak

Buffalo Law Review

Rufo v. Orlando, 309 N. Y. 345, 130 N.E. 2d 887 (1955).

The Attractive Nuisance Doctrine

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Torts—Automobile-Owner Indemnification, Tamara Pasichniak

Buffalo Law Review

Traub v. Dinzler, 309 N. Y. 395, 131 N.E. 2d 564 (1955).

Should A Child Have A Right Of Action Against A Third Person Who Has Enticed One Of His Parents Away From The Home, Joseph F. Nocca

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Torts—Defamation Per Se, Hugh Russ Jr.

Buffalo Law Review

Nichols v. Item Publishers, Inc., 309 N. Y. 596, 132 N.E. 2d 860 (1956).

The Questionable Status Of The Charitable Immunity, Robert M. Westberg

Washington Law Review

Until 1953, charitable corporations in Washington enjoyed a limited immunity from tort liability. Until 1953, the extent of the immunity thus enjoyed was well enough defined so that the practitioner was assured that his predictions as to the outcome of future litigation would be reasonably accurate. However, two recent Washington cases dealing with the charitable immunity doctrine have effected the removal of much of the certainty from this area of the law, and thus prompt an analysis of the charitable immunity and its practical effect today.

Agency -- 1956 Tennessee Survey, F. Hodge O'Neal

Vanderbilt Law Review

The appellate courts of Tennessee and the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit handed down during the survey period a considerable number of interesting and significant cases dealing with the Tennessee law of agency. This article groups the cases and arranges them under topic headings. In most instances, the discussion of the case or cases under a topic heading is preceded by brief background material designed to place the cases in their proper setting and aid the reader in evaluating them.

Local Government Law -- 1956 Tennessee Survey, Joseph Martin Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

The scope of local government law covers the problems arising out of the functioning of units of government essentially local in character--the municipality, the county, the school district. Involved are the relations between the unit and its constituents or between the units themselves, the validity of its actions, the status of its officers or employees. In the era of increased government, the impact of this body of law is pervading.

Torts -- 1956 Tennessee Survey, John W. Wade

Vanderbilt Law Review

This year, as in the past several years, there were approximately forty Torts cases. A much smaller number of the cases, however, involved automobile accidents. This is hardly competent evidence that there were fewer accidents, but may perhaps indicate that negligence law is becoming somewhat clearer so that fewer appeals to the higher courts are considered warranted.

Equity -- 1956 Tennessee Survey, Val Sanford

Vanderbilt Law Review

One of the most important characteristics of the administration of justice in Tennessee is the maintenance of separate courts of law and equity. While numerous statutes have been enacted from time to time in an effort to clarify the jurisdiction of the two courts and the boundaries of their respective jurisdictions have been further defined by the courts, nevertheless, cases are still dismissed because they are brought in the wrong court...

The Federal Tort Claims Act: A Proposed Construction Of The Discretionary Function Exception, Cornelius J. Peck

Washington Law Review

The purpose of this article is a limited one. It contains no suggestions for a broad statutory scheme for distributing all the burdens and costs of government. Its purpose is to suggest no more than a workable and just construction for the discretionary function exception of the statute. For the greatest part, the suggestion is no more than what the legislative history of the exception suggests—that the courts take note of the special problems of determining the liability of the Government for torts and then proceed to decide the cases as they would have done if the exception were not …

Mccarthy V. Tally, Jesse W. Carter

Jesse Carter Opinions

To recover liquidated damages, lessor had to prove that damages were extremely difficult of ascertainment at the time the parties entered into lease and that the agreed-upon sum represented a reasonable endeavor to ascertain what damages would be.

Community Property, William H. Mays

Washington Law Review

Covers cases on tort liability and conflict of laws.

Damages, Gordon L. Walgren

Washington Law Review

Covers cases on punitive damages—"willfulness" of tort feasor.

Torts, Betty B. Fletcher, Luzerne E. Hufford Jr., Lewis Guterson

Washington Law Review

Covers cases on negligence—apportionment of damages between negligent and innocent acts of one defendant (Fletcher); negligence—agent's duty toward third persons (Hufford); and libel—misstatements to the general public concerning public officers (Guterson).

Family Responsibility In Tort, William J. Harbison

Vanderbilt Law Review

At common law an unmarried woman occupied no special status as far as tort liability was concerned, and the same rules and standards of responsibility applied to her as to society generally. Since marriage imposed upon a woman a very extensive disability, however, there developed a number of special rules concerning tort responsibility of the married woman.

Marriage did not impose upon the wife any special or peculiar liability for wrongful acts committed by her husband at common law, and, except in certain instances hereafter noted, she is not thus liable today. It is true that since the enactment of …

Personal Torts Within The Family, Val Sanford

Vanderbilt Law Review

If a person, while under the influence of intoxicants, drives his automobile at excessive speed, loses control of it, jumps the curb and strikes a pedestrian, injuring him severely, there would be little question, nothing else appearing, that he would be liable to the injured pedestrian in an action for damages. The premises underlying a conclusion of liability in such cases are obvious. It is in the interest of society that injured persons be compensated and rehabilitated; and our conceptions of justice are such that ordinarily it seems fair that the party who was at fault, whose action caused the …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Constitutional Law--Congressional Investigations --Relevancy of Required Testimony

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Constitutional Law--State Taxation of Interstate Commerce--Sales Taxation of Income from Trans-Shipment of Goods within State

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Criminal Law--Felony Murder Doctrine--Co-Felon Killed by Victim of Crime

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Evidence--Judicial Admissions--Testimony as to Objective Facts

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Federal Tort Claims Act--"Private Individual" Clause--Uniquely Governmental Activity

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Income Taxation--Capital Gains and Losses--Business Purpose for Contracting in Commodity Futures

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Labor Law--Taft-Hartley Act--Discharge of Employees because of Union Membership

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Negligence--High Tension Power Lines--Duty to Warn of Dangerous Condition

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Real Property--Joint Tenancy--Severance of Estate by Murder of Co-Tenant

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Torts--Landowner--Duty to Social Guest

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Wills--Pretermitted Heir Statue--Sole …