Digital Commons Network^™

Death By Wrongful Act-Effect Of Double Death On Recovery Under Minnesota "Death" And "Survival" Statutes, Robert K. Eifler

Michigan Law Review

Recovery was sought by the surviving spouse and next of kin against the estate of a negligent driver where both the passenger and the driver were fatally injured and died "in the same traffic accident." Held, where both the injured person and the wrongdoer die, an action survives against the personal representatives of the wrongdoer. Kuhnle v. Swedlund, 220 Minn. 573, 20 N.W. (2d) 396 (1945).

Principal And Agent-Right Of Agent To Waive Statute Of Limitations-Estoppel, Howard A. Jacobs

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff was injured in an automobile accident. Defendant's insurance adjuster informed the father of the plaintiff that no settlement could be made of her claim for personal injuries until she had fully recovered, and represented to him that defendant company would pay all her damages if the plaintiff did not consult an attorney. Held, where adjuster, having apparent authority to promise a settlement, lulled plaintiff into a false sense of security and caused her to permit Massachusetts one year statute of limitations to run, defendant was estopped by the conduct of the adjuster from pleading the statute as a …

Restitution-Recovery Of Insurance Payments Made Under A Mistake Of Fact As To The Death Of The Insured, Edwin F. Uhl

Michigan Law Review

Respondent insurance company, upon receipt of claims filed by the appellant beneficiary and a copy of the original Certificate of Presumptive Death issued by the Maritime War Emergency Board, certifying that the insured was presumed to have died on or about November 28, 1942, paid to the beneficiary the face amount of a life insurance policy plus a refund of a premium payment received after the date of presumptive death. Subsequently it was discovered that the insured was a prisoner of war in Japan and, having received from the Maritime War Emergency Board a correction of the original certificate, the …

Co-Tenancy-Conveyance By Grantor To Himself And Another, Shubrick T. Kothe

Michigan Law Review

Decedent, owning land and personal property thereon, executed a deed purporting to convey to herself and her son a life estate in the property "as joint tenants during their joint lives and an absolute fee forever in the remainder to the survivor of them. . . " Held, the deed created a tenancy in common in both of them during their lives and an estate in fee to the survivor. Hass v. Hass, (Wis. 1946) 21 N.W. (2d) 398.

Torts-Imputed Negligence In Michigan, Joseph N. Morency, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Husband was driving his wife and another passenger from work when, due to a combination of the negligence of the husband and that of the defendant, a collision occurred resulting in the death of the wife. Plaintiff as administrator of the wife brought an action under the Death Act against the defendant to recover damages for the minor children of the deceased to the support of whom the deceased had contributed. The trial court directed a verdict in favor of the defendant on the ground that the contributory negligence of the husband as driver was imputed to the wife as …

Torts - Negligence - Liability Of Manufacturer To Remote Vendee, William H. Buchanan S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff purchased at a retail shop some perfume manufactured by defendant. Plaintiff suffered a second-degree burn when she applied the perfume to her skin, and brought suit against the manufacturer. The lower court entered a judgment for the defendant after the jury had brought in a verdict for the plaintiff. Held, reversed, and lower court ordered to render its judgment in favor of plaintiff upon verdict returned by jury; the manufacturer was liable for negligence to the plaintiff even though there was no privity of contract between them. Carter v. Yardley & Co., Limited, (Mass. 1946) 64 N.E. …

Trusts-Fiduciary's Duty Of Loyalty, Howard A. Jacobs

Michigan Law Review

Defendant and testator were partners. Upon the death of the testator leaving a widow and children, defendant was named executor under the will with power to manage, control or sell any of the property in the estate. The testator's children's share vested in defendant as trustee under the will. Thereafter, defendant formed a corporation to which he transferred the partnership property. Equal amounts of stock therein were issued to himself individually, and to himself in his fiduciary capacity for the widow and children; a number of shares were issued to a third party who had a contingent interest under the …

Workmen's Compensation-Previous Impaired Condition As Affecting Basis Of Compensation-Special Fund, Eugene F. Lattin

Michigan Law Review

Claimant suffered accidental injury to his left hand, for which he received compensation. Later he sustained additional injuries to head, ears, left and right hands, and thereby became totally disabled. The State Industrial Commission found that claimant was 75 per cent disabled by reason of the later injury alone. Held, under Oklahoma Workmen's Compensation Law, employer is liable for the degree of disability which would have resulted had there been no previous injury. The Special Indemnity Fund is liable for payment of the balance of the total disability. Special Indemnity Fund v. Wood, 195 Okla. 357, 157 P. …

Current Periodical Index, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This department lists the articles and comments which appear in twenty-five leading law reviews. The index embraces material published since the last issue of this REVIEW.

Charities-Words Necessary To Create A Valid Trust For Charitable Purposes, John S. Dobson S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Testatrix left a will in which she directed her executor, after paying certain specific bequests, to give the residue of her estate "to some worthy cause or institution." From a decree rejecting the contention of decedent's next of kin that this residuary gift was void for indefiniteness, the next of kin appeal, arguing that the word "worthy" is not synonymous with "charitable," and that, in view of this, the bequest should fail for uncertainty, because testatrix did not specify the particular institution which was to receive the benefit of her bounty. Held, the bequest is valid. This court feels …

Constitutional Law-War Contract Renegotiation Act-Injunction Proceeding-Unauthorized Suit Against The United States, Rosemary Scott

Michigan Law Review

A holder of war contracts with the federal government brought suit in the District Court for the District of Columbia to enjoin the Secretary of the Navy from withholding payments due under one contract to offset alleged excess profits received on others on the ground that the statute was unconstitutional, and to obtain a declaratory judgment with respect to his right to the disputed funds. The district court dismissed the bill. Held, since the essential allegations and the relief sought did not make it a case of threatened trespass against property but in effect constituted a suit designed to …

Selective Service Act-Proper Procedure For Challenging Validity Of Draft Classification, Thomas L. Dalrymple

Michigan Law Review

Appellant, a Jehovah's Witness, claimed exemption from service under the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, relying upon that section which exempts from service "Regularly or duly ordained ministers of religion .... " Appellant's local board ruled against his claim and classified him as available for military service (Class I-A). He took his case to the appeal board, where the local board's classification was affirmed. State and National Directors of Selective Service having refused to appeal to the President for him, appellant's local board ordered him to report for induction. He reported at the proper time and place, was …

Principal And Surety -Application Of Payments By Creditor When Source Of Funds Is Known, William H. Buchanan S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

X, contractor on a housing project, sublet the painting work to Y. Y purchased paints from Z and also borrowed money from Z to pay his laborers until payments began to come in. Pursuant to an agreement between Y and Z, Y turned over checks received from X to Z, and these checks were applied against the debt owing for the money loaned to Y by Z. Z, as materialman and as beneficiary of an ordinary bond to pay labor and materials, sued X and the surety on the bond. Held, Z was …

Current Periodical Index, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This department lists the articles and comments which appear in twenty-five leading law reviews. The index embraces material published since the last issue of this REVIEW.

Taxation-Income Tax-Deductions-Dividends Or Interest, Milton D. Solomon S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The difficulty of determining whether payments made by a corporation on its securities are dividends or interest has been highlighted by two recent cases, involving substantially similar facts, which came before the Supreme Court on review.

Unemployment Compensation Act-Test Of Employment Relationship, John S. Dobson S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Claimant was employed as a salesman by a copartnership at a regular salary. The partnership was composed of three men, one of whom, R. L. Keppen, managed the business, for which he was paid a salary of $175 per month, independently of his share of the profits of the partnership. The other partners received no salary, being dependent upon partnership dividends for their return upon the investment. If Keppen could be considered an employee of the firm during the time· of the claimant's employment, then there would have been compliance with the Michigan Unemployment Compensation Act, which required that a …

Simulation Of Nervous And Mental Disease, Moses Keschner

Michigan Law Review

Simulation may be defined as a wilful, deliberate and fraudulent imitation or exaggeration of illness intended to deceive the observer for the purpose of gaining a consciously desired end. Simulation of a physical or mental illness is usually resorted to: (1) by persons who have sustained an injury, the disability resulting therefrom being compensable by benefits payable under the workmen's compensation law or by damages in personal injury actions based on alleged negligence; (2) by persons who wish to obtain insurance benefits for disability in accordance with the provisions of health, accident and life insurance policies, and included in this …

Front Matter, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Front Matter for Volume 44, Issue 5 of Michigan Law Review

Legal Control Of Medical Practice: Validity And Methods, Kenneth C. Sears

Michigan Law Review

Legislators have deemed it necessary, in order to protect the public interest, to exercise some control over the practice of the healing art by physicians, surgeons, chiropractors, osteopaths, dentists, etc., both as to who may practice and in what manner the practice may be carried on. Legislators have also required, in certain situations, that designated persons submit to medical treatment. Both types of regulation give rise to various legal and constitutional problems and it is the purpose of this paper to discuss some of these problems.

X-Ray Pictures As Evidence, Charles C. Scott

Michigan Law Review

The courts often are accused of being too slow in accepting the benefits of new inventions, but certainly they are not subject to this criticism in regard to the use of X-ray photographs as evidence. Within a year of Roentgen's discovery of X-rays in 1895, radiographs were admitted in evidence in the case of Smith v. Grant tried in the First District Court of Colorado. Ever since then courts have shown little hesitation in permitting the introduction of X-ray photographs in evidence. Today the rule is now firmly settled that with certain definite restrictions X-ray pictures are competent evidence of …

Administrative Law-Developments: 1940-1945 (A Service For Returning Veterans), E. Blythe Stason

Michigan Law Review

No period in American history has ushered in more sweeping changes in the legal structure than has the last decade and a half. No area of the law has witnessed more rapid development than has administrative law. A sketch of the progress of administrative law during the five-year period 1940 to 1945 reveals an important refining of the "quasi judicial" procedures--procedures which, because of their swift and topsy-turvy growth, can well use a little refining.

The purpose of the following survey is two-fold; first, to outline the more significant developments of the last half decade, relating the new materials to …

Administrative Law-Prior Resort Doctrine-Resort To The Railroad Adjustment Board Before Court Action, William H. Buchanan

Michigan Law Review

The decision in a recent case to the effect that a dispute concerning the construction of a contract of employment between a labor union and a railroad may be adjusted by carrying it before the Railroad Adjustment Board, or by carrying it directly to the courts makes this an apt time to examine the applicability of the doctrine of prior resort to disputes. covered by the Railway Labor Act. Such an examination seems especially necessary in view of the fact that in such cases the courts have not even mentioned the doctrine.

Constitutional Law-Protection Of Civil Liberties-Federal Criminal Prosecution Of State Police Officers-Constitutionality And Construction Of Section 20 Of Criminal Code, George Brody

Michigan Law Review

In United States v. Classic the Civil Liberties Unit of the Department of Justice resurrected the long dormant section 20 of the United States criminal code to prosecute successfully election officials in Louisiana for altering and falsely counting ballots cast in a Louisiana primary for representatives to Congress. Although the acts of the defendants were also in violation of state law the court asserted that "misuse of power possessed by virtue of state law and made possible only because the wrongdoer is clothed with authority of state law, is action taken under color of state law" and therefore within the …

Corporations-Extent Of Powers To Dispose Of Property In Winding Up Its Affairs Under Statutes Extending Corporate Existence, Joseph R. Brookshire S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

According to the common law a dissolved corporation ceased to exist for all purposes. Whether the dissolution was voluntary or involuntary, the effect of the dissolution was to deprive the corporation of all powers either de jure or de facto. It was necessary, therefore, that corporations facing dissolution proceed without delay toward a final liquidation and distribution of assets. Disregarding the old theory that personal property of dissolved corporations escheated to the state, and that its real estate reverted to the original granter or his heirs, and that debts due the corporation were extinguished, it is still apparent that hurried …

Trusts And Estates-Trends In The Law: 1941-1945 (A Service For Returning Veterans), Lewis M. Simes

Michigan Law Review

In every generation there are some judicial decisions so revolutionary that any summary of developments in the law, regardless of its author or of its brevity, would include them. Such cases as Erie Railroad v. Tompkins and Williams v. North Carolina will fall into this category no matter who lines up the materials. But such avulsive changes rarely if ever occur in the law of Trusts and Estates; and it is anybody's guess to determine the significant aspects of the day-to-day accretions which actually take place. Thus, the writer has no illusions that he is singling out the trends as …

Constitutional Law-Intergovernmental Immunities-Federal Tax On State Function, Joseph N. Morency, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

In 1911 the State of New York began to acquire title to all of the lands in the Saratoga Springs area with a view to halting excessive pumping of the mineral waters for which the springs are famous. As a result of state ownership the area became a state reservation which, in 1930, was placed under control of, the Saratoga Springs Commission. A hotel-sanitarium, recreational facilities, bath houses, drink halls, a research laboratory as well as state operation of the springs were part of a state program under legislative authority. During the period from 1932 to 1934, sales of the …

Labor Law-Fair Labor Standards Act-Determination Of "Regular Rate" For Computation Of Overtime Pay, John A. Huston

Michigan Law Review

Two recent decisions interpret the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act: (1) Previous to the enactment of the act, defendant company paid employees at an hourly rate for an eight hour day, seven day week. In order to comply with section 7a requiring payment of time and a half the "regular rate" of pay for hours in excess of the weekly maximum set by the act, defendant contracted to pay employees for six straight time and two overtime hours each day but at a new, lower rate such that payment at the new rate for six straight time …

Labor Unions-Suability Of Unincorporated Labor Union In Its Common Name, Joseph R. Brookshire S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff brought suit in a district court of the United States against the defendant union in its common name, and officers of the union for an alleged libel. The union was not incorporated, no substantive right protected by federal law was involved, and the state wherein the suit was brought, Illinois, did not have a statute permitting actions at law against an unincorporated association in its own name. The district court dismissed the action against the union on the ground that it was not a legal entity; the plaintiff appealed. Held, under the common law of Illinois, an unincorporated …

Constitutional Law-Freedom Of Speech And Religion-What Constitutes State Action, George Brody S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Appellant, a Jehovah Witness, attempted to distribute religious literature in Chickasaw, a town in Alabama, owned by the Gulf Shipbuilding Corporation. Appellant was told by the corporate authorities that the town was private property and that she would not be permitted to distribute her literature. She was also asked to leave and when she refused to do so was arrested and prosecuted under an Alabama trespass statute. In her defense, appellant contended that to apply this statute to her activities in Chickasaw would abridge her right to freedom of press and religion as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. She was …

Constitutional Law-Trial By Military Commission Of Enemy Combatant After Cessation Of Hostilities-Scope Of Inquiry In Habeas Corpus Proceedings, L. B. Brody S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner, the Commanding General of the Fourteenth Army Group of the Imperial Japanese Army in the Philippine Islands, surrendered to and became a prisoner of war of the United States Army Forces in Baguio, Philippine Islands on September 3, 1945. By order of respondent, petitioner was served, on September 25, with a charge setting forth a violation of the law of war. On October 8 petitioner, after pleading not guilty to the charge, was held for trial before a military commission of five Army officers appointed by General Styer, and a bill of particulars was filed by the prosecution specifying …