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Full-Text Articles in Law
Doctors & Juries, Philip G. Peters Jr.
Doctors & Juries, Philip G. Peters Jr.
Michigan Law Review
Physicians widely believe that jury verdicts are unfair. This Article tests that assumption by synthesizing three decades of jury research. Contrary to popular belief the data show that juries consistently sympathize more with doctors who are sued than with patients who sue them. Physicians win roughly half of the cases that expert reviewers believe physicians should lose and nearly all of the cases that experts feel physicians should win. Defendants and their hired experts, it turns out, are more successful than plaintiffs and their hired experts at persuading juries to reach verdicts contrary to the opinions of independent reviewers.
Social Security Disability Determinations: The Burden Of Proof On Appeal, Michigan Law Review
Social Security Disability Determinations: The Burden Of Proof On Appeal, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
In 1956, the Social Security Act was amended to provide monthly disability insurance benefits to qualifying individuals under a uniform national program administered by the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. Under this program, a claimant is entitled to disability benefits if he is unable to "engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to be of long continued and indefinite duration." This definition and its accompanying statutory standards were purposely made conservative in order to minimize the problems inherent in initiating the program; it was contemplated that …
A Radical Restatement Of The Law Of Seller's Damages: Michigan Results Compared, Robert J. Harris
A Radical Restatement Of The Law Of Seller's Damages: Michigan Results Compared, Robert J. Harris
Michigan Law Review
Conventional doctrine does not address itself directly to the choice among valuation techniques, although the various parochial damage formulae give some clues. Underlying this series of articles is an assumption that the doctrine makes more sense when restated in valuation terms. These articles involve an effort to restate in such terms one sector of expectation damage law-the part that governs cases in which plaintiff is a "seller."
Evidence - Presumptions - Statutory Presumption Of Due Care In Wrongful Death Action, Francis X. Beytagh Jr.
Evidence - Presumptions - Statutory Presumption Of Due Care In Wrongful Death Action, Francis X. Beytagh Jr.
Michigan Law Review
Consolidation of two actions arising from a multi-vehicle highway accident resulted in verdicts in both causes against appellants. One action was brought against appellants by the administratrix of a deceased driver under a wrongful death statute, and resulted in a verdict for the administratrix because of a statutory presumption of deceased's due care. The other action was a personal injury suit by a third party against appellants and the administratrix as co-defendants, and resulted in a verdict exonerating the deceased driver, despite circumstances raising an inference of his negligence. Appellants' motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and new trial were …
Evidence-Probative Value Of Inferences From Failure To Call A Witness, Cleaveland J. Rice S.Ed.
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 …
Negligence-Proof Of Causation, Walter Dean
Negligence-Proof Of Causation, Walter Dean
Michigan Law Review
Decedent, a passenger on defendant's railroad was bound for X Terminal. The car doors were open and a trainman called out, "X Terminal, next," but the train stopped in the dark at point Y before reaching the announced destination to allow another train to pass. Decedent's body was found near point Y. Suit was brought by decedent's widow under the state "wrongful death" statutes. The lower court held that the plaintiff's failure to show that decedent left the train at point Y was a fatal gap in the causal chain, and gave judgment for the defendant notwithstanding the …
Evidence - Office Custom To Prove Fact Of Mailing, R. J. Nordstrom S.Ed.
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 …
Trial Practice-Demurrer Upon Evidence As A Device For Taking A Case From The Jury, Charles H. King
Trial Practice-Demurrer Upon Evidence As A Device For Taking A Case From The Jury, Charles H. King
Michigan Law Review
By far the oldest of the common law devices for taking a case away from a jury is the demurrer upon evidence. A reported instance of its use appears as early as 1456.
Wigmore On Evidence-A Review, John E. Tracy
Wigmore On Evidence-A Review, John E. Tracy
Michigan Law Review
In 1887 John Henry Wigmore graduated from Harvard Law School. Only four years later, in 1891, there came from his pen an article in the Harvard Law Review entitled "Nemo Tenetur Seipsum Prodere," which showed to the profession that there had arrived at the bar a writer who was not only a deep student of legal history and knew his law of evidence, but who had no hesitation in smashing images, regardless of how sacredly they had theretofore been worshiped.
Evidence Of Survivorship In Common Disaster Cases, John E. Tracy, John J. Adams
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 …
Negligence-Res Ipsa Loquitur-Presumption Of Management From Ownership-Unattended Automobile
Negligence-Res Ipsa Loquitur-Presumption Of Management From Ownership-Unattended Automobile
Michigan Law Review
After the sound of a crash, the defendant's motortruck was found on the plaintiff's porch. Held, the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur was applicable.
Crimes-Alibi-Instructions As To Particular Evidence
Crimes-Alibi-Instructions As To Particular Evidence
Michigan Law Review
In a prosecution for robbery the defendants introduced evidence as to an alibi and requested a charge which contained the proposition that the evidence on this point had merely to raise a reasonable doubt as to their presence at the scene of the crime to entitle them to an acquittal. The court refused this request, but had previously instructed the jury that the burden rested with the state to prove the guilt of the. defendants beyond a reasonable doubt. Held, that it was reversible error to refuse the charge requested. People v. Vasquez (Cal. App. r928) 26g Pac. 549.