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Full-Text Articles in Law
Retaliatory Rico And The Puzzle Of Fraudulent Claiming, Nora Freeman Engstrom
Retaliatory Rico And The Puzzle Of Fraudulent Claiming, Nora Freeman Engstrom
Michigan Law Review
Over the past century, the allegation that the tort liability system incentivizes legal extortion and is chock-full of fraudulent claims has dominated public discussion and prompted lawmakers to ever-more-creatively curtail individuals’ incentives and opportunities to seek redress. Unsatisfied with these conventional efforts, in recent years, at least a dozen corporate defendants have “discovered” a new fraud-fighting tool. They’ve started filing retaliatory RICO suits against plaintiffs and their lawyers and experts, alleging that the initiation of certain non meritorious litigation constitutes racketeering activity— while tort reform advocates have applauded these efforts and exhorted more “courageous” companies to follow suit. Curiously, though, …
Securities Class Actions And Bankrupt Companies, James J. Park
Securities Class Actions And Bankrupt Companies, James J. Park
Michigan Law Review
Securities class actions are often criticized as wasteful strike suits that target temporary fluctuations in the stock prices of otherwise healthy companies. The securities class actions brought by investors of Enron and WorldCom, companies that fell into bankruptcy in the wake of fraud, resulted in the recovery of billions of dollars in permanent shareholder losses and provide a powerful counterexample to this critique. An issuer's bankruptcy may affect how judges and parties perceive securities class actions and their merits, yet little is known about the subset of cases where the company is bankrupt. This is the first extensive empirical study …
Opting Out Of Liability: The Forthcoming, Near-Total Demise Of The Modern Class Action, Myriam Gilles
Opting Out Of Liability: The Forthcoming, Near-Total Demise Of The Modern Class Action, Myriam Gilles
Michigan Law Review
It is reasonable to expect that courts will demonstrate great solicitude for the recent innovation that I term "collective action waivers" - i.e., contractual provisions contained within arbitration agreements whereby consumers and others waive their rights to participate in any form of collective litigation or class arbitration. The history of mass tort class actions and the hegemonic expansion of pro-arbitration jurisprudence compel this conclusion. And, as the now-dominant economic model of contract law has moved the focus of courts from the value of consent to the value of efficiency, arbitration agreements found in all manner of shrink-wrap, scroll-text and bill-stuffer …
Limiting The Plaintiff Class: Rule 10b-5 And The Federal Securities Code, Michigan Law Review
Limiting The Plaintiff Class: Rule 10b-5 And The Federal Securities Code, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
The Penn Central litigation, involving a large, publicly held corporation, illustrates the need to examine the reach of the federal antifraud provisions. This Note discusses the problem of defining the plaintiff class when the number of past and present shareholders who are potential plaintiffs is very great. Attention will center on the methods courts have used to limit the class of investors compensable under rule 10b-5. Also, the effect that enactment of present drafts of the American Law lnstitute's proposed Federal Securities Code would have on the composition of the plaintiff class in analogous actions will be discussed. Finally, the …
Corporations-Officers And Directors-Fiduciary Duty Of Officer Purchasing Stock From Shareholder, Walter H. Weiner
Corporations-Officers And Directors-Fiduciary Duty Of Officer Purchasing Stock From Shareholder, Walter H. Weiner
Michigan Law Review
Defendant, president of a corporation acquired stock owned by plaintiff and others by falsely representing that the corporation had been sold. After enhancing the value of this stock, defendant sold it. Plaintiff brought suit for fraudulent conversion and the trial court directed a verdict for the defendant. On appeal, held, reversed. An officer negotiating with a shareholder for the purchase of shares must act with scrupulous trust and confidence, and unless the officer acts with the utmost fairness the wronged shareholder may invoke the proper remedy. Blazer v. Black, (10th Cir. 1952) 196 F. (2d) 139.
Simulation Of Nervous And Mental Disease, Moses Keschner
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 …
Corporations - Dissolution At Suit Of A Minority Stockholder, E. George Rudolph
Corporations - Dissolution At Suit Of A Minority Stockholder, E. George Rudolph
Michigan Law Review
The general statement has often been made that a court of equity has no power to dissolve a solvent corporation at the suit of a minority stockholder, in the absence of special statutory authority. However, some of the cases which seem to support this rule hedge considerably by saying that "ordinarily" or "generally" equity has no such jurisdiction. These cases would seem little different than those which hold that a court of equity has inherent jurisdiction to dissolve a corporation but will exercise it only in cases of extreme necessity. The latter seems to be the prevailing view and on …
Corporations - Derivative Suits - Insolvency As A Bar, Edmund O'Hare
Corporations - Derivative Suits - Insolvency As A Bar, Edmund O'Hare
Michigan Law Review
Plaintiff, stockholder in defendant bank, brought a derivative suit against the bank's directors to recover moneys allegedly wrongfully appropriated by them from the bank's assets. Before the commencement of the suit the bank had become insolvent and was in the process of liquidation. Held, the directors' motion to dismiss should be granted, since a stockholder may not maintain an action to hold an insolvent corporation's directors liable for fraud or mismanagement unless it appears that he will be benefited by the relief demanded, and full recovery here would still leave an excess of liabilities over assets. Falvey v. Foreman-State …
Corporations - Conditions Under Which Settlement Of Corporate Claims Will Not Prevent A Stockholder's Derivative Suit On Such Claims, John M. Ulman
Corporations - Conditions Under Which Settlement Of Corporate Claims Will Not Prevent A Stockholder's Derivative Suit On Such Claims, John M. Ulman
Michigan Law Review
In the recent case of United States Lines, Inc. v. United States Lines Co. the plaintiff was a minority stockholder in United States Lines, Inc., whose only asset was a minority stock interest in the United States Lines Company. A majority of the stock in both companies was owned by the International Mercantile Marine Company. An action originally brought by the United States Lines, Inc., but settled out of court, was sought to be continued by the plaintiff, who alleged: (1) that the Marine Company and its subsidiaries had entered into fraudulent contracts with the United States Lines Company and …
Automobiles - Statutory Liability Of Owner - Registered Titleholder Estopped To Deny Ownership, Michigan Law Review
Automobiles - Statutory Liability Of Owner - Registered Titleholder Estopped To Deny Ownership, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
Plaintiffs, injured in New York by an automobile driven by defendant's minor son, sued under a New York statute which makes the owner of an automobile liable for damages for injuries resulting from negligence of its operator. The automobile was registered in Connecticut in defendant's name to avoid compliance with the Connecticut statute which requires proof of financial responsibility as a prerequisite of registration for minors over sixteen years of age. Held, defendant estopped to prove ownership of the automobile in his son. Shuba v. Greendonner, 271 N. Y. 189, 2 N. E. (2d) 536 (1936), reversing 245 …
Are Unfair Methods Of Competition Actionable At The Suit Of A Competitor?, Grover C. Grismore
Are Unfair Methods Of Competition Actionable At The Suit Of A Competitor?, Grover C. Grismore
Michigan Law Review
The steps which have recently been taken, both through federal and state legislation, to regulate trade practices by outlawing what have been denominated "unfair methods of competition" have brought to the fore a problem that has vexed lawyers and legal writers for a long time. The question is whether a competitor who has been injured as a result of a rival's use of one of the condemned methods of competition can maintain any action either at law or in equity against the wrongdoer. Contrary to what has always been the practice in drafting so-called "anti-trust" laws, the legislation dealing with …
Evidence - Admissibility Of Parol Evidence Showing That Contract In Writing Was Executed Only As Sham, John E. Tracy
Evidence - Admissibility Of Parol Evidence Showing That Contract In Writing Was Executed Only As Sham, John E. Tracy
Michigan Law Review
An individual is sued on a written contract or, suing on an alleged oral agreement, is confronted by a written contract which he has signed. He offers testimony that, although he executed the instrument which bears his name freely and with full knowledge of its contents, he is not to be held liable thereon because the agreement between the parties was that it should never be legally enforceable, the sole purpose of its execution having been to deceive some third person into a belief that the parties to the instrument had contracted together as in the instrument set forth.
Equity - Election Of Remedies - Deceit After Rescission
Equity - Election Of Remedies - Deceit After Rescission
Michigan Law Review
Plaintiff purchaser rescinded a contract of sale on the ground of fraud and sued defendants in a deceit action, alleging as damages a payment made on the purchase price and special expense incurred by reason of making the purchase. Held, recovery for both items of damage will be allowed. Copeland v. Reynolds, (N. H. 1933) 164 Atl. 215.
Corporations - Dissenting Stockholder's Suit -Conditional Decree
Corporations - Dissenting Stockholder's Suit -Conditional Decree
Michigan Law Review
The directors and majority stockholders of a Minnesota mining corporation which. needed financing were also the directors and majority stockholders of another Minnesota mining corporation which had a large surplus. They decided to consolidate the two in order to finance the one, offering the stockholders of each corporation a share for share exchange, which would result in the stockholders of the unsuccessful corporation having a 9/16 control of the consolidated corporation. Dissenting stockholders, holding 18/100 of 1% of the total stock in the successful corporation, brought a bill to restrain the consolidation and to have a receiver appointed to take …
Contracts - Offer And Acceptance - Silence As Acceptance
Contracts - Offer And Acceptance - Silence As Acceptance
Michigan Law Review
D had engaged P, an attorney, to sue X for $144,000 gotten by fraud, P agreeing to try the case on a 25 per cent contingent fee. While the suit was pending, D began negotiations through local attorneys for a settlement out of court, and asked P on March 4 what his fees would be in the event D accepted a compromise offer. P replied that his fee would be $12,500. On June 16 a settlement was reached, after which P was instructed to discontinue the suit. When D refused to pay the fee P sued. Held, that …
Trusts - Cancellation - Beneficiaries As Necessary Parties
Trusts - Cancellation - Beneficiaries As Necessary Parties
Michigan Law Review
The plaintiff deeded property to the defendants in trust, for herself for life and on her death to certain named persons. Plaintiff sued the defendants alone for revocation on the ground of fraud and duress. Held, the issue of fraud could not be tried in the absence of the living cestuis. McKnight v. Bank of N. Y. & Trust Co., 254 N. Y. 417, 173 N.E. 568.