Law Commons^™

A Professional Degree Is Not Marital Property Upon Divorce: Stevens V. Stevens, Katherine Scheid

Akron Law Review

This Note first analyzes the Stevens court's opinion and concludes that it fails to give sufficient direction on how to determine the amount of the alimony award in order to sufficiently compensate the supporting spouse. Second, this Note explores the ways in which courts in other jurisdictions have attempted to compensate the supporting spouse. Finally, this Note proposes two alternative methods of valuing the supporting spouse's contribution. One method applies if the court, as in Stevens v. Stevens, holds that contribution toward a technical degree is not divisible marital property but should be considered when awarding alimony. The second …

Realtor As "Superbroker": Great Expectations Unrealized?, Rene Sacasa, Don Wiesner

Akron Law Review

This article explores the public policy and expectation issues surrounding the qualifications and liabilities of realtors. It is a premise of this article that two phenomena, the expectation that the realtor is a "superbroker" and the application of the law of fiduciaries, are making the practice unstaffable. This collection of society's needs and biases, it is offered, naturally followed land as a product and its transfer.

Financing America's Public Infrastructure: Issues For Local Governments, Shelley C. Vazmina

Akron Law Review

This comment examines the role state and local government financing has played in America's infrastructure crisis. This comment also recognizes that infrastructure financing issues in declining cities differ from infrastructure issues due to population expansion.

Part I is particularly relevant to declining cities. It reviews traditional methods by which state and local government obtain operating revenues, and the use of these revenues for infrastructure. It discusses trends and developments which have made traditional financing schemes less useful for infrastructure.

Part II applies in large part to growing cities. Growth creates demand for new infrastructure while straining existing core infrastructure. Alternative …

Improving The Image And Legal Status Of The Burial Services Industry, Marvin M. Moore

Akron Law Review

The purpose of this article is to examine the reasons advanced for excluding funeral parlors and graveyards from predominantly residential neighborhoods, the legal devices most commonly employed to accomplish such exclusion, and the propriety of using the police powers of the state to bar a land use that may not always threaten to thwart any of the recognized aims that the police powers are intended to promote. Finally, the article will recommend some practical steps that operators of mortuaries and cemeteries might take in order to gain more public acceptance. To the extent that the law merely reflects the values, …

Private Property, The Takings Clause And The Pursuit Of Market Gain, Charles H. Clarke

Akron Law Review

This Article proposes a fair return model for the takings clause. This conception of the clause has been an operating principle of welfare capitalism for decades. The Article rejects the model of laissez faire capitalism that once dominated the landscape of the nation's constitutional system and may come back again.

Preventing Franchise Flight: Could Cleveland Have Kept The Browns By Exercising Its Eminent Domain Power?, Steven R. Hobson Ii

Akron Law Review

The purpose of this Comment is to analyze whether Ohio law would allow for such a taking, and to determine if such action would have solved the problem of keeping the Browns in Cleveland. In analyzing this issue and focusing on the difficulties that such a taking would create, it will be demonstrated that this taking probably cannot be achieved successfully, and that some congressional intervention is needed to rectify the franchise relocation problem.

Scalia, Property, And Dolan V. Tigard: The Emergence Of A Post-Carolene Products Jurisprudence, David Schultz

Akron Law Review

This Article proposes an analysis of Scalia's views on property rights and shows how the Justice has been important to, if not the leader in, the current rethinking of takings and land use jurisprudence." Also, this Article will engage in a more comprehensive reevaluation of the jurisprudence of the Carolene Products Era that is transpiring both off and on the Court. While previous works have examined Rehnquist's and his Court's views on property, as well as Scalia's views on expressive freedoms criminal due process, and church/state issues, there is no comprehensive discussion addressing Scalia's views on property rights. To accomplish …

The Intention Of The Settlor Under The Uniform Trust Code: Whose Property Is It, Anyway?, Alan Newman

Akron Law Review

Given the increasingly common use of perpetual and other longterm trusts, the pace of change and complexity in our society now and in the foreseeable future, and our sensibilities with respect to private property rights and dead hand control, the UTC appears to have struck a reasonable balance between respecting the settlor’s intent and accommodating the interests of beneficiaries. Undoubtedly, some will find it to have gone too far in favor of trust beneficiaries, while others will find it not to have gone far enough. In any case, this centuries old debate, like the new perpetual trusts that have contributed …

Exposing The Hocus Pocus Of Trusts, Kent D. Schenkel

Akron Law Review

Part II makes the conceptual case for viewing the trust as an elective cost-externalization device. Part III offers the spendthrift trust as the archetypal model for purposes of our analysis, briefly describes the spendthrift trust, and explores its consequences to outsiders to the trust deal. Part IV offers some reasons why the elective externalities of trusts persist. Part V first examines and rejects a couple of approaches to minimizing the externalized costs of trusts that rely on the “bundle of sticks” approach to property interests. It then moves beyond the bundle of sticks approach, settling on a solution based on …

Mortgage Foreclosure Proceedings: Where We Have Been And Where We Need To Go, Bryan E. Meek

Akron Law Review

The primary purpose for this comment is to provide an overview of the foreclosure process while introducing the laws and regulations that would govern an “ideal” foreclosure system. First, it provides a general introduction to the mortgage/foreclosure process. This introduction is crucial; it will help many to understand the way financial institutions have complicated the foreclosure process. Next, it analyzes various states, labeling them as either having “strict” foreclosure laws and regulations or having “lenient” foreclosure laws and regulations. Lastly, this comment discusses the pros and cons of various foreclosure requirements. The ultimate goal of this comment is to establish …

City Of Norwood V. Horney - Much More Than Eminent Domain: A Forceful Affirmation Of The Independent Authority Of The Ohio Constitution And The Court's Power To Enforce It, Kathleen M. Trafford

Akron Law Review

individual’s protection under Ohio’s eminent domain law but also refines the judiciary’s approach to Ohio constitutional analysis. Part I will set forth the pre-Norwood standard of review in Ohio eminent domain law, which took an increasingly expansive approach to determining what constitutes public use out of deference to the legislature. It will outline the standard of review for eminent domain cases at the federal level following the United States Supreme Court’s holding in Kelo, which upheld the taking of private property for purely economic reasons. Finally, Part I discusses the facts and holding of Norwood, which struck down the taking …

An Error In Methodology: Inclusion Of External Costs Of Sales In Property Valuations, Joel L. Terwilliger

Akron Tax Journal

Ironically, courts have upheld the protectionist policies behind the counterpart to the sales tax-the use tax. The application of the use tax serves the dual purpose of preventing the out of state migration of purchases of tangible personal property and to ensure a steady flow of revenue to the state treasury coffers. This dual purpose is based on a primary goal: to prevent avoidance of the sales tax. However, unlike sales taxes, use taxes paid on items of tangible personal property are not added to the value of the property for property tax assessments. This dichotomy presents serious problems for …