Law Commons^™

Torts-The Duty To Rescue-"Am I My Brother's Keeper?

Michigan Law Review

A recent case, decided by the Supreme Court of Indiana, and commented upon elsewhere in this issue, involved the interesting question as to the existence of a duty to go to the aid of a person who is in helpless peril through no initial fault on the part of the defendant.

Judgments-Contribution-Res Judcata

Michigan Law Review

Where an action is brought against two persons as joint tortfeasors, and one or both are held liable to the plaintiff, is the judgment res judicata in a subsequent action between the codefendants for contribution?

In American Motorists Insurance Co. v. Vigen, and General Casualty Co. of Wisconsin v. Golob, two persons were sued together as joint tortfeasors in a personal injury action. Judgment was rendered in favor of one defendant and against the other defendant. The unsuccessful defendant paid the judgment and then brought an action against his successful codefendant for contribution, and sought to establish a …

Torts - Recovery For Mental Anguish In Unauthorized Autopsy Cases, Brooks F. Crabtree

Michigan Law Review

In the cases involving autopsies which are unauthorized, consent for their performance not having been obtained prior to their execution, the courts are fairly well committed to the proposition that a cause of action to recover for the mental anguish caused by the autopsy exists in favor of some person closely connected to the deceased. However, the grounds upon which this recovery has been based are varied, and not altogether consistent; and it is the purpose of this comment to discuss these several grounds and to attempt an evaluation of them, in the hope of arriving at some conclusion as …

Recent Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The abstracts consist merely of summaries of the facts and holdings of recent cases and are distinguished from the notes by the absence of discussion.

Recent Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The abstracts consist merely of summaries of the facts and holdings of recent cases and are distinguished from the notes by the absence of discussion.

Torts - Duty Based On Contract-Measure Of Recovery Where Telephone Subscriber Sues For Special Damages, Neil Mckay

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a telephone subscriber, alleged that the defendant telephone company negligently severed the telephone connection between the plaintiff's house and defendant's central operating station and negligently failed to give plaintiff notice of the disconnection; that as a result, the plaintiff was delayed in notifying the fire department of an outbreak of fire on his property; and that the property was thereby destroyed. Plaintiff sought to recover damages for the resulting injury to his property. Held, defendant's duty to use due care was an implied term of the contract, and special damages growing out of a breach of such a …

Torts - Boycotts - Requisite Elements, Louis C. Andrews Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff was a cafeteria operator in a small village. Defendants, two storekeepers in the same village, agreed to inform the wholesaler who supplied both defendants and the plaintiff that they would cease trading with him if he continued to supply plaintiff. The wholesaler acquiesced, and plaintiff's business soon failed because his sole practical source of supply was cut off. At the close of plaintiff's evidence, defendants moved for judgment as in the case of nonsuit, which was granted. Held, affirmed. One of the requisites of an illegal boycott is a conspiracy. Plaintiff failed to show coercion, which is an …

Torts - Wrongful Exclusion From An Elevator - Damages For Mental Pain And Humiliation, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff's wife, a Caucasian, having business with a tenant on the fifteenth floor, entered defendant's elevator containing other whites. She and a Negro woman were directed by the operator to take an elevator in the rear of the store used for freight and Negro passengers; and being ignorant of this latter fact, she used this elevator. Asserting that she was wrongfully excluded from the elevator for white people and thereby was considered to be a negro by both whites and colored people, she claimed to have suffered mental anguish, humiliation, and physical suffering. Held, the defendant, while not a …

Constitutional Law - Labor Law - Recent Ramifications Of The Application Of Free Speech Doctrines To The Protection Of Picketing, William H. Kinsey

Michigan Law Review

When the United States Supreme Court declared that peaceful picketing was protected by the constitutional guaranty of free speech, it raised the interesting question how the doctrines shielding the traditional modes of free speech were to be adapted to the preservation of picketing. A smooth cloaking of the right to picket with the sanctity of a constitutionally protected civil liberty is complicated by various factors such as the ease with which picketing may lead to violence, the elements of economic coercion inherent in even peaceful picketing, and the detrimental repercussions upon strangers to the controversy. As a result the clash …

Bailments - Right Of Bailee For Hire To Limit His Liability By Contract With The Bailor, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a guest of the defendant hotel, left his trunk at the hotel check room and received a receipt which stated on the back that the defendant would not be liable in excess of $25 for any loss resulting from its negligence. When the plaintiff called for the trunk, it could not be found. Held, the defendant is liable for the full value of the trunk, since a bailee for hire cannot limit his liability for his own negligence. Oklahoma City Hotel Co. v. Levine, (Okla. 1941) 116 P. (2d) 997.

Negligence - The "Same Hazard" Principle - Nonliability In Event Of Injury From A Hazard Of Different Type From That Which Justified Imposition Of Duty To Use Due Care, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

In a previous suit by plaintiff against a policy holder, defendant, who was the insurer and conducted the defense for the insured, rejected an offer made by plaintiff to settle the claim for less than the policy limit, which was $5,000. There was thereafter a verdict for plaintiff for $7,500, which was satisfied to the amount of $5,000. Plaintiff then brought an action against the defendant insurance company in the name of the policy holder to recover the remainder of the judgment on the ground that defendant was negligent in rejecting the plaintiff's settlement offer. Held, plaintiff stated no …

Torts-Liability Of Food Manufacturer To Ultimate Consumer, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff was injured by biting into a fishhook imbedded in a plug of chewing tobacco bought from an independent dealer and manufactured by defendant. There was evidence that another person had discovered a foreign particle in another plug made by defendant, but he did not know the exact identity of the substance. Held, that while the plaintiff's injury alone cannot raise an inference of negligence, the additional evidence of the second incident was sufficient to present the question to the jury, which found for the plaintiff. Caudle v. F. M. Bohannon Tobacco Co., 220 N. C. 105, 16 …

Torts - Right Of Privacy - Economic Exploitation Of Name, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Defendant, a department store, signed plaintiff's name without his knowledge or consent to a telegram which it caused to be sent to the governor of Oregon. The telegram urged the veto of a bill which, had it become law, would have prevented defendant from continuing the practice of optometry. Plaintiff brought suit to recover damages for the invasion of his right of privacy. Held, on appeal from the lower court's judgment sustaining defendant's demurrer, that the complaint stated a cause of action. Hinish v. Meier & Frank Co., (Ore. I94I) I I3 P. (2d) 438.

Tort Liability Of Suppliers Of Defective Chattels, Paul A. Leidy

Michigan Law Review

A recent case decided by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and a recent article appearing in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review have served to focus attention upon the interesting problem of the liability, on other than warranty principles, of the vendor of a defective chattel. Because of the line of attack taken in the dissenting opinion and in the article, attention is directed, specifically, to the vendor's duty of inspection and, incidentally, to the liability of the manufacturer of a defective article, the reasons for that liability, and the question: Are the situations of the actual maker and the …

Municipal Corporations - Waters And Watercourses - Eminent Domain - Pollution Of Water As A "Taking" Of Private Property, Brooks F. Crabtree

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff sued defendant city for damages caused his land by the continual discharge of raw sewage into the river about one-half mile above plaintiff's land. The pollution rendered the water of the river unfit for domestic use and deleterious to health. Held, that although the plaintiff failed to allege the necessary elements for a tort action against a municipality, under the Washington statute, he stated a valid cause of action for damages under article I, section 16 of the Washington Constitution which states that "No private property shall be taken or damaged for public or private use without just …

Insurance - Defenses Of Liability Insurer Against Third Party Injured By Assured Under Statute Giving Injured Party Right Of Action Against Insurer - Constitutionality, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, having recovered a judgment against insured defendant for injuries sustained in an automobile accident, filed a supplemental bill against defendant's insurer to recover the 'insurance money. The statute granting plaintiff this right provides that whenever damage occurs for which the insured is responsible, the liability of the insurer "shall become absolute," and upon his obtaining a judgment against the assured, the injured person shall be entitled to have the insurance money applied to satisfy the judgment. The insurer defended on the ground that the insured violated a condition of the policy by failing to cooperate in the defense of …

Negligence - Last Clear Chance - Distinction Between The Possibility And The Probability Of Averting The Accident, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff and her companion, both unaware of the defendant's approaching automobile, negligently drove onto a highway along which the defendant was driving at a high rate of speed. When thirty to forty feet away from the plaintiff, the defendant sounded his horn, applied the brakes, and swerved his car, but was unsuccessful in avoiding the collision. The trial court directed a verdict for the defendant. Held, judgment for the defendant reversed since the jury might have found: that defendant should have realized plaintiff's danger when he was one hundred and twenty feet away from the plaintiff; that although …

Damages - Effect Of Defendant's Tender Of Specific Restitution Upon Plaintiff's Action To Recover The Value Of Property, William H. Kinsey

Michigan Law Review

A person who has appropriated the land or chattels of another may prefer to return the subject matter rather than be held liable for its money equivalent in a law suit brought by the rightful owner. Whether the appropriator will improve his position by tendering specific restitution presents an interesting question. Because of the numerous remedies at the owner's disposal, it is impossible to formulate a single, concise answer.