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Full-Text Articles in Law
Tort Law And Civil Recourse, Mark A. Geistfeld
Tort Law And Civil Recourse, Mark A. Geistfeld
Michigan Law Review
A Review of Recognizing Wrongs. by John C.P. Goldberg and Benjamin C. Zipursky.
Punishment But Not A Penalty? Punitive Damages Are Impermissible Under Foreign Substantive Law, Paul A. Hoversten
Punishment But Not A Penalty? Punitive Damages Are Impermissible Under Foreign Substantive Law, Paul A. Hoversten
Michigan Law Review
It is a well-established principle that no court applies the penal laws of another sovereign. But what exactly is a penal law? According to Judge Cardozo, a penal law effects “vindication of the public justice” rather than “reparation to one aggrieved.” Although courts have historically treated punitive damages as a purely civil remedy, that attitude has shifted over time. Modern American punitive damages serve not to compensate the plaintiff but to punish the defendant on behalf of the whole community. Therefore, when courts rely on foreign substantive law to impose punitive damages, they arguably violate the well-established principle that no …
Identifying And Valuing The Injury In Lost Chance Cases, Todd S. Aagaard
Identifying And Valuing The Injury In Lost Chance Cases, Todd S. Aagaard
Michigan Law Review
Any plaintiff seeking to recover in tort must prove that the defendant has breached the duty of care. Even after the plaintiff has established the defendant's breach of duty, however, issues of causation and damages remain. These two issues are frequently vexing, both conceptually and in terms of evidentiary demonstration. For example, if a plaintiff proves that a defendant acted negligently, it still may be unclear whether the plaintiff would have been injured even ip the absence of the defendant's negligence. Similarly, in assessing damages, factfinders often :find it difficult to attach a monetary value to a plaintiff's nonpecuniary losses …
Turning From Tort To Administration, Richard A. Nagareda
Turning From Tort To Administration, Richard A. Nagareda
Michigan Law Review
My objective here is to challenge the notion that the recent mass tort settlements - for all their novel qualities in the mass tort area - are truly sui generis in the law. Rather, I contend that the rise of such settlements in tort mirrors the development of public administrative agencies earlier in this century - that, in both instances, powerful new institutions emerged outside preexisting channels of control to wield significant power over human lives and resources. I argue that courts usefully may draw upon familiar doctrines of judicial review in administrative law to form a conceptual framework for …
Coup De Grace For Personal Injury Torts?, Alfred F. Conard
Coup De Grace For Personal Injury Torts?, Alfred F. Conard
Michigan Law Review
A Review of Doing Away with Personal Injury Law: New Compensation Mechanisms for Victims, Consumers and Business by Stephen D. Sugarman
The Constitutionality Of Punitive Damages Under The Excessive Fines Clause Of The Eighth Amendment, Andrew M. Kenefick
The Constitutionality Of Punitive Damages Under The Excessive Fines Clause Of The Eighth Amendment, Andrew M. Kenefick
Michigan Law Review
This Note explores whether courts should look beyond the broad language in Ingraham v. Wright and scrutinize punitive damages under the excessive fines clause. Part I sets out the intuitive argument that punitive damages are analogous to criminal fines. Part II analyzes the Supreme Court's decision in Ingraham v. Wright and also reviews the few federal and state court decisions that have dealt with the excessive fines clause in civil cases, most of which have concluded that the clause has no application in a civil setting. This Part asserts that courts cannot rely solely on the Ingraham decision but must …
The Lawsuit Lottery: Only The Lawyers Win, Michigan Law Review
The Lawsuit Lottery: Only The Lawyers Win, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
A Book Notice about The Lawsuit Lottery: Only the Lawyers Win by Jeffrey O'Connell
Compensation For Pain: A Reappraisal In Light Of New Medical Evidence, Cornelius J. Peck
Compensation For Pain: A Reappraisal In Light Of New Medical Evidence, Cornelius J. Peck
Michigan Law Review
The theory that a primary causal link exists between the victim's pain and the tortfeasor's acts provides considerable appeal for the proposition that the wrongdoer should compensate for the victim's pain. However, recent investigations of the phenomenon of pain by disciplines of the health sciences have challenged the medical theory upon which recoveries for pain and suffering are based. The results of that work are of obvious interest to the legal profession, for the new view of pain suggests that the tortfeasor's acts bear only a tangential relationship to the pain that some victims experience. The results thus raise questions …
Admiralty--Torts--Recovery Permitted For Mental Suffering Of Surviving Spouse In Death Action Under General Maritime Law--In Re Sincere Navigation Corp., Michigan Law Review
Admiralty--Torts--Recovery Permitted For Mental Suffering Of Surviving Spouse In Death Action Under General Maritime Law--In Re Sincere Navigation Corp., Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
A recent federal district court decision, In re Sincere Navigation Corp. allowed recovery for the emotional distress of the spouse and the children of a seaman killed in a collision on the Mississippi River ·within the territorial waters of Louisiana. The action for ·wrongful death was brought under general maritime law through a new federal remedy first announced in Moragne v. States Marine Lines, lnc. Moragne did not specifically enumerate the elements of damage for which recovery would be allowed; instead it left the question open for consideration in later decisions. Whether any recovery was permitted under general maritime law …
Trademarks-Successful Plaintiffs In Trademark Infringement Actions Under The Lanham Act May Not Recover Attorney's Fees-Maier Brewing Co. V. Fleischmann Distilling Corp., Michigan Law Review
Trademarks-Successful Plaintiffs In Trademark Infringement Actions Under The Lanham Act May Not Recover Attorney's Fees-Maier Brewing Co. V. Fleischmann Distilling Corp., Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
In an action for trademark infringement under the Lanham Act and for unfair competition, the District Court enjoined the defendant company from further use of the trademark and awarded the plaintiff $60,000 in attorney's fees. On appeal, held, reversed in part. The issuance of the injunction was upheld but the court declared that attorney's fees are not recoverable in trademark infringement cases prosecuted under the Lanham Act since Congress had not expressly provided for such awards.
The Unborn Plaintiff, David A. Gordon
The Unborn Plaintiff, David A. Gordon
Michigan Law Review
It is almost twenty-five years since Professor Winfield's article "The Unborn Child" was published. The development of this area of the law during the past quarter century is probably summed up in the distinction between that title and the one to this article.
Radiation Injuries And Statistics: The Need For A New Approach To Injury Litigation, Samuel D. Estep
Radiation Injuries And Statistics: The Need For A New Approach To Injury Litigation, Samuel D. Estep
Michigan Law Review
The emphasis given by the mass media of communication to some of the dramatic problems arising from the use of nuclear energy unfortunately has diverted attention from some of the matters about which something can be done by lawyers, administrators, and legislators without the necessity of complicated international negotiations between various parties to the "Cold War." The headlines leave the uninformed, and perhaps often also the informed, public with the impression that even for radiation injuries the important problems all deal with such questions as: (1) Will only a few or many millions of people survive an all-out nuclear war? …
Torts-Statutes-Unsatisified Judgment And Hit-And-Run Provisions As Supplementing Financial Responsibility Acts, Herbert L. Meschke
Torts-Statutes-Unsatisified Judgment And Hit-And-Run Provisions As Supplementing Financial Responsibility Acts, Herbert L. Meschke
Michigan Law Review
In 1947, North Dakota enacted legislation providing that one who recovers a judgment in an action for damages for personal injuries or death resulting from the operation of a motor vehicle and who cannot execute the judgment because of the defendants' inability to pay and lack of property, may receive payment from the state unsatisfied judgment fund upon application to the court and assignment of the judgment to the state. The fund was created, and is to be maintained, by a special assessment on motor vehicle owners. 1951 North Dakota legislation provides that any person who has a cause of …
Torts-The Duty To Rescue-"Am I My Brother's Keeper?
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.
Municipal Corporations - Liability To Riparian Owners For Pollution Of Stream
Municipal Corporations - Liability To Riparian Owners For Pollution Of Stream
Michigan Law Review
A stream into which the plaintiff in error dumped its sewage flowed through the lands of defendant in error. Odors from the stream, deposits of foreign substances on the banks, and the pollution of the waters about the farm of the defendant in error constituted a nuisance. Held, the city is liable to one suffering from the nuisance, irrespective of whether it is exercising a governmental function in the installation of the sewer system. Oklahoma City v. Tyetenicz, 175 Okla. 228, 52 P. (2d) 849 (1935).
Quasi-Contract As An Alternative Remedy For Inducing Breach Of Tort
Quasi-Contract As An Alternative Remedy For Inducing Breach Of Tort
Michigan Law Review
In an action for money had and received, plaintiff alleged that the International Railroad Company owed plaintiff $40,000 as compensation for services rendered under an existing and valid contract of employment; that with knowledge of this fact defendant corporation, representing that it, and not plaintiff, was entitled to this sum, fraudulently conspired with International Railway Company that this sum be paid defendant instead of plaintiff, and that said amount was paid defendant, resulting in unjust enrichment under circumstances in which the law implies a promise on defendant's part to pay said sum to plaintiff. In reversing a judgment sustaining a …