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Full-Text Articles in Law

Radiation Injuries And Statistics: The Need For A New Approach To Injury Litigation, Samuel D. Estep Dec 1960

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? …


International Control Of The Safety Of Nuclear-Powered Merchant Ships, William H. Berman, Lee M. Hydeman Dec 1960

International Control Of The Safety Of Nuclear-Powered Merchant Ships, William H. Berman, Lee M. Hydeman

Michigan Law Review

In recent years we have witnessed the transition of nuclear-powered ships from an imaginative dream to an engineering reality. This vast step from the drawing board to successful operation on the high-seas has taken place in a remarkably short span of time. Nevertheless, in the :flush of enthusiasm over the technological achievement, we must not lose sight of the fact that the promise of nuclear power for the propulsion of ships will not have been fulfilled until nuclear vessels are operating safely and economically over the maritime trade routes of the world. It would be unrealistic to assume that further …


Negligence - Res Ipsa Loquitur - Doctine Applied Although Damage Causing Instrumentality Within The Exclusive Control Of Defendant At The Time Of The Damage, Kenneth Laing Jr. Nov 1960

Negligence - Res Ipsa Loquitur - Doctine Applied Although Damage Causing Instrumentality Within The Exclusive Control Of Defendant At The Time Of The Damage, Kenneth Laing Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Seven months after defendant had installed a washbowl in a bathroom in plaintiff's house, the house was damaged by water when one of the pipes became disconnected from a faucet. During the two weeks immediately prior to the damage the house was unoccupied, but inspections were made every two or three days by plaintiff's employee. Plaintiff sued defendant to recover for the damage caused by defendant's alleged negligence in connecting the water pipe to the washbowl. In a trial to the court, the evidence tended to eliminate other possible causes of the disconnection, such as rough use or manufacturing fault. …


Creditors' Rights - Physicians' Liens On Patients' Tort Claim, Clayton R. Smalley Jun 1960

Creditors' Rights - Physicians' Liens On Patients' Tort Claim, Clayton R. Smalley

Michigan Law Review

A recent Illinois statute creates a lien in favor of licensed physicians for their reasonable charges for treating persons injured by the negligent or wrongful act of another. The lien attaches to all claims or causes of action of the injured person against the person causing the injury, whether settled by litigation or by settlement. The maximum amount recoverable under the lien is one-third of the sum paid or due to the injured party, and the lien is expressly made to survive his death. The physician must serve notice of his assertion of the lien on both the injured party …


Conflict Of Laws - Release In A Tort Action - Effect Of Lex Loci Delicti And Contractus, Stanley A. Williams May 1960

Conflict Of Laws - Release In A Tort Action - Effect Of Lex Loci Delicti And Contractus, Stanley A. Williams

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, defendant, and a third party were involved in a three-car collision in Virginia. Plaintiff settled an action against the third party's estate by executing a release, entered into in New York, in which plaintiff reserved any claims which he might have against the defendant. He then sued defendant, a resident of Pennsylvania, in a federal district court in Pennsylvania. The lower court, applying Virginia law to determine the effect of a release of one joint tortfeasor, dismissed plaintiff's action. On appeal, held, affirmed. The law of the place of the tort governs the effect of a release, not …


Negligence - Proximate Cause - Liability Of Tavern-Keeper To Third Person Injured By One To Whom Tavern-Keeper Had Made And Unlawful Sale Of Liquor, Alan C. Miller May 1960

Negligence - Proximate Cause - Liability Of Tavern-Keeper To Third Person Injured By One To Whom Tavern-Keeper Had Made And Unlawful Sale Of Liquor, Alan C. Miller

Michigan Law Review

In a jurisdiction having a statute prohibiting sales of liquor to minors and persons actually or apparently intoxicated, defendants, four tavern-keepers, served alcoholic beverages to an eighteen-year-old minor. Fifteen or twenty minutes after leaving the last of the taverns, the intoxicated minor negligently drove a motor vehicle and collided with plaintiff's car, killing plaintiff's husband. Plaintiff brought this action as representative of her husband's estate and as owner of the damaged car. Her complaint charged not only that defendants unlawfully and negligently sold and served alcoholic beverages to a minor under circumstances constituting notice that he was a minor, but …


Comparative Negligence And Automobile Liability Insurance, Cornelius J. Peck Mar 1960

Comparative Negligence And Automobile Liability Insurance, Cornelius J. Peck

Michigan Law Review

The purpose of this article is not to re-plow the ground of history, case law, and statutory developments which has been so competently tilled by others. Nor is the purpose to give a detailed consideration of each of the practical matters mentioned above. Instead, the focus of this article is on the relationship between comparative negligence and automobile liability insurance. Insurance rates and accident statistics, rather than rules of law and cases, are the primary materials. Such a consideration of the subject it might be hoped would give a positive and substantiated answer to the frequently debated but never documented …


The Lex Fori - Basic Rule In The Conflict Of Laws, Albert A. Ehrenzweig Mar 1960

The Lex Fori - Basic Rule In The Conflict Of Laws, Albert A. Ehrenzweig

Michigan Law Review

The following summary of this thesis will show its essential connection with the progressing reform of the law of jurisdiction.


Torts - Obstruction Of A Civil Action - Coercion By A Medical Association To Preclude Availability Of Expert Testimony In A Medical Malpractice Action, William Y. Webb Mar 1960

Torts - Obstruction Of A Civil Action - Coercion By A Medical Association To Preclude Availability Of Expert Testimony In A Medical Malpractice Action, William Y. Webb

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff approached nine physicians in an attempt to secure an expert witness for a medical malpractice action. All nine refused, allegedly as a result of threats by the county medical association to expel them and cause a cancellation of their malpractice liability insurance if they testified. The association's actions stemmed from a finding by its "malpractice committee" that the malpractice defendant had not been negligent. Plaintiff then brought this action against the association to recover compensatory and punitive damages for obstruction of a civil action. On appeal from an order granting a motion for nonsuit, held, affirmed. No cause …


Shartel & Plant: The Law Of Medical Practice, C. W. Muehlberger Mar 1960

Shartel & Plant: The Law Of Medical Practice, C. W. Muehlberger

Michigan Law Review

A Review of THE LAW OF MEDICAL PRACTICE. By Burke Shartel and Marcus L. Plant.


Torts - Wrongful Death - Expected Inheritance As An Element Of Damages, James Cripe Feb 1960

Torts - Wrongful Death - Expected Inheritance As An Element Of Damages, James Cripe

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, the widow of a railroad employee who was killed as the result of the defendant's negligence, instituted this action under the Federal Employers' Liability Act to recover damages for his death. The lower court in awarding a judgment refused to include the plaintiff's expectancy of inheritance in the measure of damages. On appeal, held, reversed. The expectance of an inheritance from the deceased is a pecuniary benefit which the beneficiary of the action might reasonably have received if the deceased had not died of his injuries. Martin v. Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company, (5th Cir. 1959) 268 …


Municipal Corporations- Tort Immunity - Liability For Personal Injuries Caused By Nuisance Maintained By City, James Hourihan Feb 1960

Municipal Corporations- Tort Immunity - Liability For Personal Injuries Caused By Nuisance Maintained By City, James Hourihan

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, while in the bathhouse of a municipally owned and operated swimming pool, was injured by a shock received from an electric hair dryer. In sustaining plaintiff's claim against the city for damages, the trial court recognized liability for personal injuries caused by a nuisance created and maintained by a city as an exception to the common law doctrine of municipal immunity from tort liability. On appeal, held, reversed. The nuisance exception from a municipality's common law immunity extends only to injuries to real property occasioned by a municipally created and maintained nuisance. City of Decatur v. Parham, …


Legislation - Survey And Analysis Of Criminal And Tort Aspects Of Shoplifting Statutes, Wilbur J. Markstrom S.Ed. Jan 1960

Legislation - Survey And Analysis Of Criminal And Tort Aspects Of Shoplifting Statutes, Wilbur J. Markstrom S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Shoplifting not only results in heavy financial losses for the merchant but also poses special problems in criminal law and general law enforcement. One such problem arises from the fact that most such thefts involve relatively small amounts, with the result that the public does not seem extremely concerned about the matter when an individual case comes up for prosecution. Another peculiar difficulty is that perhaps more than any other single crime shoplifting is an offense committed by amateurs, both adult and juvenile. This serves to make both detection and prosecution difficult. Finally, the right of the individual to be …


Torts - Invasion Of Privacy - Conduct Of A Debt Collector, Russel A. Mcnair Jr. Jan 1960

Torts - Invasion Of Privacy - Conduct Of A Debt Collector, Russel A. Mcnair Jr.

Michigan Law Review

In an action for the balance due on account for merchandise purchased defendants counterclaimed for damages alleging that an agent of the plaintiff, on three separate days, went to the restaurant where the defendant-wife worked as a waitress and in a loud and degrading manner made demands that defendants pay the account. On each occasion many customers were present. Plaintiff's agent accused the defendants of being "dead beats" and of never intending to pay for the merchandise when it was purchased. The trial court sustained plaintiff's demurrer to this counterclaim. On appeal, held, reversed and remanded. Conduct of a …