Law Commons^™

The Title Ix Contract Quagmire, Bryce Freeman

Michigan Law Review

Courts and scholars have long grappled with whether and to what extent educational institutions are in contract with their students. If they are, then students can sue their private universities for breaching that contract— ordinarily understood as the student handbook and other materials—when the institution levies a disciplinary action against the student. But what promises, both implicit and explicit, do private universities make to their students that courts should enforce? This question has resurfaced in the Title IX context, where courts have largely drawn clear dividing lines between the rights of public and private university students. This Comment provides a …

Personal Jurisdiction And Aliens, William S. Dodge, Scott Dodson

Michigan Law Review

The increasing prevalence of noncitizens in U.S. civil litigation raises a funda-mental question for the doctrine of personal jurisdiction: How should the alienage status of a defendant affect personal jurisdiction? This fundamental question comes at a time of increasing Supreme Court focus on personal juris-diction, in cases like Bristol–Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court, Daimler AG v. Bauman, and J. McIntyre Machinery, Ltd. v. Nicastro. We aim to answer that question by offering a theory of personal jurisdiction over aliens. Under this theory, alienage status broadens the geographic range for mini-mum contacts from a single state to the whole nation. …

Restoring Restitution To The Canon, Douglas Laycock

Michigan Law Review

The Restatement (Third) of Restitution and Unjust Enrichment brings clarity and light to an area of law long shrouded in fogs that linger from an earlier era of the legal system. It makes an important body of law once again accessible to lawyers and judges. This new Restatement should be on every litigator's bookshelf, and a broad set of transactional lawyers and legal academics would also do well to become familiar with it. Credit for this Restatement goes to its Reporter, Professor Andrew Kull. Of course his work benefited from the elaborate processes of the American Law Institute, with every …

Rethinking Discrimination Law, Sandra F. Sperino

Michigan Law Review

Modern employment discrimination law is defined by an increasingly complex set of frameworks. These frameworks structure the ways that courts, juries, and litigants think about discrimination. This Article challenges whether courts should use the frameworks to conceptualize discrimination. It argues that just as faulty sorting contributes to stereotyping and societal discrimination, courts are using faulty structures to substantively limit discrimination claims. This Article makes three central contributions. First, it demonstrates how discrimination analysis has been reduced to a rote sorting process. It recognizes and makes explicit courts' methodology so that the structure of discrimination analysis and its effects can be …

Respondent Superior As An Affirmative Defense: How Employers Immunize Themselves From Direct Negligence Claims, J. J. Burns

Michigan Law Review

Most courts hold that where a defendant employer admits that it is vicariously liable for its employee's negligence, a plaintiff's additional claims of negligent entrustment, hiring, retention, supervision, and training must be dismissed. Generally, courts apply this rule based on the logic that allowing a plaintiff's additional claims adds no potential liability beyond that which has already been admitted. Furthermore, since the additional claims merely allege a redundant theory of recovery once a respondeat superior admission has been made, the prejudicial evidence of an employee's prior bad acts which often accompanies direct negligence claims against employers can be excluded without …

Fixing Patent Boundaries, Tun-Jen Chiang

Michigan Law Review

The claims of a patent are its boundaries, defining the scope of exclusion. This boundary function of claims is undermined by the fact that claims can be changed throughout the life of the patent, thereby moving the patent boundary. A boundary that can be moved at-will is one that the public cannot rely upon. This Article explores the problems of malleable patent boundaries. If a claim can be amended to permit a patentee to capture something he did not foresee when filing the patent application, the amendment confers an unexpected windfall that did not contribute to incentives to invent before …

Limiting A Constitutional Tort Without Probably Cause: First Amendment Retaliatory Arrest After Hartman, Colin P. Watson

Michigan Law Review

Federal law provides a cause of action for individuals who are the target of adverse state action taken in retaliation for their exercise of First Amendment rights. Because these constitutional torts are "easy to allege and hard to disprove," they raise difficult questions concerning the proper balance between allowing meaningful access to the courts and protecting government agents from frivolous and vexatious litigation. In its recent decision in Hartman v. Moore, the U.S. Supreme Court tipped the scales in favor of the state in one subset of First Amendment retaliation actions by holding that plaintiffs in actions for retaliatory …

Government Corruption And The Right Of Access To Courts, Una A. Kim

Michigan Law Review

This Note addresses the question left unanswered in Harbury: whether these denial of access-to-courts cases, which Justice Souter termed "backward-looking" access claims, are valid exercises of a constitutional right. Backward-looking access claims such as Harbury's differ from traditional denial of access-to-courts claims in that their aim is not to remove impediments to bringing causes of action in the future. Rather, backward-looking access claims allege that a suit that could have been filed in the past was not brought or was not litigated effectively, because access to the courts was at that time denied or obstructed by government officials. …

Does History Defeat Standing Doctrine?, Ann Woolhandler, Caleb Nelson

Michigan Law Review

According to the Supreme Court, the Federal Constitution limits not only the types of matters that federal courts can adjudicate, but also the parties who can bring those matters before them. In particular, the Court has held that private citizens who have suffered no concrete private injury lack standing to ask federal courts to redress diffuse harms to the public at large. When such harms are justiciable at all, the proper party plaintiff is the public itself, represented by an authorized officer of the government. Although the Court claims historical support for these ideas, academic critics insist that the law …

Article Ii Revisionism, Cass R. Sunstein

Michigan Law Review

One of the most striking developments of the last decade has been the new use of Article II in public law adjudication. Article II is a prominent feature not only of cases involving the creation of federal institutions that are independent of the President, but also of new disputes involving reviewability, scope of review, and standing.

Professor Krent and Mr. Shenkman have performed a valuable service in spelling out the argument that Article II, rather than Article III, justifies constitutional limits on legislative grants of standing. Indeed, on several important matters, we are very much in agreement. In this brief …

Allocation Of Loss Due To Fraudulent Wholesale Wire Transfers: Is There A Negligence Action Against A Beneficiary's Bank After Article 4a Of The Uniform Commercial Code?, Robert M. Lewis

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that where a bank reasonably should have known of a fraud but still pays out a wire transfer to an unauthorized recipient, common law negligence should provide a basis for recovery despite the absence of an explicit Code provision imposing liability on the bank. Part I examines the UCC's language itself and analyzes possible cases, under 4A and under articles 3 and 4 by analogy, and discusses the applicability of these other parts of the UCC to wire transfers. Part II examines how extra-Code regulatory systems and the common law would determine wire transfer liability. Part II …

Section 1983 And Implied Rights Of Action: Rights, Remedies, And Realism, Michael A. Mazzuchi

Michigan Law Review

This Note criticizes the Court's current reconciliation of the implied right of action and section 1983 inquiries, and argues that the availability of lawsuits under section 1983 should be the same as under an implied right of action test. Part I, by offering a working definition of rights, suggests an approach to identifying statutorily created rights. Part II discusses the evolution of the Court's implied right of action ' jurisprudence, and explores several explanations for the Court's hesitancy to create implied rights of action. Part III examines the influence of the Court's implied right of action test on its jurisprudence …

The Class-Based Animus Requirement Of 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3): A Limiting Strategy Gone Awry?, Devin S. Schindler

Michigan Law Review

This Note focuses on Scott's impact on attempts to determine what groups fall within the statute. Part I examines the various class-based animus formulas generated by the circuits since Griffin and the potential impact of Scott on these formulas. Part II argues that the key to understanding the scope of the class-based animus requirement lies in traditional fourteenth amendment equal protection analysis.

The Availability Of Jury Trials In Copyright Infringement Cases: Limiting The Scope Of The Seventh Amendment, Andrew W. Stumpff

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that statutory copyright damages are properly regarded as equitable and hence that no right to a jury trial exists in cases brought to recover such damages. More generally, the Note maintains that the seventh amendment's distinction between equitable and legal causes of action has produced irrational consequences, and proposes that "legal" issues be defined narrowly so as to limit the scope of the seventh amendment. Part I analyzes the debate over statutory copyright damages, concluding that historical and statutory construction arguments require these damages to be construed as legal. Part II examines some of the problems that …

Backing Off Bivens And The Ramifications Of This Retreat For The Vindication Of First Amendment Rights, Joan Steinman

Michigan Law Review

In Part I of this Article, Chappell and Bush are analyzed against the backdrop of the preceding Bivens cases. The analysis explains how these cases presented situations that were similar to one another but unlike any the Supreme Court previously had faced in Bivens cases. It demonstrates how the Court departed from the line of analysis that its previous Bivens cases had established, in a way that makes it more difficult for at least some plaintiffs seeking vindication of their constitutional rights to succeed in having a money damage remedy implied directly under the Constitution. The Article then argues that …

Implying A Cause Of Action Under Section 503 Of The Rehabilitation Act Of 1973, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note urges courts to recognize a private right of action under section 503. Part I reviews all the evidence of legislative intent available today. It concludes that by now the congressional desire for a private right of action has become abundantly clear. Part II examines the more difficult issue of when that congressional desire crystallized into law. It finds ample reliable evidence that a private right of action has existed since Congress first passed section 503 in 1973.

Survival Of Rights Of Action After Corporate Merger, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Once a corporation ceases to exist, most courts permit neither primary nor derivative suits to be brought in its name. If a merger precipitates that corporate demise, courts usually hold that standing to sue, like other assets of the "merged" corporation, passes to the surviving corporation. This Note ponders the merit of that rule of passage.

Section I categorizes the cases defining the rule of passage. Some courts have steadfastly adhered to the rule and denied standing to the merged corporation's shareholders. Other courts, fearing that the rule would preclude meritorious actions, have created exceptions allowing these shareholders to sue …

Limitation Borrowing In Federal Courts, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note studies limitations on federal actions in light of Occidental Life. Part I discusses the reasons for limiting actions and presents a short history ·of the limitation of actions. Part II analyzes the alternatives for the federal courts when no statute of limitations applies directly. Finally, the Note suggests a solution that will achieve a result most nearly consistent with both the reasons for limiting actions and the proper role of the judiciary. It suggests, notwithstanding Occidental Life, that in some situations courts should borrow specific federal statutes of limitations and that in the remainder they should …

Adjudication Of Federal Causes Of Action In State Court, Martin H. Redish, John E. Muench

Michigan Law Review

The first section of this article considers the power of state courts to hear federal cases. Since it is now well established that state courts have the constitutional power to adjudicate federal causes of action if Congress so desires, the significant questions concern the method by which the judiciary is to decipher congressional intent. Although the courts have no difficulty where Congress has explicitly addressed the issue of state court jurisdiction, problems do arise in situations where Congress has remained silent on the question. The first section critically examines the traditional criteria employed by the courts for determining congressional intent …

Private Causes Of Action Under Section 206 Of The Investment Advisers Act, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note examines the propriety of implying a cause of action for damages under section 206. Upon concluding that such an implication is appropriate, it then suggests a scope for section 206 actions that implements the Act's underlying purposes.

Torts--Wrongful Death--Unborn Child--The Estate Of An Unborn Child Has A Cause Of Action For Wrongful Death--O'Neill V. Morse, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The attitude of the law toward the unborn child has differed according to the area involved and its underlying concepts and policy. It has been settled en ventre sa mere be to his benefit. Legal recognition was accorded "for the purpose of providing for and protecting the child, in the hope and expectation that it will be born alive and be capable of enjoying those rights which are thus preserved for it in anticipation." In this context, the live-birth requirement is not surprising. The injustice of depriving a posthumous child of an inheritance is apparent only if the child is …

Executors And Administrators - Comparison Of Nonclaim Statutes And The General Statutes Of Limitations, Dan K. Cook

Michigan Law Review

An overwhelming majority of the states possess nonclaim statutes, which, in one form or another, purport to bar all claims against decedent's estates not presented to the decedent's personal representative within a stipulated period. It is the purpose of this comment to compare such statutes with the general statutes of limitations, giving particular regard to those situations where the operation of the two types of statute upon one cause of action may appear to conflict.

Torts - Violation Of Penal Statute As Civil Wrong - Bucketing - Intentional Wrong, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A statute prohibited bucketing operations by dealers in securities and commodities, and provided penalties for such offenses. Plaintiff alleges that, acting without knowledge of defendant's illegal operations, he gave the defendant an order for the purchase of stock, which, he says, was not executed, as defendant reported, but "bucketed" in a manner prohibited by statute. Plaintiff sued to recover damages. Defendant demurred on the grounds (1) that the transaction referred to was not bucketing, but (2) that if it was, defendants were not liable to this plaintiff as the latter was not within the class of persons intended to be …

Judgments - Federal Declaratory Judgments Act, Charles R. Moon Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Underlying the declaratory judgment is the idea that in an organized and civilized society where law and order are thoroughly recognized and established, coercion is normally unnecessary to settle legal disputes between parties. The belief is that in many lawsuits the plaintiff is not seeking a means of coercing the defendant but that the plaintiff and the defendant merely want a final and conclusive decision of a disputed question on which their legal relations depend. The value of the declaratory judgment lies in that it may be used to settle this dispute, in many cases before any other form of …

Torts - Prenatal Injuries To Infants, Frank B. Stone

Michigan Law Review

This was an action by the administrator under the survival act. Decedent's mother while a passenger on the defendant's street-car was injured through negligence of an employee. Decedent thus suffered prenatal injuries to his skull from which he died three months after birth. The birth occurred 22 days after the accident and after a normal period of gestation. Held, there is no liability to an infant for prenatal injuries and therefore no cause of action existed in the child or survives to the administrator. Newman v. City of Detroit, 281 Mich. 60, 274 N. W. 710 (1937).

Gratuitous Promises-A New Writ?, Warren L. Shattuck

Michigan Law Review

Under the early common law, the fact situations which presented actionable wrongs were limited in number and stereotyped into various writs which issued from the Lord Chancellor. Only as new writs were devised by him was it possible for new fact situations to achieve the dignity of justiciability and so raise legal rights and duties. But with the liberalization of pleading the recognition of new legal rights and duties became a judicial function. In consequence, the constant struggle of new fact patterns for a place in the law is now principally waged before the courts. In this struggle some fail, …

Federal Courts - Removal Of Causes - Action By State Tax Collector Against National Bank To Recover Taxes - Federal Question, Malcolm L. Denise

Michigan Law Review

The state of Mississippi passed a statute imposing a tax upon national banks, under authority of a federal statute permitting such legislation. The state assessed the tax upon defendant's predecessor, and defendant, in taking over its predecessor's assets, undertook to pay all of its obligations, including taxes due. The state tax collector started suit on the contract in the state court, but upon defendant's application the cause was removed to the federal district court. On appeal it was held the case did not arise under the laws of the United States within the meaning of the removal statute because it …

Contracts - Fraud - Defrauded Purchaser Of Land On Contract, Jacob L. Keidan

Michigan Law Review

Defendant filed a counterclaim for damages for deceit in an action brought by the vendor in a land contract. The facts showed that substantial payments had been made both before and after defendant's discovery of the fraud. The court held that defendant's performance of the contract subsequent to his discovery of the fraud constituted a "waiver" of the fraud. Monroe v. Hoffman, 276 Mich. 281, 267 N. W. 836 (1936).

Negligence- Liability Of Telephone Company For Failure To Complete Subscriber's Call, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, father and administrator of the estate of a seven year old child, brought suit, under the Death Act, alleging that defendant's negligent failure to connect him with the family physician was the proximate cause of the death of the child. Held, by a majority of the court, that there was no liability, because the deceased, had she lived, would have had no cause of action on these facts. Emery v. Rochester Telephone Corporation, 271 N. Y. 306, 3 N. E. (2d) 434 (1936).

Negligence -Affirmative Duty To Aid Others, Donald H. Larmee

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff alleged that his intestate was taken ill while in the defendant's store. The defendant placed her in an infirmary and there left her for six hours without further medical care. By reason of the lack of medical care the plaintiff's intestate died. On appeal from the lower court's denial of the defendant's motion to dismiss the complaint, held that the complaint stated a cause of action. The court assumed that the defendant owed no duty to the intestate to render her any assistance whatsoever, but that upon placing her in the infirmary the defendant assumed the undertaking to …