Law Commons^™

The Future Of Agency Independence, Lisa S. Bressman, Robert B. Thompson

Vanderbilt Law Review

Independent agencies have long been viewed as different from executive-branch agencies because the President lacks authority to fire their leaders for political reasons, such as failure to follow administration policy. In this Article, we identify mechanisms that make independent agencies increasingly responsive to presidential preferences. We find these mechanisms in a context where independent agencies traditionally have dominated: financial policy. In legislative proposals for securing market stability, we point to statutorily mandated collaboration on policy between the Federal Reserve Board and the Secretary of the Treasury. In administration practices for improving securities regulation, we focus on White House coordination of, …

Judicial Deference And The Credibility Of Agency Commitments, Jonathan Masur

Vanderbilt Law Review

Consider the following situation: In late 2004, towards the end of President George W. Bush's first term, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration ("NHTSA"), pursuant to its congressionally delegated authority, promulgates a rule that would relax inspection and testing regimes for automobile manufacturers- thereby saving those firms substantial amounts of money-if the manufacturers independently deployed cutting-edge vehicle safety technology. The research and development of this technology will require significant up-front expenditures, and automobile manufacturers must decide whether to invest the funds necessary to bring the technology to market. However, the cost-benefit analysis is not so straightforward. The predicament, as the …

Equitable Estoppel And The Compulsion Of Arbitration, Alexandra A. Hui

Vanderbilt Law Review

Freedom of contract is a longstanding principle deeply rooted in American jurisprudence, protected by the Contract Clause and by the Due Process Clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.' Because of the legal system's high regard for freedom of contract, parties are free to negotiate virtually all issues, thus creating rights and limiting duties and obligations to one another.

In exercising this freedom to contract, parties often negotiate an arbitration clause. These clauses, also referred to as "predispute arbitration agreements," are contractual provisions agreed to in advance of any dispute that require a party to submit any and all future …

How "Mead" Has Muddled Judicial Review Of Agency Action, Lisa S. Bressman

Vanderbilt Law Review

When the Supreme Court decided United States v. Mead Corp. four years ago, Justice Scalia predicted that judicial review of agency action would devolve into chaos. This Article puts that prediction to the test by examining the court of appeals decisions applying the decision. Justice Scalia actually understated the effect of Mead. This Article suggests a remedy for the mess.

In Mead, the Court held that an agency is entitled to deference under Chevron, U.S.A., Inc. v. NRDC only if Congress has delegated to that agency the authority to issue interpretations that carry the force of law, and the agency …

Rejecting The Myth Of Popular Sovereignty And Applying An Agency Model To Direct Democracy, Glen Staszewski

Vanderbilt Law Review

The use of direct democracy is at its highest level in more than one hundred years.' The direct initiative, which is the primary focus of this Article, allows private citizens to bypass the traditional legislative process and make binding laws, often in highly contentious areas of public policy. The 2000 elections, for example, placed directly before voters the issues of school vouchers, physician-assisted suicide, same- sex marriage and other gay and lesbian rights, gun control, campaign finance reform, bilingual education, gambling, medical use of marijuana, and sentencing for drug offenders, as well as some of the perennial favorites-tax reform and …

Monitoring Governmental Disposition Of Assets: Fashioning Regulatory Substitutes For Market Controls, Harold J. Krent, Nicholas S. Zeppos

Vanderbilt Law Review

Each year, the government sells and leases public assets worth billions of dollars. FCC auctions to allocate rights to electromagnetic spectrum generated over twenty billion dollars within a three-year period, and proceeds from mineral leases, timber sales, and disposition of real estate from defaulting thrifts have surpassed several billion dollars annually.

From the taxpayer's perspective, however, government sales and leases have been deplorable. The government has donated valuable resources to preferred claimants, allocated scarce broadcast and oil rights resources by lottery, and sold both public land and mineral rights to private parties at a fraction of the market price. Although …

Judicial Review Of Agency Deregulation: Alternatives And Problems For The Courts, James T. O'Reilly

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Article takes a preliminary look at how deregulation has fared in the courts and at the significance of the evolving federal appellate and United States Supreme Court case law for future agency rule making decisions.

Part II of this Article examines the various categories of regulation and the aspects of each category that may be subject to deregulation.

Part III defines deregulation and explores some of the reasons why an agency may wish to deregulate. Part IV examines the utility of judicial oversight of deregulation, and part V then discusses the mechanics of deregulation, focusing on the various means …

Agencies In Conflict: Overlapping Agencies And The Legitimacy Of The Administrative Process, Louis J. Sirico Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Article demonstrates how multi-agency decision making can enhance the legitimacy of the administrative system. After discussing the meaning of legitimacy in a highly stable society, it analyzes multi-agency decision making process from the perspective of the political scientist. I particularly emphasize "partisan mutual adjustment" analysis, which views the system as adjusting continually to the conduct of interacting participants. This theory comports not only with the pluralistic, pressure politics model of American government, but also with the methodology of classical economics, which celebrates the product of competing, conflicting interests.The Article concludes by demonstrating that the multi-agency process can increase legitimacy …

Annual Survey Of Tennessee Law, John S. Beasley, Ii

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Union Carbide and Ferguson cases were suits to recover Tennessee sales taxes and use taxes paid under protest for 1956 and 1958. Carbide and Ferguson urged that since they were under contract to the Atomic Energy Commission, the legal incidence of the tax was on the United States directly and therefore invalid. Carbide had been secured in 1943 to manage and operate certain plants involved in work on the atomic bomb, and Ferguson had subsequently been engaged to build additional facilities for this purpose. Both contended that their relationship with the United States and the Atomic Energy Commission was …

Agency -- 1962 Tennessee Survey, Edwin R. Render

Vanderbilt Law Review

Two cases decided during the survey period dealt with the existence or nonexistence of the agency relationship. While the agency relationship frequently arises out of contract, a contract is not necessary to the creation of authority in the agent. Consent of the principal is the basis of the agent's authority. Generally, the existence or non-existence of the agency relationship is a question of fact for the jury; but in the two cases to be discussed, Tennessee appellate courts reversed jury verdicts on the ground that there was no competent evidence in the record to support their findings... The other two …

Agency -- 1961 Tennessee Survey (Ii), W. Harold Bigham

Vanderbilt Law Review

I. Employee and Independent Contractor Distinguished

During the abbreviated survey period there were no significant or momentous decisions by Tennessee courts--state or federal--involving agency principles. Indeed the only state appellate case properly to be considered here involved the rather pedestrian question of whether a petitioner for workmen's compensation benefits was, vis-a-vis the defendant prime contractor, an employee or an independent contractor.

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II. Misrepresentations of Agent

Butts v. Colonial Refrigerated Transportation, Inc. is merely another example of the Sixth Circuit's unfortunate proclivity for writing per curiam affirmances. It is well-nigh impossible to determine whether the liability of the defendant which …

Agency -- 1961 Tennessee Survey, Elvin E. Overton

Vanderbilt Law Review

The topic "agency" includes the areas of "master and servant" as well as those of "principal and agent." There were few cases in these areas decided by the Tennessee courts during the period under survey. Generally, basic principles were applied to routine cases.In certain instances the reliance upon a prior fact determination avoided the necessity of an elaborate treatment of the facts. In one or two cases the court reached a result that may not be deemed desirable though supported by much authority. Significant points received less attention than they deserved in certain cases. In one case the basic question …

Business Associations -- 1961 Tennessee Survey, Kenneth L. Roberts

Vanderbilt Law Review

I. CASES

A. Disregard of Corporate Entity

B. Action in Corporate Name After Revocation of Charter

C. Effect of Merger

1. Privilege Tax

2. Statute of Limitations

D. Judicial Intervention in Internal Corporate Affairs

E. Disregard of Fictitious Corporate Records

F. Criminal Liability of Corporation for Acts of Agents

G. Corporate Venue Under Federal Anti-Trust Laws

II. STATUTES

A. Unincorporated Associations Treated as Corporations

B. Amendments to Securities Law

C. Massachusetts Trust Act

D. Industrial Development Corporation "Projects"

E. Amendments Relating to General Welfare Corporations

F. Miscellany

Agency -- 1960 Tennessee Survey, Warren A. Seavey

Vanderbilt Law Review

In Richardson v. Snipes' both parties to an exchange of land employed the plaintiff, the contract providing that the defendant would pay no commission unless the transfer was completed. The other party satisfied the conditions imposed by the defendant, who, however, refused to go through with the exchange. The court properly reversed judgment for the defendant; but the result should not have turned upon the finding of bad faith of the defendant, as the court held. The plaintiff had performed his undertaking which was to provide one who would exchange titles and who would have gone through with the transaction …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Agency--Representations--Liability of Principal for Agent's Assault Where Consent Obtained by Fraud

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Constitutional Law--Due Process--Admissibility in State Criminal Prosecution of Results of Blood Test taken while Accused was Unconscious

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Constitutional Law--Privilege Against Self-Incrimination--Effect of Possible Federal Prosecution on Application of State Immunity Statute in State Criminal Proceedings

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Constitutional Law--Military Jurisdiction--Capital Offenses Committed by Civilian Dependents Accompanying Armed Forces Abroad in Peacetime

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Corporations--Election of Directors--Conflict Between Constitutional Right of Cumulative Voting and Statute Authorizing Classification of Directors

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Corporations--Officers--Secretary--Treasurer's Authority to Institute Litigation

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Corporations--Shareholder Voting Agreements--Applicability of Voting Trust Statute to Pooling Agreement Giving Irrevocable Proxies to …

Agency -- 1957 Tennessee Survey, F. Hodge O'Neal

Vanderbilt Law Review

Several interesting and significant decisions in the fields of agency and master and servant were handed down during the survey period. This article discusses the decisions in groups, each group being placed under a topic heading which is designed to give the reader an idea of the particular phase of agency law involved in that group of cases.

Establishing that Tort feasor is a Servant of Defendant: It is elementary law of course that a master is liable for the torts of his servant acting within the scope of his employment. A question often arises, however, as to whether a …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

RECENT CASES

AGENCY--INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR--"ONE WAY LEASE" EFFECTIVE TO TERMINATE RELATIONSHIP

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COURTS--CIVIL RIGHTS ACT--IMMUNITY OF JUDGE FOR ACTS COMMITTED IN THE EXERCISE OF A JUDICIAL FUNCTION

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COURTS--CONTEMPT--VIOLATION OF COURT RULE BANNING PHOTOGRAPHY

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CRIMINAL LAW--ENTRAPMENT BY STATE OFFICIAL AS A DEFENSE TO FEDERAL PROSECUTION

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DAMAGES--BREACH OF WARRANTY--RECOVERY FOR LOSS OF PROFITS

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FEDERAL COURTS--CHOICE OF LAW--APPLICATION OF ERIE DOCTRINE TO DIVERSITY CASES INVOLVING FEDERAL COMMERCIAL PAPER

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TORTS--BATTERY--CONSENT OF MINOR TO SIMPLE OPERATION AS A DEFENSE

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TORTS--DUTY TO ACT--EMPLOYER'S ASSUMPTION OF A DUTY BY GIVING MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS TO EMPLOYEES

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Agency -- 1956 Tennessee Survey, F. Hodge O'Neal

Vanderbilt Law Review

The appellate courts of Tennessee and the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit handed down during the survey period a considerable number of interesting and significant cases dealing with the Tennessee law of agency. This article groups the cases and arranges them under topic headings. In most instances, the discussion of the case or cases under a topic heading is preceded by brief background material designed to place the cases in their proper setting and aid the reader in evaluating them.

Agency -- 1954 Tennessee Survey, Merton L. Ferson

Vanderbilt Law Review

Scope of Employment: In the case of McKinnon v. Michaud,- it appeared that Mrs. McKinnon was in the business of distributing petroleum products wholesale. Her servant, Nickson, made delivery of gasoline to a service station, put the nozzle from his truck into the retailer's tank and then carelessly allowed the tank to overflow. Nickson then enhanced the danger by throwing water on the gasoline with the result that it splashed onto an open stove and caused an extensive fire that damaged the plaintiff. Mrs. McKinnon was held liable. The court did not decide whether Nickson's act of throwing water on …

Book Reviews, Walter P. Armstrong Jr., Robert A. Pascal

Vanderbilt Law Review

Bender's Federal Practice Forms By Louis R. Frumer Albany: Matthew Bender & Company, 1951-53, 4 Vols.(1 to follow), $85.00

reviewer: Walter P. Armstrong, Jr.

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Principles of Agency By Merton Ferson Brooklyn: The FoundationPress, 1954. Pp. xx, 490

reviewer: Robert A. Pascal

Agency, Merton Ferson

Vanderbilt Law Review

The facts in Dickson v. Blacker were these: Dickson operated a filling station in Memphis and, along with it, a parking lot situated one and one-half blocks from the filling station. Blacker left his automobile at the filling station for storage, and it was taken to the parking lot. An employee of Dickson was sent to the parking lot to get the car. The employee, without permission, drove the car away and wrecked it six blocks from the filling station. Blacker, the owner of the car, was allowed to recover from Dickson, the owner of the filling station parking lot.

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Recent Cases

Agency--Liability of Master for Servant's Acts--State Permit to Operate

Agency--Possession as Indicia of Ownership

Constitutional Law--Aliens--Detention Where Deportations is Impossible

Courts--Contempt--Delay in Summary Punishment

Criminal Law--Habitual Criminal Statutes--Meaning of Previous Conviction Requirement

Domestic Relations--Liability of Husband for Necessaries of Wife Rightfully Living Apart

Income Taxation--Excludibility from Gross Income of Payment over Ceiling Price

Income Taxation--Taxable Income--Claim of Right

Procedure--Grand Jury--Motion to Expunge Defamatory Remarks in Report

Procedure--Statute of Limitations--Retroactive Operation

Statutes--Holding of Unconstitutionality Overruled--Necessity for Re-Enactment

Wills--Contest--Interest of Legatee's Representative

Agency To Make Warranties, Merton Ferson

Vanderbilt Law Review

What are warranties? How are they created? And, particularly, what kind of authority or employment will enable one person to make a warranty that will be binding on another person?

Let us first look at warranties broadly and note their function. When a sale is being made there is commonly a risk of some defect in the thing sold. And in connection with other kinds of transactions there is frequently a risk of loss that will occur if a certain fact exists or comes to pass. There is, for example, a risk that the horse being sold js not sound; …

The Tennessee Statutory Presumption Of Agency By The Operation Of A Motor Vehicle, Eugene N. Collins

Vanderbilt Law Review

In cases involving the negligent operation of a vehicle by a person not the owner plaintiffs have experienced extreme difficulty in proving that a master-servant relationship existed between the driver and the owner at the time of the accident so as to render the owner liable under the doctrine of respondeat superior.' It is frequently of the utmost importance to a plaintiff to prove that this relationship did exist, because in a large number of cases it is the owner of the vehicle, not the driver, who is financially responsible. A large majority of the courts came to recognize the …

Agency To Make Representations, Merton Ferson

Vanderbilt Law Review

Representations, commands, threats and other utterances are a species of acts and may have legal consequences. An utterance may, for example, constitute fraud, negligence, slander or intimidation. The person who speaks is responsible and it may be that another person, in whose behalf the utterance was made, also is responsible. This discussion has to do with the question of what must be shown to establish the ability' of one person to speak in behalf of another, and thus to make the other liable for the legal consequences.

Tennessee Judicial Highlights, Journal Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

CASES OF CURRENT INTEREST AND IMPORTANCE PREVIOUSLY NOTED

Baker v. State, 184 Tenn. 503 (1947), 1 Vand. L. Rev. 127 (1947). Accessory after the fact--when is felony complete?

Black v. Black, 202 S. W. 2d 659 (Tenn. 1947), 20 Tenn. L. Rev. 201 (1948).' Effect of reciting an oral contract to sell land in an undelivered deed.

Churn v. State, 184 Tenn. 646 (1947), 20 Tenn. L. Rev. 195 (1948). Testimony of arresting officers.

Davis v. Beeler, 207 S. W. 2d 343 (Tenn. 1947), 1 Vand. L. Rev. 451 (1948). Prohibition of practice of naturopathy in Tennessee.

Elliott v. Fuqua, …