Contracts Commons^™

Admiralty - Right To Jury Trial In Certain Cases On Great Lakes - Maintenance And Cure Not Contract Or Tort Matter, Richard B. Barnett S.Ed..

Michigan Law Review

Libelant brought an action for maintenance and cure on the admiralty side of a federal district court in Illinois. He requested a jury trial, relying on the Act of February 20, 1845, which provides that in certain admiralty and maritime cases arising on the Great Lakes relating to any matter of contract or tort, trial shall be by jury on the demand of either party. The trial court heard the case without a jury and dismissed the libel on the merits. The court of appeals held, on appeal, that maintenance and cure was a matter of ancient and established …

Negligence - Proving Inviter's Breach Of Duty By Circumstantial Evidence, Charles E. Oldfather S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff brought a negligence action for personal injuries suffered when she slipped on a spot of grease in the driveway of defendant's railroad station. The evidence showed that the spot was at least one foot square and was covered with dust and dirt so that it resembled in color and texture the rest of the pavement. The evidence also indicated that vehicles often drove through and parked in the drive, and that there were no marks on the spot other than a deep skid mark left by plaintiff's heel. The trial court allowed the jury to determine from this evidence …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Contracts--Ceiling Price Legislation--Effect upon Performance

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Evidence--Declarations against Interest--Third-Party Confessions

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Family Law--Loss of Consortium of the Parent--Right of Child to Recover Against a Negligent Defendant

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Federal Procedure--Statutory Construction--Meaning of "Mentally Incompetent"

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Income Taxation--Surrender of Lease--Capital Gain to Lessee

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Income Taxation--Taxable Stock Dividend--Treasury Stock Held for Investment

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Judgment--Suit to Vacate--Insufficient Allegations of Cruelty Void Divorce Decree

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Labor Law--Filing Requirements--Noncompliance at Time Charges Filed

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Municipal Corporations--Liability for Negligence--Operation of Swimming Pool for Profit

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Process--Constructive Service--Tort Action Arising Without State

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Torts--Res Ipsa Loquitur--Application To Disappearing Airplane

Recovery Of Damages For Mental Anguish Alone In Breach Of Contract Actions, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Before the late 1800's it undoubtedly would have been contrary to law to assert that damages for mental suffering might be allowed in breach of contract actions. However, near the beginning of the Nineteenth Century a few courts made what was considered to be a serious departure from the common law and allowed such damages in certain types of cases. The passing of years has brought about considerable, though incomplete, development in this phase of the law. Not only have legal writers failed to give this development the comment which its significance warrants, but the courts have failed to indicate …

Book Reviews, Julius Stone, Harold Gill Reuschlein, Elvin R. Latty, Pendleton Howard, Hardy C. Dillard, Louis Loss, Jerre Stockton Williams, Paul Sayre, Robert Kingsley, Warren M. Ballard, Mason Ladd, Robert Braucher, Robert B. Mckay, Robert H. Wettach

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Torts--Inducing Breach Of Contract--Attorney-Client Contingent Fee Contract, Richard W. Pogue

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a practicing attorney, undertook on a contingent fee basis to represent a husband and wife in separate claims for damages alleged to have been suffered by them through the negligence of the driver of a motor vehicle. The driver was insured under a policy issued by defendant. Defendant had notice of the contract. After plaintiff had started suit on the damage claim and as the case was about to be tried, defendant's adjusters, without knowledge on the plaintiff's part, allegedly induced the clients to discharge the plaintiff (and "thereby break their contingent fee contract with him") and subsequently to …

Inducing Breach Of Contract In Ohio, Arlene B. Steuer

Cleveland State Law Review

This article is limited in its scope to the development in Ohio of a cause of action for the tort of wrongfully inducing breach of contract, either by fraud, duress, obstruction, etc., or by mere persuasion, and the extent to which an invasion of contractual rights will be privileged by the fact that the actor is a competitor. It is not intended to cover generally the subject of interference with contract rights, nor the various situations under which an actor will be privileged to interfere with another's contractual rights except when the privilege claimed is competition. The development of this …

Torts—Interference With Contractual Relations—Treble Damages Denied, Robert C. Schaus

Buffalo Law Review

Frishman v. Metropolitan Tobacco Co., Inc., __ Misc. __, 104 N. Y. S. 2nd 446 (Sup. Ct. 1951).

Claims Against The State In Tennessee -- The Board Of Claims, George H. Cate Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

The age-old doctrine of governmental immunity from suit seems gradually to be passing into the discard, first in the realm of contract liability, and of late in the field of torts. Recent years have seen its vitality substantially sapped by judicial decisions, and there is a distinct trend among governmental units to do away with it partially or entirely through legislation. Thus, England in the Crown Proceedings Act of 1947, the United States in the Federal Tort Claims Act, and many of the states by similar legislation have renounced their shield of immunity from suit and, by means more regularized …

Bases For Master's Liability And For Principal's Liability To Third Persons, Merton Ferson

Vanderbilt Law Review

The law with regard to principal and agent grew up as part and parcel of the law of contracts. The law with regard to master and servant grew up as part and parcel of the law of torts. Each one takes its origin far back in the history of the common law.

Agents were used in an early day to effect livery of seisin, to create covenants, and to carry on commercial transactions. The terms "principal" and "agent" may be of modern origin. But the power of one person to bind another in legal transactions was familiar in the days …

Damages-Extent To Which Earnings Of Employee After Wrongful Discharge Apply In Mitigation Of Damages For Breach Of Contract

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Damages-Measure Of Damages In Contract And Tort Actions For Destruction Of Growing Crops

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Contracts-Remedies For Misrepresentation-Measure Of Recovery, Richard J. Archer S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In a preceding comment in this series, the various remedies affording relief for misrepresentation were examined for the purpose of determining what remedies are available in case of an innocent misrepresentation. Discussion was directed toward actions for damages for deceit, actions at law and in equity for restitution, the recovery of damages for breach of warranty, and the action based on the enforcement of representations on a theory of estoppel. The purpose of the present comment is to re-examine these remedies to determine what relief can be obtained by each of them, assuming for this purpose that all of the …

Labor Law-Torts-Liability Of Labor Union For Inducing Breach Of Contract, Ira M. Price, Ii S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

During the past fifteen years the law as a whole has moved rapidly in the direction of favoring union activity. A labor policy expressed in numerous federal and state laws and important judicial decisions has generally recognized and protected in the courts the workers' right to be free from employer interference, to strike, to engage in peaceful picketing, and to conduct primary boycotts. Within this liberalizing judicial concept of the rights of labor, the present status of the action against labor unions for inducing breach of contract presents an interesting study of the tenacity of an early common law theory …

Bailment-Unknown Chattels Contained In Object Bailed, B. E. Heath

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff's automobile was stolen from defendant's parking lot. Plaintiff had previously disclosed to defendant's agent that certain things were in the car, but had failed to mention other items also present. In an action to recover the value of all the items, held, recovery allowed only for those things that defendant knew were in the automobile, he being a bailee of those things only. Palotto v. Hanna Parking Garage Co., (Ohio 1946) 68 N.E. (2d) 170.

The Conflict Of Laws: A Comparative Study. Volume Two. Foreign Corporations: Torts: Contracts In General, Ernst Rabel

Michigan Legal Studies Series

Full application of comparative methods to the law of conflicts requires a working plan of some magnitude. We ought to take stock of the conflicts rules existing in the different countries of the world, state their similarities or dissimilarities, and investigate their purposes and effects. The solutions thus ascertained should moreover be subjected to an estimation of their usefulness, by the standards appropriate to their natural objective. Conflicts rules have to place private life and business relations upon the legal background suitable to satisfactory intercourse among states and nations. They are valuable to the extent that their practical functioning, rather …

Quasi-Contracts-Assumpsit For Use And Occupation Of Land, R. O. Hancox S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Defendant had a right of way over plaintiff's land limited to the transportation of coal mined on that land. Plaintiff seeks to recover for use and occupation of his land by defendant when he exceeded his right by transporting coal mined on adjacent property. Held, the plaintiff is entitled to quasi-contractual recovery of the value of the benefit to defendant based on the prevailing rate of purchase of right of way for transportation of coal over another's land. Raven Red Ash Coal Co., Inc. v. Ball, (Va. 1946) 39 S.E. (2d) 231.

Torts--Negligent Interference With Contractual Relations, E. Durward Weldon

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Contracts-Release-Misrepresentation By Releasor's Attorney- Avoidance By Releasor For Unilateral Mistake As To Contents, Neil Mckay S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Under the objective theory of mutual assent, which bases the imposition of contractual obligations on the expressed intent of the parties, rather than on a subjective meeting of their minds, the law has generally granted relief to the signer of a contract who is under a misapprehension as to its contents only where he can show that the mistake was made without negligence on his part. The theory of affording relief in such a case apparently is that the instrument does not really represent the expression of the signer's intent, and the contract is, therefore, void at its inception. In …

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.

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.

Landlord And Tenant - Covenant By Landlord To Repair - Liability Ex Contractu For Personal Injuries Of The Tenant's Wife, Reid J. Hatfield

Michigan Law Review

One of the terms under which certain premises were leased to plaintiff's husband was a covenant by the defendant lessor to keep the premises in repair. Defendant neglected to repair two of the porch steps, although often requested by plaintiff to do so, and because of their defective condition plaintiff fell and was hurt. She brought suit on two counts; in tort for negligence, and on the contract for its breach. Held, an action in tort would not lie, and, although this was a proper case for an action ex contractu, recovery was denied because the consequences were avoidable …

Infants - Minority As A Defense To Rescission For Fraud, Raymond H. Rapaport

Michigan Law Review

Two defendants, one of whom was a minor, sold a business to the plaintiff. The plaintiff, in seeking to rescind the contract on the ground that it was induced by fraud, obtained a decree declaring the contract cancelled, and judgment was entered against the defendants for the sums they had received from the plaintiff. The minor defendant filed a petition to vacate the judgment as to him because during the trial no guardian ad litem had been appointed to represent him. Held, defendant is entitled to a new trial only if he could have made a good defense, and …

Damages - Contracts - Recovery For Mental Suffering, G. Randall Price

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff bought a loaf of bread at defendant's bakery. After she had eaten half of one of the slices, plaintiff discovered a dead cockroach near the upper crust of the bread whereupon she became ill and suffered serious emotional disturbances. Held, no recovery for mental suffering arising out of breach of an implied warranty of wholesomeness. Wheeler v. Balestri, (Mass. 1939) 23N.E. (2d) 132.