Evidence Commons^™

A Radical Restatement Of The Law Of Seller's Damages: Michigan Results Compared, Robert J. Harris

Michigan Law Review

Conventional doctrine does not address itself directly to the choice among valuation techniques, although the various parochial damage formulae give some clues. Underlying this series of articles is an assumption that the doctrine makes more sense when restated in valuation terms. These articles involve an effort to restate in such terms one sector of expectation damage law-the part that governs cases in which plaintiff is a "seller."

Federal Civil Procedure-Discovery-Availability Of Attorney-Client Privilege To Corporations, Stephen M. Wittenberg

Michigan Law Review

During the pre-trial stage of a civil antitrust suit, plaintiff sought inspection of certain documents in the files of the corporate defendants' outside counsel. The defendant contended that these documents were protected from discovery by the attorney-client privilege. Upon motion for inspection, held, granted. The attorney-client privilege is not available to any of the corporate parties in this action. Radiant Burners, Inc. v. American Gas Ass'n, 207 F. Supp. 771, aff'd on rehearing, 209 F. Supp. 321 (N.D. Ill. 1962).

Betts V. Brady Twenty Years Later: The Right To Counself And Due Process Values, Yale Kamisar

Michigan Law Review

I am quite distressed by talk that the landmark case of Mapp v. Ohio "suggests by analogy" that the Court may now overrule Betts v. Brady. For whether one talks about the fourth or the sixth amendment, there is much to be said for Justice Harlan's dissenting views in Mapp. "[W]hatever configurations ... have been developed in the particularizing federal precedents" should not be "deemed a part of 'ordered liberty,' and as such ... enforceable against the States .... [W]e would not be true to the Fourteenth Amendment were we merely to stretch the general principle [ of …

Packer: Ex-Communist Witnesses, Malcolm Sharp

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Ex-Communist Witnesses. By Herbert L. Packer

Procedural Problems Of Class Suits, Joseph J. Simeone

Michigan Law Review

The purpose of this article is to discuss numerous aspects of the class device, to discuss the many procedural problems confronting court and counsel, to determine the effectiveness of one type of class suit-the spurious-and in the conclusion, to propose legislation for a new rule independent of the rules regarding class actions, a remedy which would more effectively permit the dispatch of numerous claims arising from similar fact patterns.

Federal Trade Commission-Adjudicatory Proceedings-Receipt Of Evidence In Camera, Peter W. Williamson

Michigan Law Review

During an adjudicatory hearing pursuant to a complaint filed by the Federal Trade Commission, counsel for the Commission offered as evidence some confidential documents subpoenaed from respondent. The hearing examiner, on his own motion, ordered all confidential documents placed in camera. Counsel for the FTC objected to the order and filed an interlocutory appeal to the Commission. On the interlocutory appeal, held, error in part. Because these documents do not contain highly secret business information they must appear on the public transcript, unless tendered to the Commission and obtained subject to an express stipulation that, if offered in …

Evidence - Presumptions - Statutory Presumption Of Due Care In Wrongful Death Action, Francis X. Beytagh Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Consolidation of two actions arising from a multi-vehicle highway accident resulted in verdicts in both causes against appellants. One action was brought against appellants by the administratrix of a deceased driver under a wrongful death statute, and resulted in a verdict for the administratrix because of a statutory presumption of deceased's due care. The other action was a personal injury suit by a third party against appellants and the administratrix as co-defendants, and resulted in a verdict exonerating the deceased driver, despite circumstances raising an inference of his negligence. Appellants' motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and new trial were …

Some Problems Of Evidence Before The Labor Arbitrator, R. W. Fleming

Michigan Law Review

Legal rules of evidence do not, of course, apply before the labor arbitrator. This is not surprising since such rules were developed in connection with jury trials, and do not apply strictly in any tribunal but a jury-court. The whole theory of the arbitration tribunal is that it is composed of experts who repeatedly inquire into a relatively homogeneous kind of cases. Exclusionary rules are hardly required as a precautionary measure. Indeed, as the late Harry Shulman said in his classic Oliver Wendell Holmes lecture at Harvard in 1955, "The more serious danger is not that the arbitrator will hear …

Federal Agency Investigations: Procedural Rights Of The Subpoenaed Witness, Frank C. Newman

Michigan Law Review

This article is designed to help fill a gap in the literature and to warn government attorneys, particularly, about some questionable asides in the Hannah case. We shall not deal with record-keeping requirements or with agency inspections, subpoenas duces tecum, and related search and seizure problems. The focus instead is on the subpoenaed witness; that is, a man who knows that force may be used against him unless pursuant to government command he appears and answers questions. We examine several rights that may protect the witness; and we shall also ask whether the agencies, to discharge their governmental duties, truly …

Federal Agency Investigations: Requirements For The Production Of Documents, Frank E. Cooper

Michigan Law Review

The United States district courts are frequently called upon to decide whether an administrative agency is entitled to enforcement of a subpoena requesting production of documentary evidence which the person to whom the subpoena is addressed assails as an unnecessary and improper inquisitorial investigation.

Neither the statute nor the decision-landmarks though they both are-offers a convenient rule of thumb to guide the district courts in the intensely difficult problems posed by requests for enforcement of administrative subpoenas.

However, an examination of the decisions passing upon such requests does disclose the standards by which the courts apply the three classic tests, …

Criminal Procedure - Search And Seizure - Federal Court Injunction Against State Officer To Suppress Illegally Obtained Evidence In State Court, S. Anthony Benton

Michigan Law Review

Federal customs enforcement officers suspected plaintiff of theft from a waterfront pier. In the course of their investigation they searched plaintiff's home without a search warrant and detained plaintiff for questioning without first bringing him before a federal commissioner. Both acts violated the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. Defendant, a state officer, although not a participant in the search, was present during the illegal detention at the invitation of the federal officers. Plaintiff obtained an order in federal district court enjoining defendant from giving any testimony or producing any evidence in state criminal proceedings against him with respect to property …

Evidence- Hearsay-Scope Of Federal Rule 43(A), David K. Kroll S. Ed

Michigan Law Review

The clocktower of plaintiff county's courthouse buckled and collapsed into the courtroom below. Charred timbers were found in the wreckage. Several residents reported that they saw lightning strike the tower five days before the collapse. Plaintiff carried insurance for loss by fire or lightning, and sued the insurers when they denied liability. Defendant claimed that the tower collapsed of its own weight because of faulty design, deterioration, and overloading. To account for the charred timbers defendant introduced into evidence a fifty-eight-year-old newspaper article from the files of the city newspaper describing a fire in the courthouse during its construction. The …

Evidence--Attorney-Client Privilege -- Identiy Of Client Held Privileged, Michael M. Hughes

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner attorney was retained by an organization of fruit merchants to investigate parking conditions on the New York piers which prevented its members from attending the daily fruit auctions, and to take steps to remedy this situation. During his investigations petitioner learned from one of his employers that two local politicians were being paid to allow certain large trailer trucks to continue parking illegally on the piers. The attorney reported this information to city officials. He was subsequently subpoenaed to testify on the matter before respondent, New York City Commissioner of Investigation, who was conducting an inquiry into waterfront conditions. …

Constitutional Law - Persons Entitled To Raise Constitutional Questions - Standing To Suppress Evidence Obtained In Violation Of The Fourth Amendment, William R. Nicholas

Michigan Law Review

Federal officers arrested petitioner upon finding narcotics in an awning outside the window of E's apartment which petitioner was using as "a friend" of E. Charged with possession of contraband narcotics, petitioner moved to suppress the evidence claiming the warrant to search the apartment was issued to the officers without probable cause. The district court denied petitioner's motion on the ground that he lacked standing to make it. At trial a renewed motion to suppress was denied, and on appeal the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia affirmed the ruling of the district court. On certiorari …

Labor Law - Arbitration - Restriction Of Judicial Intervention Into The Arbitration Process, James J. White

Michigan Law Review

Respondent company laid off a number of employees as a result of its decision to contract out maintenance work formerly done in the company shop. After the grievance procedure failed to resolve petitioner union's claim that this violated the contract provision against lockouts, and the company refused the union's request for arbitration, the union sought specific performance of the promise to arbitrate contained in the collective bargaining contract. In dismissing the plea, the district court found that contracting out work was solely a function of management and therefore not arbitrable because the contract specifically excluded from arbitration "matters which are …

Constitutional Law- Due Process- Conviction Without Evidence Of Guilt, Donald A. Slichter

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner was convicted in the Police Court of Louisville, Kentucky, of two offenses. After seeing petitioner "dancing by himself" on the dance floor, the police charged him with loitering; when he became argumentative about this arrest, he was also charged with disorderly conduct. Although he protested that he had come into the restaurant where he was arrested to "wait on a bus" and have a meal, he was nevertheless taken into custody. At the trial the arresting officer testified that the manager had told him that petitioner had been there "a little over a half hour and that he had …

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. …

Evidence - Rules Of Evidence In Disbarment, Habeas Corpus, And Grand Jury Proceedings, Paul S. Gerding S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

It is the purpose of this comment to examine three common-law proceedings in which rules of evidence are generally not governed by statute, to determine whether the liberalism expressed in administrative hearings has extended to non-statutory areas. Specifically, to what extent have the exclusionary rules of evidence, which rest on the theory of preventing the jury from being misled (the "jury theory"), been abandoned in disbarment, habeas corpus, and grand jury proceedings?

Evidence - Rules Of Evidence In Disbarment, Habeas Corpus, And Grand Jury Proceedings, Paul S. Gerding S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

It is the purpose of this comment to examine three common-law proceedings in which rules of evidence are generally not governed by statute, to determine whether the liberalism expressed in administrative hearings has extended to non-statutory areas. Specifically, to what extent have the exclusionary rules of evidence, which rest on the theory of preventing the jury from being misled (the "jury theory"), been abandoned in disbarment, habeas corpus, and grand jury proceedings?

Search And Seizure - Suppression Of Evidence - Judicial Attitude Toward Enforcement, John B. Waite

Michigan Law Review

The "numbers game" is today the most profitable of the wide-spread gambling rackets. And like all organized gambling it is a focal source and the financial support of far more serious crimes. At the same time it is one of the most difficult forms of crime for the police to control. It needs no costly installations which the police can confiscate or destroy. Unlike "house" gambling it cannot practically be harassed out of business. It can be operated by one man alone, if he survives failure to pay off for lack of capital; or by a syndicate with capital enough …

The Civil Investigative Demand: New Fact-Finding Powers For The Antitrust Division, Richard L. Perry, William Simon

Michigan Law Review

The complexity, scope and length of modem antitrust litigation bring to prominence the procedures by which evidence - particularly documentary evidence - is discovered and placed before the courts and administrative agencies. Fact-finding mechanisms now available for ferreting out and prosecuting violations make up an imposing array. These include the grand jury subpoena, the discovery provisions of the Federal Rules of Civil and Criminal Procedure and the subpoena and visitorial powers of certain administrative agencies. The "civil investigative demand," a precomplaint compulsory process, is a new weapon proposed to be added to this arsenal. Few dispute the desirability of new …

Eminent Domain - Procedure - Relation Of Judge And Jury In Michigan Condemnation Proceedings, John H. Jackson S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The relationship of judge to jury in Michigan condemnation proceedings presents in many ways a merger of some of the problems and questions contained in the relationship of judge to jury in civil trials, and of court to tribunal in administrative law. Theorists as well as the practicing lawyer in Michigan and some other states" may well find in the development of the Michigan condemnation proceeding an interesting example of the growth of a procedure for adjudication, in a context of cross-fire between legislative ideas and judicial interpretation of a constitutional provision.

Mental Illness And The Law Of Contracts, Robert M. Brucken S.Ed., David L. Genger S.Ed., Denis T. Rice S.Ed., Mark Shaevsky S.Ed., William R. Slye S.Ed., Robert P. Volpe S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The traditional and most important problem relative to mental illness and the contract is the situation created when mental illness exists at the time of agreement (the problem of contractual capacity). One principal result of mental illness at this time may be the avoidance of the contract by the mentally ill person. Since case law in this area is extensive, the major portion of the study is concerned with this problem (parts II, III and IV) and the effects of such incapacity throughout the remaining course of the contract. Mental illness occurring after agreement and at the time of performance …

Evidence - Character Testimony - Impeachment Through Reference To Prior Specific Acts Of Defendant, Lawrence E. Blades S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Defendant, on trial for arson, presented a character witness who testified that defendant's reputation in the community was good. During cross-examination the prosecutor asked if the witness had heard that defendant had been arrested for or convicted of various specific crimes in other states. No objection was made by the defense, and the trial judge took no action. The witness answered no to each question, and subsequently a jury verdict of guilty was returned. On appeal, held, reversed and remanded, three judges dissenting. Failure of the trial judge, before allowing such cross-examination, to ascertain on his own motion and …

Constitutional Law - Search And Seizure - Admissibility In A Federal Court Of Evidence Illegally Obtained By State Officers, Robert J. Paley

Michigan Law Review

In response to a call from a citizen whose suspicions had been aroused by the actions of the defendant and a companion, Maryland police unlawfully arrested the companion and searched the premises occupied by him and the defendant. & a result of this search, money was found which had been stolen in the District of Columbia. Although the search was illegal under Maryland law and in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, this money was used as evidence to convict the defendant of housebreaking and larceny in the District of Columbia federal court. On appeal, held, conviction reversed and remanded …

Labor Law - Evidence- Production Of Pre-Trial Statements For Purpose Of Cross-Examination In Nlrb Proceeding, Bruce L. Bower

Michigan Law Review

Respondent was accused of unfair labor practices. At the hearing before the trial examiner, respondent requested pre-trial statements of the general counsel's witnesses who testified, for the purpose of impeaching their credibility on cross-examination. The trial examiner's refusal was upheld by the NLRB. Upon motion to reopen the record, held, the record is reopened and further proceedings are to be held before the trial examiner. The holding of Jencks v. United States applies to NLRB proceedings; hence respondent has the right for cross-examination purposes to production of pre-trial statements made by the general counsel's witnesses which directly relate to …

Scientific Investigation And Defendants' Rights, B. J. George Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Advances in science, medicine and industry have made much of the world a more pleasant place in which to live. In general more men are living a physically more satisfying life in more comfortable surroundings than preceding generations. But with this has come a parallel increase in criminality to the point that the term "crime wave" is heard with increasing frequency. Many crimes are facilitated in their commission by adaption or application of new scientific discoveries by criminal elements. A natural consequence is that already overburdened police departments turn as quickly as is financially possible to new scientific techniques in …

Negligence - Last Clear Chance - Evidence Insufficient As A Matter Of Law, Theodore G. Koerner

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, having fallen asleep at night at the side of a narrow dirt road, was run over by defendant's automobile. He alleged that defendant was negligent in operating a vehicle at an excessive speed without proper lights. Defendant pleaded that plaintiff was contributorily negligent by being asleep in the road, and plaintiff then replied that defendant had the last clear chance to avoid the injury. On appeal from a judgment of involuntary nonsuit, held, affirmed, three justices dissenting. The plaintiff, by falling asleep at the side or in the middle of the road, was contributorily negligent as a matter …

Civil Procedure - Pre-Trial Discovery - Disclosure Of Amount Of Defendant's Liability Insurance, David L. Genger

Michigan Law Review

In an action arising out of a highway collision, plaintiff sought disclosure of the amount of defendant's liability insurance in a pre-trial discovery proceeding. The defendant was adjudged to be in default for his refusal to disclose this information. On a writ of certiorari, held, the order of the trial court is quashed. Only matters which can actually be admitted and used as evidence or matters which might lead to the finding of such evidence are proper subjects of discovery under the Florida rule. The amount of defendant's insurance is not relevant to the litigation since it will accomplish …

Criminal Law - Evidence - Wiretapping, James A. Park

Michigan Law Review

Suspecting that petitioner and others were violating state narcotics laws, New York police tapped petitioner's telephone pursuant to a warrant obtained in accordance with New York law. Acting upon information thus gained the police apprehended petitioner's brother. In his possession was found, not the narcotics as suspected, but alcohol without the tax stamps required by federal law. This evidence was turned over to federal authorities. Prosecution for possessing and transporting distilled spirits without tax stamps thereon followed, during which petitioner's motion to suppress the evidence obtained through the wiretap was denied. The Second Circuit affirmed the conviction, holding that although …