Legal Remedies Commons^™

Municipal Liability For Exemplary Damages, David H. Hines

Cleveland State Law Review

Although the law is not altogether free from doubt on the subject of municipal liability for exemplary damages, it is a settled principle that exemplary damages may not be recovered against a municipal corporation, nor a state, in the absence of statutory authority.

Judgment Against Insured Is Conclusive Proof Of Amount Of Claim Against Dissolved Insurer- Commonwealth Ex Rel. Woodside V. Seaboard Mut. Cas. Co., Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiffs, injured in an automobile accident, brought suits against an insured taxicab company. Before the case came to trial, the insurance commissioner found the insurer insolvent. In a separate proceeding he obtained a court order dissolving the insurer, enjoining the prosecution of any legal action against the insurer's assets, and providing for the filing of proof of claims with the insurance commissioner. The insurer's attorney, who had entered an appearance on behalf of the taxicab company, withdrew, and in an undefended action the plaintiffs recovered judgments against the cab company totalling nineteen thousand dollars. Unable to obtain execution on these …

Federal Law Held To Govern Effect Of The Release Of A Joint Tortfeasor In Private Antitrust Suit-Winchester Drive-In Theatre, Inc. V. Twentieth Century Fox Film Co., Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Private antitrust litigation occasionally raises the question of whether state or federal law should be applied to determine the effect of the release of a joint tortfeasor. When federal law is applied, as it was in Winchester Drive-In Theatre, Inc. v. Twentieth Century-Fox Film Co., there remains the necessity of formulating a rule of federal law, since there appears to be no established federal rule governing releases in antitrust suits.

Punitive Damage Liabality Of Municipal Corporations

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Report Of The Osgoode Hall Study On Compensation For Victims Of Automobile Accidents, Allen M. Linden

Books

The Osgoode Hall Study was aimed at filling the factual lacuna which prevented an informed assessment of the Ontario system of compensating automobile accident victims. Those in charge of the study set out to collect and analyze statistical data which would illuminate the strength and weaknesses of the present system of loss distribution. A survey was designed which would discover the financial costs incurred by injured individuals and whether they were uncompensated, undercompensated or overcompensated for these costs. The project further aimed at describing the interrelation of the tort, private loss insurance and government reparation schemes, the role of lawyers …

The Economic Treatment Of Automobile Injuries, Alfred F. Conard

Michigan Law Review

The automobile has changed more than Americans' ways of transportation. It has changed their ways of housing, of working and playing, of eating, living, and loving. It has also added to their ways of suffering and dying.

The suffering and dying have called forth two kinds of treatment. The better recognized kind is medical treatment, which staves off death and minimizes pain and disability among the living. The less recognized kind of treatment is economic-the restoration to the injury victim or to his dependents of some part of the economic wellbeing that has been snatched away from them by loss …

Latin-American Land Reform: The Uses Of Confiscation, Kenneth L. Karst

Michigan Law Review

This article examines the legislative techniques for taking land, showing their confiscatory operation. For many lawyers, the analysis would then be easily completed: confiscation is wrongful and must be condemned. Rejecting the implicit absolutism of that conclusion, this article inquires into the justifications that can be pleaded on behalf of selective confiscation as an aid in solving some of Latin America's economic and social ills.

Federal Civil Procedure-Existence Of Federal Cause Of Action For Abuse Of Federal Process, Laurence D. Connor

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner was served with a subpoena ordering him to appear before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. He subsequently brought an action in federal district court asking for damages and injunctive relief and praying that the subpoena be declared void and of no effect. He alleged it had been signed in blank by the Committee chairman and that respondent, an investigator for the Committee without delegated subpoena power, had filled in petitioner's name without authorization and caused it to be served on him at his place of employment. Petitioner also alleged that respondent intended to subject him to public shame …

Torts-Joint Tort-Feasors--Release Of One Not Release Of All, Karen M. Swift

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a woman who had been struck by a taxicab, underwent treatment by defendant-physician. After eight months under defendant's care, she accepted his assurances that she would fully recover, and executed a general release in favor of the taxi driver. Plaintiff subsequently discovered, however, that the defendant had been negligent in his treatment of her both before and after the execution of the release. In a malpractice action before the Supreme Court of New York judgment was entered in favor of the plaintiff, and defendant appealed. The Appellate Division dismissed the original complaint, holding that the general release discharging the …

Soviet Tort Law: The New Principles Annotated, Whitmore Gray

Articles

In 1961, the federal legislature, the USSR Supreme Soviet, finally adopted a skeleton code of fundamental principles of civil law.10 This recodification, which incorporates 40 years of case law and doctrinal development as well as some major innovations, will be the basis for individual civil codes to be adopted in each of the 15 union republics. While there may be some slight modifications, and certainly some variety in the degree of additional detail included in the individual codes by each republic,11 these Principles present already a fairly comprehensive picture of the shape of the future law. They are about as …

Radiation Injuries And Time Limitations In Workmen's Compensation Cases, Samuel D. Estep, Walter R. Allan

Michigan Law Review

The increasing use of radioactive materials and radiation-producing devices in industry and elsewhere makes it clear that injuries from exposure to radiation must be anticipated. It becomes relevant, therefore, to inquire into the extent to which the present workmen's compensation statutes will be able to cope with the injuries which may arise from the use of this new source of energy.

Advocating The Rights Of The Injured, Benjamin Marcus

Michigan Law Review

When workmen's compensation was first introduced a half century ago, it was felt necessary to cushion the shock in a number of ways. One of these was the idea of a bargain, an exchange, in which the worker, to obtain the new remedy based on liability without fault, gave up his existing remedy, the right to a tort action against his employer for a negligent injury. It is time that the terms of that bargain be re-examined.

Longshoreman-Shipowner-Stevedore: The Circle Of Liability, Harney B. Stover, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

It is universally recognized that in the past two decades the United States Supreme Court has substantially revised the law under which seamen, longshoremen and harbor workers (or their survivors) may recover damages for personal injury and death. One of the more recent and most authoritative texts in the field of admiralty and maritime law devotes an entire chapter, 147 pages in length, to the subject of the rights of seamen and maritime workers (or their survivors) of recovery for injury and death. The introduction to that chapter likens the Court's rewriting of the law in this field to a …

Equitable Protection By Injunction For Business Reputation

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Civil Aeronautics Act-Discrimination-Private Cause Of Action For Punitive Damages, L. B. Hirsch

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff held a reconfirmed tourist reservation on one of defendant's St. Louis-to-Los Angeles flights. Defendant oversold the flight and subsequently "bumped" the plaintiff from the flight in favor of a first-class passenger who was given plaintiff's accommodations in the tourist section. Defendant's agent booked a reservation for the plaintiff aboard another airline and provided plaintiff with lunch. The only expense incurred by the plaintiff as a result of being removed from defendant's flight was the cost of a telephone call to inform his wife of his new arrival time; and plaintiff was inconvenienced by a delay of four hours on …

Torts-Libel-Constitutionality Of Retraction Statute Eliminating General Damages Recovery, John W. Galanis

Michigan Law Review

Following publication of allegedly libelous statements made by defendants during a televised news broadcast, plaintiff commenced an action to recover damages. Defendants' motion to strike the allegations of general and punitive damages was granted by the trial court since the complaint did not allege that defendants intended to defame plaintiff, or that defendants refused to publish a requested retraction of a non-intentional libel, both of which are conditions precedent to recovery of such damages under the Oregon statute. Plaintiff failed to plead further and judgment was entered for defendants. On appeal to the Oregon Supreme Court, held, affirmed. The …

The Casual Relation Issue In Negligence Law, Leon Green

Michigan Law Review

Two significant legal studies of "Causation"-one English, one American-have been recently published. The English book brings to the subject more scholarly learning and a more comprehensive examination of its literature than any other book that has been written. The authors are devoted disciples of causation principles and make a stout defense of the causation concept as the structural core of negligence law. They examine the philosophical, common sense and semantic backgrounds of causal concepts as the basis of legal liability, find that they have merit, and launch extended, and sometimes devastating, attack upon theories that question their adequacy, though in …

Damages-Pain And Suffering-Use Of A Mathematical Formula, Thomas D. Heekin S .Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Measurement of damages for pain and suffering is, in a sense, an attempt to measure the unmeasurable; yet as long as our law recognizes a right to recover for pain and suffering, the jury or judge must arrive at some concrete figure. The traditional approach of simply instructing the jury that they should arrive at a reasonable amount provides little, if any, guidance. The question is whether this approach, nevertheless, remains the best of a bad lot of alternatives. If more guidance is desirable, what can be accomplished within the framework of our present system? The mathematical formula discussed in …

Insurance Law - Recovery - Action For Wrongful Refusal To Settle Claim Precluded By Bankruptcy Of Insured, James A. Mcdermott

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff, as trustee in bankruptcy of the insured, sued the defendant insurer to recover damages resulting from a judgment entered against the insured in a personal injury suit. This judgment subjected the insured to a liability of 89,000 dollars in excess of the 10,000 dollar automobile liability_ coverage carried with the insurer. The insurer, pursuant to its policy, had undertaken the insured's defense and had failed, allegedly in bad faith, to settle the suit for an amount within the limits of its coverage. Before judgment was entered in the personal injury suit the insured was insolvent; six months following …

Exemplary Damages And Joint Tortfeasors The

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Measure Of Damages For Wrongful Death Of A Minor Child

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Recent Hearing Damage Awards, Denis M. Burgoon

Cleveland State Law Review

Acoustic trauma and direct injury to the mechanism of hearing are the compensable personal injuries delineated here. As hearing loss has, in all but a few cases, been a minor part of the injury sustained, it is not possible to determine the value of loss of hearing alone. It would appear that partial loss of hearing, either permanent or temporary, is not considered very disabling. $56,000 seems to be the highest award for total loss of hearing with no other injury reported, while $3,500 is the lowest award found for partial loss of hearing. As the cases generally involve various …

Recent Back Damage Awards, Carl H. Miller

Cleveland State Law Review

Injuries to the human back have long perplexed the legal world. This is especially true of the soft tissue area of the back, where objective medical tests give way to the vagueness of a "sprained" muscle, and the court finds itself torn between the desire to adequately compensate an injured plaintiff and the caution that must prevail where objective tests are inadequate. Generally speaking, we will be concerned with that portion of the back that is not skeletal in nature,and though the interaction of the spine with the muscular structure permits little latitude in separating them, we will do so …

Recent Spine Damage Awards, Sheldon E. Baskin

Cleveland State Law Review

Spinal injuries generally include trauma to the vertebrae, the intervertebral discs and the ligaments which serve to hold the spinal column together. For the purpose of avoiding duplication this paper will confine itself to the subjects of fractures and dislocations of the vertebrae, injuries to the discs and direct injuries to the spinal cord, excluding discussion of soft tissue back injuries and injuries of the cervical or neck area generally referred to as whiplash injuries.

Recent Arm And Hand Damage Awards, Robert M. Hisnay

Cleveland State Law Review

The ever-present question to be answered in personal injury cases, other than liability of course, is the measure of damages to which the plaintiff is entitled. Where the plaintiff has been left with a permanent total, or permanent partial disability, such disability must be properly evaluated and transformed into an element of a money award for damages in order that adequate compensation will be received by the injured party. The problem of evaluating a permanent disability of the arm or hand is as medically complex as the multiplicity of functions which the member performs.

Recent Leg Damage Awards, Doris Hauth

Cleveland State Law Review

Injuries to the leg include fractures of the various bones of the leg (tibia, femur and fibula), fractures of the foot, ankle, knee or hip, and amputation of one, both, or a part of the leg. This article includes a digest of cases arising in the last five years involving leg injuries. The facts in each case are briefly stated and the damage award specified.

Recent Burn Damage Awards, Frederick F. Waugh

Cleveland State Law Review

In ascertaining damages for thermal injuries, the usual elements present in other types of personal injuries must be considered, such as loss of wages, medical expenses, pain and suffering, loss of future earnings, loss of consortium, etc. Presentation of the evidence to the jury is a paramount factor, which can make every difference in the award granted. Photographs, expert testimony, and the display of the evidence on the victim's body, such as scars, discolorations, lesions and physical impairment, can be used in a dramatic manner.

Recent Whiplash Damage Awards, Esther Weissman

Cleveland State Law Review

In viewing more than 100 recent appellate cases concerning whiplash, one is struck by the lack of any definite standard or pattern of awards.

Death Damages And Conflicts Of Laws, Marvin D. Silver

Cleveland State Law Review

Since the adoption of the Fatal Accidents Act of 1846 in the United Kingdom, each of the fifty United States has created by statute a similar right of action which pertains to the survivors or to the estate of the decedent whose death resulted from the wrongful acts of another. During recent years, fourteen states have incorporated within their wrongful death statutes a maximum limitation on the amount of damages recoverable. These restrictions consistently trouble the courts when a wrongful death occurs in one of these limiting states and the suit is brought elsewhere. However, the courts have, with a …

Recent Head Damage Awards, Eileen Kelley

Cleveland State Law Review

Head trauma is responsible for more litigation than any other single bodily mechanical damage. Belli ranks brain injuries second only to the back and spine in producing permanent and crippling disabilities.