Legal Remedies Commons^™

Road Signs And The Goals Of Justice, Joseph Sanders

Michigan Law Review

Review of Ideals, Beliefs, Attitudes, and the Law: Private Law Perspectives on a Public Law Problem by Guido Calabresi

Apocalypse Now?, Richard L. Marcus

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Agent Orange on Trial: Mass Toxic Disasters in the Courts by Peter H. Schuck

Asbestos And The Dalkon Shield: Corporate America On Trial, Joseph A. Page

Michigan Law Review

A Review of At Any Cost: Corporate Greed, Women, and the Dalkon Shield by Morton Mintz and Outrageous Misconduct: The Asbestos Industry on Trial by Paul Brodeur

Divestiture As A Remedy In Private Actions Brought Under Section 16 Of The Clayton Act, Paul V. Timmins

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that private parties should be permitted to bring suits for divestiture under section 16 of the Clayton Act. Part I analyzes the language of section 16 and the relevant legislative history of the Clayton Act and concludes that Congress did not intend to limit the injunctive relief available to private parties. Part II argues that courts should be free to exercise their broad equity powers to grant the most appropriate and effective relief, including divestiture, to an injured plaintiff. Finally, Part III contends that policy considerations disfavor omitting divestiture from the types of equitable remedies that a …

Privity Revisited: Tort Recovery By A Commercial Buyer For A Defective Product's Self-Inflicted Damage, Mark A. Kaprelian

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that if a seller and a commercial buyer are in privity, damage to a product resulting from its own defect should not be recoverable by a commercial buyer in a tort action. Part I shows how the conflict arises and examines the judicial boundaries that are normally drawn between tort and warranty liability. Part II contrasts the rationales for the warranty and tort remedies, with particular emphasis on the Uniform Commercial Code and Section 402A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts. Part III argues that if a seller and a commercial buyer are in privity and …

Heartbalm Statutes And Deceit Actions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note considers whether actions in deceit based on fraudulent marriage promises should be deemed barred by the heartbalm statutes. It determines that they should not. Part I examines the policies and arguments against the common law breach of promise to marry action that are embodied in the heartbalm statutes and looks at the limits courts have placed on the reach of the statutes. Part II re-examines the deceit action in light of the purposes of the heartbalm acts and their intended scope, as well as in light of criticism of the action by the courts and commentators. In particular, …

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 …

The Efficiency Of Specific Performance: Toward A Unified Theory Of Contract Remedies, Thomas S. Ulen

Michigan Law Review

The purpose of this essay is to begin the development of an integrated theory of contract remedies by delineating the circumstances under which courts should simply enforce a stipulated remedy clause or grant relief to the innocent party in the form of damages or specific performance. The conclusion, in brief, is that in the absence of stipulated remedies in the contract that survive scrutiny on the usual formation defenses, specific performance is more likely than any form of money damages to achieve efficiency in the exchange and breach of reciprocal promises. If specific performance is the routine remedy for breach, …

Redefining The "Cost Of Suit" Under Section Four Of The Clayton Act, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note explores the possible interpretations of the "cost of suit" provision and the policies which it implicates. It concludes that the Copper Liquor interpretation best advances the goals of the antitrust laws set forth by Congress and the courts. Part I examines the development of the present controversy among the circuits. Part II analyzes and refutes the arguments which have been set forth in support of the traditional rule. Part III explores the policy considerations which underlie private treble damage actions and concludes that the Copper Liquor interpretation of the "cost of suit" provision serves them better than does …

Where The Money Is: Remedies To Finance Compliance With Strict Structural Injunctions, James M. Hirschhorn

Michigan Law Review

This Article examines the formal powers that are available to the federal courts to meet this situation. Part I places the problem in perspective, describing the party structure of the institutional reform decree, the :financial burdens it places on the government defendants, and the relationship of these defendants to the fiscal authorities. Part II surveys the coercive powers historically available to the federal courts sitting in equity. Part III discusses the use of these devices against government defendants who claim financial impossibility. It emphasizes the limited recognition of impossibility, the power to compel the defendants to use available resources efficiently …

Civil Enforcement Of Eec Antitrust Law, Francis G. Jacobs

Michigan Law Review

This paper examines whether and to what extent private civil remedies are, as a matter of law, and ought to be, as a matter of policy, available in the courts of the EEC Member States for breach of the antitrust provisions of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (the Treaty of Rome). These questions are addressed in Part I. Part II sets the issues in the broader context of the enforcement of the Treaty obligations of Member States. In this way, it is hoped to elucidate the relationship between national law and Community law, and also indirectly to illuminate …

Res Judicata And Multi-State Integration, Lea Brilmayer

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Civil Judgment Recognition and the Integration of Multiple-State Associations: Central America, the United States of America, and the European Economic Community by Robert C. Casad

Class Actions For Punitive Damages, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that a Rule 23 class action offers the best way to manage multiple actions for punitive damages. It begins by examining the policy underlying punitive damages and the plaintiffs interest in recovering them. It then explains why a limited fund is created when courts deny punitive damage recovery as a matter of law or when punitive claims exceed defendant's assets. The Note contends that a Rule 23(b)(l)(B) class action provides the best means to manage this limited fund and reviews the circumstances in which a district court may properly certify a class action for punitive damages. It …

Claim Requirements Of The Federal Tort Claims Act: Minimal Notice Or Substantial Documentation?, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note finds both the Adams and Swift positions unsatisfactory. Part I contends that Adams misconstrued the legislative history of the FTCA amendments by applying a minimal notice standard and then argues that Swift contravenes the amendments' fairness policy by permitting ambiguous, overreaching documentation requests. Part II contends that courts should interpret section 2675's "presented the claim" language as an accommodation between two competing Congressional objectives: presuit claims settlement and fair treatment of claimants. The Note proposes that until the Department of Justice modifies its current claims regulations, courts should toll the statute of limitations whenever an individual's claim includes …

Controlling Jury Damage Awards In Private Antitrust Suits, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note takes the position that the courts should better control jury manipulation in private antitrust actions. Part One suggests that manipulation is likely in such actions, and argues that this manipulation off ends the legislative judgment reflected in the trebling provision without leading to more equitable results. Part Two presents two complementary proposals to control jury manipulation of treble damage awards. These proposals aim to induce the jury to return accurate awards based on the economic loss actually suffered by the plaintiff.

The Taming Of A Duty--The Tort Liability Of Landlords, Olin L. Browder

Michigan Law Review

For one inclined to reform the first-year curriculum in law schools the most simple and comprehensive solution is to expand the treatment of the law on landlord and tenant, and only then break up into the traditional basic subjects to deal with matters not previously covered. Thereby one could embrace all the traditional first-year subjects except Criminal Law, and a good deal more as well.

The other side of this conceit is that one who approaches the modem law of landlord and tenant from traditional property perspectives encounters particular problems that arise from the margins, or along the frontal thrust, …

Awarding Attorneys' Fees To Prevailing Pro Se Litigants, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note examines- the propriety of awarding attorneys' fees to prevailing pro se litigants in the federal courts. It focuses on the four major statutes under which almost all pro se cases have been filed: the Freedom of Information Act of 1974 (FOIA), the Privacy Act of 1974 (Privacy Act), the Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Awards Act of 1976 (CRAFAA), and the Truth in Lending Act (TILA). In so doing, it will attempt to devise common principles that can be applied to most requests for pro se attorneys' fees. Part I looks first to the statutes' language and legislative histories …

Refunding Overcharges Under The Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act: The Evolution Of A Compensatory Obligation, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The DOE's authority to order noncompensatory remedies has been seriously questioned. This Note will evaluate the propriety of such remedies in light of the history of petroleum price control enforcement. Although the DOE's enabling legislation does not explicitly impose a compensatory obligation, the Note finds that Congress anticipated that remedies would compensate, to the extent feasible, those persons actually overcharged. Part I traces the development of a compensatory obligation through the various stages of price regulation. Part II criticizes the DOE for abnegating that obligation. The Note concludes that the Department's recent consent orders violate both its own rules and …

Restitution And Reform, Dale A. Oesterle

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Restitution and Reform by George E. Palmer

The Lawsuit Lottery: Only The Lawyers Win, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Book Notice about The Lawsuit Lottery: Only the Lawyers Win by Jeffrey O'Connell

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 …

Probability Theory Meets Res Ipsa Loquitur, David Kaye

Michigan Law Review

This Article uses probability theory normatively in an effort to clarify one aspect of the famous tort doctrine known as res ipsa loquitur. It does not urge that jurors be instructed in probability theory or be equipped with microprocessors. Rather, it seeks an accurate statement of the res ipsa doctrine in ordinary language. In particular, this Article will show that the conventional formulation of the doctrine is misleading at best, and should be replaced with a more careful statement of the conditions warranting the res ipsa inference. To this end, Section I briefly surveys the legal doctrine, or, more precisely, …

Mutuality Of Estoppel: A Question, Stephen Millman, David Gruber

Michigan Law Review

A recent Note, "A Probabilistic Analysis of the Doctrine of Mutuality of Collateral Estoppel, " made excellent use of elementary probability theory to demonstrate the extent to which relaxation of the mutuality requirement will increase the damages suffered by a defendant subject to multiple suits in which there is common issue (or correspondingly, will decrease the total recovery of a plaintiff who has several suits litigating a common issue against different defendants). Although the author made a number of useful points concerning the case law and the arguments advanced by proponents on each side of the controversy, the central thesis …

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 …

Punitive Surcharges Against Disloyal Fiduciaries--Is Rothko Right?, Richard V. Wellman

Michigan Law Review

This Article criticizes the award of a penalty surcharge in the name of appreciation damages. Contrary to the statements in the Rothko opinions, neither precedent nor treatises offers clear support for the shocking awards made against Rothko's disloyal executors. Furthermore, even if appreciation damages were to be viewed, against the thesis here advanced, as an appropriate remedy for some kinds of fiduciary breach, the measure is inappropriate for cases which, like Rothko, involve hidden conflicts of interest. This is so because the threat of severe penalties in hidden-conflict cases adds unacceptable legal costs to honest administrations-costs that cannot be …

Implication Of Civil Remedies Under The Indian Civil Rights Act, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note will discuss neither -the wisdom of the express provisions of ICRA nor the desirability of express creation by Congress of a federal civil remedy. The purpose of this Note is, instead, to analyze the bases upon which remedies have been implied by federal courts and to question whether implication is consistent with standards of statutory interpretation appropriate for Indian law. It is contended that the implication of federal civil remedies against Indian governments is improper and that if such remedies are to be created, precedent and policy mandate that they be the product of Congress. The Note will …

Punitive Damages In Products Liability Litigation, David G. Owen

Michigan Law Review

This article will first explore the doctrine of punitive damages and its compatibility with the theories of products liability. The functions of punitive damages and their applicability in the products liability context will then be examined, with particular consideration given to the three complicating factors raised by Judge Friendly in Roginsky. In the following section attention will focus on the various contexts in which manufacturer misconduct has arisen in the reported decisions and a number of unreported cases that have involved this issue. Finally, guidelines will be developed from these cases for determining the appropriateness of punitive damages awards …

Deterring Misuse Of Confidential Government Information: A Proposed Citizens' Action, Joseph J. Kalo

Michigan Law Review

Part I of this article offers two examples-predicated on historical fact-that illustrate the possible adverse consequences of disclosure of confidential government information. Part I also examines present statutory and regulatory safeguards against such disclosure and analyzes their effect. Part II sets forth a proposal for reducing the possibility that confidential government information will be improperly used and for recouping government losses by means of a citizens' action. when it is so used.

Compensation For Pain: A Reappraisal In Light Of New Medical Evidence, Cornelius J. Peck

Michigan Law Review

The theory that a primary causal link exists between the victim's pain and the tortfeasor's acts provides considerable appeal for the proposition that the wrongdoer should compensate for the victim's pain. However, recent investigations of the phenomenon of pain by disciplines of the health sciences have challenged the medical theory upon which recoveries for pain and suffering are based. The results of that work are of obvious interest to the legal profession, for the new view of pain suggests that the tortfeasor's acts bear only a tangential relationship to the pain that some victims experience. The results thus raise questions …

Enforcement Of Money Judgments In Early American History, Stefan A. Riesenfeld

Michigan Law Review

The history of the enforcement of money judgments in the United States during the colonial period and the early days of statehood has never been explored in depth. The only modern account is the brief discussion in R. Millar's Civil Procedure of the Trial Court in Historical Perspective. Yet, in view of the recent and long overdue concern with the protection of debtors against unnecessarily harsh and oppressive direct collection remedies, a study of the early efforts designed to shield debtors from excessive and wasteful deprivations of their property is not without interest, especially as the record is rich …