Litigation Commons^™

Design Defect Litigation Revisited, James A. Henderson Jr.

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Judicial Review Of Manufacturers' Conscious Design Choices: The Limits Of Adjudication, James A. Henderson Jr.

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Legal Issues Relating To Electroconvulsive Therapy, H. Richard Beresford

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

A survey of 54 psychiatric units disclosed that 49 (91%) were using electroconvulsive (ECT), principally for major depressive illnesses. During the five-year period 1964 to 1968, fractures and other complications of ECT were uncommon. Sudden death was reported in seven cases. During this period, none of the respondents or their affiliated physicians had been involved in lawsuits relating to the use of ECT. In general, suits for injuries occasioned by the use of ECT seem to be declining. Possible remaining problem areas are the performance of ECT without the prior consent of the patient; the failure to have facilities and …

Strict Liability Unmasked: The Applicable Statute Of Limitations

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Medical Demonstrative Evidence, Albert Averbach

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Trademarks-Successful Plaintiffs In Trademark Infringement Actions Under The Lanham Act May Not Recover Attorney's Fees-Maier Brewing Co. V. Fleischmann Distilling Corp., Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

In an action for trademark infringement under the Lanham Act and for unfair competition, the District Court enjoined the defendant company from further use of the trademark and awarded the plaintiff $60,000 in attorney's fees. On appeal, held, reversed in part. The issuance of the injunction was upheld but the court declared that attorney's fees are not recoverable in trademark infringement cases prosecuted under the Lanham Act since Congress had not expressly provided for such awards.

How To Try A Personal Injury Case, James Dooley

Cleveland State Law Review

Proper presentation of a case in court is dependent upon proper preparation. Proper presentation means an intimate knowledge of the facts, the parties, possible witnesses, and, o fcourse, the governing legal principles. Indeed, proper preparation means far more than knowledge. It embraces true compre-hension. Before an advocate can present his client's cause or meet his adversary on equal terms, he himself must completely understand the problem. Clear expression of an idea is impossible without a clear understanding of it.

Punitive Damages: Punishment Of An Insured Defendant?, Carroway V. Johnson, Kenneth Lasson

All Faculty Scholarship

The plaintiff sued the defendant for injuries sustained in an automobile collision and was awarded a judgment in the amount of $5,000 actual damages and $1,500 punitive damages. The defendant's insurance company had refused to defend her in that action or to pay the judgment obtained, relying upon an employee exclusion clause in the policy. The plaintiff thereupon sued the defendant on the judgment, this time joining the insurer as a co-defendant, and won a verdict to recover against the insurer the aforesaid amount. The insurance company appealed, questioning its liability for punitive damages.

The Victim's Fault In Wrongful Death Actions In French Law, Wencelas J. Wagner

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Concurrent Causation In Insurance Contracts, William Conant Brewer Jr.

Michigan Law Review

A great deal of work and thought has been devoted to concurrent causation problems in the field of torts. Less attention has been paid to the insurance cases, and no serious effort has been made to formulate the separate rules applicable to them. It is the thesis of this article that concurrent causation problems which arise under an insurance contract must be handled somewhat differently from those which arise in connection with tort litigation, and that the tendency to borrow rules of law from the larger tort field and apply them to the smaller volume of insurance cases can only …

Fair Dealing In Personal Injury Cases, Philip J. Hermann

Cleveland State Law Review

It is submitted that where there is fair dealing on the part of plaintiff's attorney and insurance company, a great deal of needless expense to both will have been eliminated enabling insurance companies to handle their claims and lawsuits with fewer personnel and smaller defense fees. And plaintiff's attorneys on their part, will be able to bring to conclusion more work during the course of a year; and where a staff is required, they will be able to operate with fewer personnel. The result to the plaintiff's attorney will be an increase in net income and perhaps more time for …

Admission Of Liability, Richard H. Burgess

Cleveland State Law Review

There is a great amount of resistance to the admission of liability when the slightest defense is available. Many defendants' attorneys would prefer to take the long chance of hoping for an unexpected verdict rather than admit fault and leave only the issue of damages to the jury. Surprisingly, there have actually been cases in which liability was admitted and the jury returned a verdict of no cause of action. Generally speaking, though, an admission of liability will tend to keep the damage award reasonable, but it will take away the slight possibility of an unexpected defendant's verdict.

Radiation Injuries And Statistics: The Need For A New Approach To Injury Litigation, Samuel D. Estep

Michigan Law Review

The emphasis given by the mass media of communication to some of the dramatic problems arising from the use of nuclear energy unfortunately has diverted attention from some of the matters about which something can be done by lawyers, administrators, and legislators without the necessity of complicated international negotiations between various parties to the "Cold War." The headlines leave the uninformed, and perhaps often also the informed, public with the impression that even for radiation injuries the important problems all deal with such questions as: (1) Will only a few or many millions of people survive an all-out nuclear war? …

Appeasement Of Tort Claimants, S. Burns Weston

Cleveland State Law Review

Justice does not always mean that a case should be tried. By the same token, justice does not always mean that every case should be settled without trial. One of our difficulties is that too often there is more interest in the expedient settlement of differences between litigants than in a judicial determination of rights according to principles of law.

Jury Instructions On Tax Exemption In Personal Injury Cases, Edwin Knachel

Cleveland State Law Review

The practical aspects of instructing a jury that the amount of its verdict in a personal injury case is exempt from federal income taxation, of course, relate to the trend of the times. Jury verdicts in personal injury cases throughout the United States have been increasing in amount due to the booming economy of our times and the inflation of the dollar.

Dalehite V. United States: A New Approach To The Federal Tort Claims Act?, Massillon M. Heuser

Vanderbilt Law Review

The decision for the United States in "Dalehite v. United States,"'though by a closely divided Supreme Court, possibly indicates a turning point in litigation involving the construction of the Federal Tort Claims Act. The trend theretofore had been to expand the concept of suability and liability expressed in the Act. In "United States v. Aetna Casualty and Surety Co." the Court had established the right of an insurer-subrogee to sue in its own name on a portion of a claim arising in favor of the insured-subrogor, despite the Anti-Assignment Statute and the obvious procedural and administrative difficulties not dealt with …

Negligence-Duty Of Care-Liability Of State Mental Hospital For Acts Of A Dangerous Patient After Improper Discharge, Edgar A. Strause S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

One Jones, a mental incompetent, was erroneously released as "recovered" from a state hospital for the criminal insane, after having been transferred there because of his dangerous behavior at a state penal institution. Jones' frequent assaultive behavior at the hospital was not reported in his case history upon which the determination of his recovery was partially based, nor was any inquiry made into the motivation for such conduct. Crowded conditions and an inadequate psychiatric staff were responsible for the improper diagnosis of the patient's condition and his ultimate discharge. Four days after his release he killed four persons. The administratrix …

Interstate Publication, William L. Prosser

Michigan Law Review

It is an amazing and a sobering thought that by the utterance of a single ill-considered word a man may today commit forty-nine separate torts, for each of which he may be severally liable, in as many jurisdictions within the continental limits of the United States alone, and without regard to any additional liability he may incur in the possessions and territories and in foreign countries. It calls to mind at once in all solemnity those first words that ever were sent over an interstate wire, and later to the moon. What, indeed, hath God wrought!

Little less astonishing, although …

Negligence-Duty Of Care-Determination Of Plaintiff's Status Under Guest Statute, Donald M. Wilkinson, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a boy scout, was assisting in a paper collection for the benefit of his troop, and while so doing, was injured when he attempted to regain his position on a utility trailer attached to the assistant scoutmaster's automobile. Plaintiff brought suit against the assistant scoutmaster, alleging negligent operation of the automobile. Defendant's motion for judgment on the pleadings was granted in the lower court, but this ruling was reversed in the court of appeals. On appeal to the Supreme Court of Ohio, held, affirmed, three judges dissenting. Defendant was deemed to have been benefited by plaintiff's activities to …

Admiralty-Unseaworthiness Of Vessel In Having Vicious Crew Member Aboard, Richard B. Barnett S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a seaman on board defendant's ship, went ashore on leave with the second cook. After returning to the ship, the two quarrelled and plaintiff knocked the cook down. The cook went to the galley and obtained a meat cleaver with which he struck plaintiff on the head, causing serious injury. Plaintiff brought suit against the ship owner for damages on the theory that in allowing a man of the cook's vicious proclivities to become a member of the crew, defendant failed to provide a "seaworthy" ship and that plaintiff had suffered injury as a result. Plaintiff appealed a verdict …

Negligence-Immunity Of Charitable Institutions From Suit, W. Garrett Flickinger S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

A patient of defendant charitable hospital died as a result of the transfusion of an incorrect blood type and it was shown that one of defendant's employees had correctly typed the blood but negligently mislabeled it. The widower and children of the deceased brought an action in negligence for damages and the circuit court allowed recovery. On appeal, held, affirmed. The defendant hospital is liable in damages for the death of the deceased caused by the negligence of its employee notwithstanding the fact that defendant is a charitable institution and that the hospital authorities exercised due care and caution …

Torts-Defamation-Libel By Silence, J. G. Castel

Michigan Law Review

In an almanac published in 1939, Professor Turpain of the University of Poitiers, France, purported to name the inventors of radio. He failed to include the name of E. Branly. In 1940 Branly brought suit in the lower civil court of Poiters against Professor Turpain, alleging that he had been ''libelled" by silence. The court agreed with him. The court of appeals of Poitiers reversed the decision of the lower court and dismissed the case. Following Branly's death, his heirs questioned the validity of the decision of the court of appeals in the court of Cassation. The court held, …

Proposed Acts Concerning Wrongful Death And Survival Of Actions In Indiana

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Legal Problems Raised By Artificial Rainmaking, Gus D. Hatfield Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

The first reported decision involving the problem of the liability in law of the modern rainmaker has recently been rendered.' Though other disputes are reported to have arisen, they have not been finally decided in any regularly reported case.

The case was before the Trial Division of the Supreme Court of New York, the dispute having arisen out of experiments artificially to induce rainfall conducted by the City of New York during the recent, much publicized water shortage in that city. Plaintiffs, who were owners of a vacation resort in upper New York State, sought to enjoin these experiments on …

Negligence-Liability Of Landlord For Injuries To Persons On The Premises, John A. Hellstrom S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, an invitee, sued for injuries caused by the fall of plaster from the ceiling of a tavern operated by a tenant in a building owned by defendant. Held, the rule whereby a lessor of premises leased for a public use is liable to an invitee of his tenant is inapplicable. Warner v. Fry, (Mo. 1950) 228 S.W. (2d) 729.

Damages, Edgar Hunter Wilson

Mercer Law Review

The damage problems presented to the appellate courts of Georgia during the sufvey period have been few. The cases, however, are well-dispersed over the field of damages.

Torts: Recovery Of Litigation Expenses For "Double Exposure To Suit"

Indiana Law Journal

Recent Cases

Federal Procedure--Third-Party Practice--Contbibution Among Joint Or Concurrent Tort-Feasors, Paul M.D. Harrison

Michigan Law Review

A sued B for injuries arising out of a collision between B's taxicab and an automobile driven by C, in which A was riding as a guest passenger. B filed a third-party complaint against C, who denied B's allegation of negligence and counterclaimed against B for personal injuries. A did not amend his complaint to assert a claim against C. The jury found that A's injury was caused by the concurrent negligence of B and C. Judgment for $11,500 was given to A against B, and B was awarded a judgment against …

Legislation-Federal Tort Claims Act-Applicable To Military Personnel, B. J. George, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

An automobile containing two furloughed soldiers and their father was struck by a negligently operated army vehicle, resulting in the death of one soldier and injury to the other two occupants. In a suit against the government under the Federal Tort Claims Act the father and injured soldier recovered in their own right and the father also recovered as administrator of the deceased soldier's estate. The Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the judgments in favor of the servicemen, holding that there was an implied exception in the act prohibiting such suits because of benefits available to servicemen in the form …

Federal Rules Of Civil Procedure-Statute Of Limitations Not Tolled By Filing Complaint Under Rule 3, Clinton R. Ashford S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff's cause of action arose out of a highway accident that occurred on October 1, 1943. Basing jurisdiction on diversity of citizenship, he brought suit in a United States District Court in Kansas. The complaint was filed on September 4, 1945, and defendant was served on December 28, 1945. In Kansas, the two-year statute of limitations applicable to such tort claims is tolled by service on the defendant, not by filing the complaint. Held, plaintiff is barred by the Kansas statute of limitations. Ragan v. Merchants Transfer & Warehouse Co., Inc., (U.S. 1949) 69 S.Ct. 1233.