Litigation Commons^™

Quasi-Contracts-Dutiful Intervention-Discharge Of Public Officer's Duty

Michigan Law Review

By statute in Montana the boards of county commissioners were ordered to cause such highways as were necessary for the public welfare to be "laid out, recorded, opened" and maintained. A highway was laid out through the plaintiff's land in 1903, but the county commissioners refused to continue constructing it though requested to do so by the plaintiff, instead compelling him to remove the fences on his property. His entire land being thus thrown open to the public, he constructed the road himself in 1926, with the knowledge of the commissioners, who on its completion immediately accepted it but refused …

Corporations-Government Owned Corporation Claiming Attributes Of Sovereignty

Michigan Law Review

That the government or the sovereign can not be sued without its consent has been so often repeated that it has attained the prosaicness of a legal maxim. Even so the doctrine was never so whole heartedly acceded to in the United States as it was in England, and we find the cases setting up at least one notable exception in the United States as to the property of the sovereign.

The Illinois Appellate Courts-Are They Satisfactory?

Michigan Law Review

The instantaneous answer of "Yes" to this question was given by every Illinois attorney the writer asked while gathering material for this article, and undoubtedly that would be the answer of an overwhelming percentage of the Illinois Bar. In the Constitutional Convention of 1920 in Illinois, not one of the fifty odd lawyer members ever questioned their expediency in all the debates on the judiciary article. And much can, of course, be said in their favor. They relieve the supreme court of a great burden of work. They are closer at hand than the supreme court to most of the …

Fire Insurance-Is "Double" Payment Necessarily Overpayment?

Michigan Law Review

A recent Wisconsin case, Ramsdell v. Insurance Co., presents a novel and interesting situation. The lessor and lessee of business property each insured the property in separate companies, the lessor for $3,000 and the lessee for $7,500. The lease contained no provisions as to insurance, repairing, or rebuilding and there was no contract between any of the parties which could affect the situation that arose. A loss of $4,246 occurred in June. After lengthy negotiations had proved fruitless, the lessee rebuilt the premises and sued his insurer. At the same time the lessor sued on his policy. The lessee …

Injunctions-Statutory Injunctions In Legal Actions Under The Iowa Code

Michigan Law Review

The Iowa Code contains a unique and interesting provision which was copied from the English Common Law Procedure Act of 1854. It provides that :--"In all cases of breach of contract or other injury, where the party injured is entitled to maintain and has brought an action by ordinary proceedings, he may, in the same cause, pray and have a writ of injunction against the repetition or continuance of such breach of contract or other injury, or the commission of any breach of contract or injury of a like kind arising out of the same contract or relating to the …

Damages-Apportionment Of Punitive Damages In An Action Against Agent And Corporation Jointly

Michigan Law Review

The recent South Carolina case of Johnson v. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co., presents, it is submitted, an undesirable extension of the rule announced in Goddard v. Grand Trunk R. Co. The latter decided that a corporation or principal is liable in punitive damages for a malicious act of its agent committed in the course of, or in connection with, his duties or employment. The prevailing opinion seems to be that the principal is liable (in exemplary damages) only when he has authorized, participated in, or ratified the act of the agent. or was negligent in the selection of …

International Law-Recognition Of Governments

Michigan Law Review

The decision of the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently brought to a close an interesting piece of litigation which had been dragging its way through the courts for several years. The issue on the international law point was so sharply presented, the counsel so able, investigation so completely exhaustive, and the recovery so substantial that the case has been given full attention by the newspapers as well as by legal commentators.

Constitutional Law-Methods Of Testing The Constitutionality Of Rate Status Involving Heavy Penalties

Michigan Law Review

Where a state statute prescribes maximum intrastate railroad rates and also attaches heavy penalties for violations of the statute by a railroad or its agents, and where a railroad thinks the rates are confiscatory and hence unconstitutional, it is faced with an apparent dilemma. Must it either submit to the supposed confiscatory rates or else run the chance of incurring heavy penalties in case the statute is held constitutional? Or, is there another alternative-a painless way of testing the validity of the rates?

Injunction In Labor Disputes--Anti-Trust Laws--"Secondary Boycott".

Michigan Law Review

Since the passing of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act in 1890 there has been an enormous increase in litigation concerning the trade union and its activities. When the Supreme Court in the Danbury Hatters' case8 held that labor organizations were included in the provisions of the Sherman Act, and that the so-called "secondary boycott"' was a violation of the terms of this act, labor felt that it had lost a very effective weapon and at once began to fear that the very existence of the labor union was in danger. Not having much hope of relief from the courts, the forces …

Carriers-Statute Of Limitations For Bringing Suit For Injury To Goods

Michigan Law Review

A recent case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States suggests the query-ls there a federal statute of limitations for bringing suit for injury to goods in an interstate shipment? The answer depends on the interpretation of the Cummins Amendment of March 4, 1915 and the Transportation Act of 1920. The relevant and germane provision of these acts as to the time limit for commencing suit for injury to goods on an interstate carriage is "That it shall be unlawful for any such common carrier to provide by rule, contract, or regulation a shorter period for giving notice …

A Rational Theory For Joinder Of Causes Of Action And Defences, And For The Use Of Counterclaims, William Wirt Blume

Michigan Law Review

In discussing, first, the joinder of actions it will be convenient to consider three groups or classes of cases:

Class I : Where one plaintiff (or joint plaintiffs) unites in a single proceeding two or more causes of action against one defendant (or joint defendants).

Class 2: "Where two or more plaintiffs, each having a cause of action against the same party (or parties), unite their causes of action in one proceeding.

Class 3: Where one plaintiff (or joint plaintiffs) having several causes of action, each against a different party, unites them in one proceeding.

In considering each group or …

Ex Parts Divorce As A Bar To A Subsequent Action For Alimony

Michigan Law Review

A decree of divorce purports only to affect the marital status of the parties and as such is an action en rem, while an order to pay alimony is a personal judgment. To be effective it must be rendered by a court having personal jurisdiction over the defendant. Since the decision of Pennoyer v. Neff, if the defendant, though an assent non-resident, has property within the jurisdiction the local law may authorize proceedings for seizing it for a personal claim against the owner, the action in effect being against the owner's interest in the property attached. This applies …

Insurance-Incontestability Clauses-What Will Amount To A Contest

Michigan Law Review

The incontestability clause is quite common at present in life insurance policies, and is the source of much litigation. The insurance policy has usually contained many statements or representations by the insured, and it was a common experience that after the insured had paid premiums on a life insurance policy, perhaps for years, and had died in the belief that his family was well provided for, the insurance company avoided payment on the ground that the insured had made a misrepresentation in the policy, or had committed a breach of warranty. As a result, a feeling grew up that all …

Joinder And Splitting Of Causes Of Action, Charles E. Clark

Michigan Law Review

The pleading rules concerning joinder and splitting of causes of action are complements of each other, though designed to achieve different objectives. The joinder rule is that separate causes cannot be "joined" or pleaded in the same suit unless they fall within one of the classes of permissible joinder specified in the codes. The purpose of the rule is to prevent too wide a field of litigation and too diverse issues in a single suit and thus to avoid a case of undue confusion and complexity. The rule against splitting is that a single cause shall not be "split" or …

Jurisdiction Over Unincorporated Associations Composed Of Nonresidents

Michigan Law Review

New York has a statute which provides for suits against unincorporated associations consisting of seven or more members. It reads as follows: An action or special proceeding may be maintained, against the president or treasurer of such an association, * * * upon any cause of action, for or upon which the· plaintiff may maintain such action or special proceeding, against all the associates * * *· Any partnership; or other company of persons, which has a president or treasurer, is, deemed an association within the meaning of this section." General Associations Law (Consol. Laws of N. Y.), sec. 13. …

Survivor Of Actions Under The Sherman Anti-Trust Act

Michigan Law Review

The question of survival of actions ex delicto following the death of a party thereto has caused no small amount of litigation, and in actions under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, due to the large sums that are always involved and a consequent desire on the part of the plaintiff to reach all possible sources of compensation, the problem assumes a peculiar importance. Section 7 of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act simply provides that, "Any person who shall be injured in his business or property by any other person or corporation by reason of anything forbidden or declared to be unlawful by …

Evidence By Surviving Participant Of A Contract Or Other Transaction

Michigan Law Review

Among the most prolific and endless sources of litigation of recent times are the so-called "dead man statutes", which forbid the surviving participant in a contract or other transaction to testify regarding it unless the opposing party waives the restriction. These statutes lay down a rule of thumb which treats all cases, meritorious or unmeritorious, exactly the same. In attempting to apply them to the cases the courts have made one fine distinction after another, only to interject still finer ones in between, until the whole· makes a labyrinth in which suitor and court have often found themselves hopelessly lost. …

An Appraisal Of English Procedure, Edson R. Sunderland

Michigan Law Review

On paper the program of the London meeting of the American Bar Association last year was not a crowded one. No busy morning sessions hurried the members away from their hotels; at noon there was a leisurely opportunity for comfortable luncheons; and the drowsy summer afternoon was far advanced before the real business of the day began. But the printed program only marked the high points of the meeting. All through the week, by day and by night, there was London to be seen, the Abbey, the Tower, the Thames, palaces, parks and galleries, and the thousand historic spots which …

Insurance-Liability Of Insurance Company For Negligence In Exercising Its Option To Settle Or Defend

Michigan Law Review

In a recent New Hampshire case, the plaintiff had insured with defendant company against liability for personal injuries to plaintiff's employees not exceeding $5,000.00. The policy under the title of "Service" provided that defendant would investigate all claims and settle them "according to the law". The defendant insurer also agreed to defend such suits as might be brought against plaintiff because of such injuries. One of plaintiff's employees was injured and though he offered to settle for $1,300.00, the defendant refused the offer. Thereupon the employee sued and recovered $13,500.00 in an action defended by defendant company according to their …

Arbitration Under The Modern Statutes

Michigan Law Review

Of late years the way of the "fair and free trial in open court," to which every man is deemed to have an inalienable right, has become so long, devious, intricate and costly, that the law faces the danger of falling into general disrepute. The calendars of courts in most jurisdictions ·are crowded and filled for months and years in advance. the situation being most acute in the larger cities and commercial centers. the very places where delays are most undesirable. New York City serves as a horrible example-here an ordinary case generally takes three years to come to trial. …

Distinction Between Governmental And Proprietary Functions Of Municipal Corporations, Delmar W. Doddridge

Michigan Law Review

There are many places in the law where the making of a distinction has resulted in a difficulty in application that has greatly increased litigation, but there are few places where this is more true than in the distinction made between the governmental and the proprietary functions of municipal corporations. The distinction has taken a firm grip upon the law of municipal corporations and seems well settled, although its propriety as applied to particular subjects may be doubted. The terminology of the distinction is in itself productive of doubt, the function or duty in the one branch being denominated "governmental", …

Right To Determine The Place Of Burial Of A Corpse

Michigan Law Review

A dead body is not property, but a sort of quasi-property, so in a strict legal sense there are no property rights in a corpse. This is especially true after burial, as many courts make a distinction between rights existing prior to burial, and those after burial. Nevertheless, relatives have certain rights against others for mutilation, removal, etc. of a corpse, whether based on property or not. Cases where damages are recovered for mutilation before burial are common, and in England v. Central Pocahontas Coal Co. 86 W. Va. 575, the plaintiff was allowed an action of trespass against …

Injunction As Remedy For Unlawful Taxation

Michigan Law Review

Whether or not a court of equity should issue an injunction restraining the assessment or collection of an illegal or wrongful tax is a question concerning which there is little harmony among the cases and writers. 4 POMEROY, EQUITY JURISPRUDENCE, ed. 4, §1781; HIGH, lNJUNCTIONS, ed. 3, §484, p. 363; 37 HARV. L. REV. 255.

International Law-Counterclaimes In Suits By Foreign Govenments

Michigan Law Review

The confusion to which the courts are reduced by counterclaims in suits by foreign governments is illustrated by the recent cases on the point in the lower federal courts. Unassisted by an authoritative decision from the United States Supreme Court, they reflect the doubts appearing in most of the American cases, doubts that are founded on both the theoretical and practical difficulty of the questions involved.

Resale Price Fixing From A Different Angle

Michigan Law Review

The proposition that resale price fixing agreements are illegal, while by no means universally accepted, is definitely established in the federal courts as well as in quite a number of the state courts. Whatever we may think of its soundness from an economic viewpoint it will doubtless receive even wider recognition as time goes on. For a collection and discussion of the authorities see 20 MICH. L. REV. 904; 19 MICH. L. REV. 265; 19 A. L. R. 925.

Conflict Of Laws-"Full Faith And Credit"-Injunction Restraining Suit In Foreign State

Michigan Law Review

X, an Iowan, is injured by Y, a fellow citizen, who obtains an injunction in Iowa restraining X from suing in Minnesota. X having subsequently commenced suit in Minnesota, Y files his bill asking the court of that state to enforce the Iowa decree. Should the Minnesota court enforce the foreign injunction decree, as a matter of "comity"? Must it do so, under the "full faith and credit" clause? Strangely enough the Minnesota court has had two of the comparatively small number of cases involving these particular questions. In State ex rel. Bossung v. District Court, 140 Minn. 494, …

Anticipatory Breach And The Enforcement Of Contractual Duties, Henry Winthrop Ballantine

Michigan Law Review

The doctrine of anticipatory breach, announced in England in 1853 in the leading case of Hochster v. De La, Tour, presents some interesting questions of legal theory. While it has been almost universally accepted by the courts of this country, the principles upon which the doctrine rests have been seriously questioned and the courts have shown an unfortunate bewilderment and hesitation in its extension and application. Professor Williston, probably the leading American authority in the field of contracts, has for many years been a vigorous critic of this doctrine. He goes so far as to assert that the doctrine …

The Change In The Meaning Of Consortium, Evans Holbrook

Michigan Law Review

Lawyers have long boasted of the flexibility of the common law, or its ability to adapt itself to the needs of changing conditions of society, of its responsiveness to sociological progress. And while eager reformers have often--and with much reason--complained that the law is laggard in its response to the needs of the people, yet it is clear that sooner or later the courts generally bring themselves into accord with "what is sanctioned by usage, or held by the prevailing morality or strong and preponderant public opinion to be greatly and immediately necessary to the public welfare." This responsiveness to …

Conciliation Of Controversies

Michigan Law Review

It is a matter of common criticism more or less just that the administration of law is unnecessarily tedious and expensive. Particularly among those of the poorer classes is it true that the delay and expense incident to the enforcement of small claims amounts to a practical denial of justice. With a view toward relieving this situation, North Dakota adopted the first state-wide act for the conciliation of controversies. Chapter 38, Laws of North Dakota, 1921. That act has recently been put to the test and upheld in the case of Klein v. Hilton (N. D., 1922), 191 N. W. …

International Recognition And The National Courts

Michigan Law Review

The extending of international recognition to a new government or a new state is a political function which belongs exclusively to the political departments of government. It follows that whenever the question of recognition or not is really involved in litigation the court should inform itself as to the course pursued by the appropriate political department and decide accordingly. This much, if it ever needed to be settled, may now be regarded as settled beyond peradventure. See 18 MICH. L. REV. 531.