Litigation Commons^™

Current Trends In The Business Of The Federal District Courts, Will Shafroth

Vanderbilt Law Review

Congestion in the dockets of many United States district courts in metropolitan centers has called attention to the effects on the judicial business of the great economic development of the past few years, a growth which far exceeds in extent that in any period of equal duration in our history. In the short space of thirteen years from 1940 to 1952 the market value of the output of goods and services produced by the nation's economy increased from 101 billions to 346 billions. Part of this phenomenal rise was due to a 90 percent increase in the cost of living, …

Evidence-Privilege-Right Of Third Person To Assert Privilege As To Accident Report Made Confidential By Statute, Richard W. Young S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff brought a negligence action for injuries sustained when the automobile in which she was a passenger collided with that operated by the defendant. Defendant questioned a police officer, who had filed the accident report, concerning statements made to him by the driver of the vehicle in which the plaintiff was riding. The trial court permitted this testimony over the plaintiff's objection that these statements were privileged under an Iowa statute purporting to make written accident reports confidential and inadmissible in evidence. On appeal after a verdict was returned in favor of the defendant, held, reversed. The statute can …

Corporations-Indemnification Of Management For Litigation Expenses, Chester F. Relyea S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Two recent decisions concerning the right of a successful director-defendant to seek corporate indemnification for litigation expenses are significant because they interpret not only the relevant statutes of New York and Delaware, but also language which exists in the statutes of several other states and which as yet has not been construed by the courts of those states. These cases indicate the desirability of a general survey of such indemnification practice at common law and under statutes.

Practice And Procedure, William S. Stinnette, John A. Gose, Vincent L. Gadbow

Washington Law Review

Covers cases on remedies for the failure to reveal information in pretrial discovery (Stinnette), on the trial court's duty to give reasons for denying a new trial, on the failure to administer the oath to jurors prior to voir dire, on the appealability of a suspended sentence when a guilty plea precludes appeal (Gose), on changes in the rules for appellate briefs regarding assignment of error, and on other changes to the appellate rules (Gadbow).

Restitution - Reliance Losses In Contract Within Statute Of Frauds, John E. Riecker S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, the owner of a seasonal night club, orally agreed to lease the premises for three years to the defendant. The plaintiff had a written lease prepared but it was not executed. Negotiations by letters and telegrams between the parties proved that the document was not a definite integration of their agreement sufficient to satisfy the statute of frauds governing leases of land for periods longer than one year. During this interval of negotiation, plaintiff at defendant's express request had procured a liquor license for the following year at the night club, hired a watchman, retained counsel to draw the …

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 …

Federal Procedure - Appellate Practice - Duty Of The Court Of Appeals To Grant Rehearings En Banc, Raymond R. Trombadore S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In a suit for accounting, petitioners were denied relief in the district court and a division of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed by a two-to-one vote. Petitioners then applied for a rehearing before the court of appeals en bane. With one dissent, the rehearing was denied by the division, and the request that the rehearing be en bane was stricken as "being without authority in law or in the rules or practice of the court.'' Petitioners moved to vacate the order denying the request for a rehearing en bane on the ground that such a request …

Legislative Investigations: Safeguards For Witnesses, Joseph O'Meara

Journal Articles

A free and independent legislature is the hallmark of democracy. The power of investigation is essential to proper discharge of responsibilities, but that the investigative power has been abused' and that it is the obligation of the bar to find an answer to the resulting problem. The surrender of principle is the death of Justice and, without Justice, there is chaos, and total disregard of the dignity and destiny of man. One aspect of the challenge the legal profession confronts today is how to assure due process of law for witnesses in legislative investigations without unduly hampering legislative functions. The …

Civil Procedure - Judgments - Exceptions To The Rule Of Res Judicata, William A. Bain, Jr., S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

A land contract provided for a conveyance to Pearson from Adams and his wife. The wife was not a party to the contract and refused to execute the deed. Pearson sought specific performance requesting relief of a type not then available in Illinois and when asked if he would accept a deed from Adams alone, he refused. The action was dismissed. Adams then brought this action in ejectment and Pearson counterclaimed requesting a deed executed by Adams alone. The trial court found that the judgment in the previous action was res judicata as to the counterclaim. On appeal, held, …

A Civil Action: From Pleading To Opening Of Trial, By Hubert Hickman, Cleon H. Foust Jr.

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Insurance, Robert W. Sturdivant

Vanderbilt Law Review

One of the most significant decisions during the past year in the field of liability insurance was that of the Court of Appeals in the case of Southern Fire & Casualty Co. v. Norris.' The case involved the duty of a liability insurer toward the insured in the settlement of claims. As early as 1928, the Supreme Court of Tennessee held that the insurer has an obligation toward the insured to use good faith in the conduct of litigation and in the settlement of claims when the insurer assumes control of a case under the provisions of its policy.

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-Contributory Negligence-Effect Of Violation Of Statute By Minor Plaintiff, Richard P. Matsch S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff's decedent, a thirteen year old boy, was killed in a collision between his bicycle and defendant's automobile. Both vehicles were travelling in the same direction on a public highway when, according to the defendant's testimony, the boy suddenly made a left tum in front of the automobile and was struck. The defendant asserted that the child failed to give any signal indicating a tum and therefore violated the Utah statute prescribing rules of the road. Defendant moved for a directed verdict on the issue of contributory negligence charging that the conduct of the decedent was negligence per se. The …

Real Property-Torrens System-Preservation Of Equitable Easements, Paul Campbell

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff sued to have certain lots declared free and clear of a restrictive covenant. The land was registered under a Torrens statute, but the restrictive covenant was not noted on the certificate of title. However, it was noted on a plat of the land which was referred to in the certificate of title for the purpose of identifying the location of the land. The lower court denied relief and enjoined violation of the restrictions. Held, reversed, plaintiff as a good faith purchaser for value of registered land, obtains the land free and clear of a restrictive covenant not noted …

Civil Procedure-Statute Of Limitations-Possibility Of Service Under Nonresident Motorist Service Act As Preventing Tolling Of Statute, James H. Loprete S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiffs, while riding as passengers in defendant's automobile, were injured in an accident in Iowa. Two of the four plaintiffs brought suit in Kansas against defendant, a citizen of Kansas, but their suits were dismissed upon the sustaining of demurrers. The four then sued defendant in Iowa, obtaining service upon him under the nonresident motorist service act Defendant pleaded the statute of limitations, and plaintiffs countered with the tolling statute. Issue was raised over the interpretation to be given the word "nonresident" in the tolling statute. Plaintiff contended it was to be given a literal interpretation, that is, that the …

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 …

Civil Procedure-Parties-Real Party In Interest When Insurer Has Equitable Interest In Claim, Warren K, Urbom S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff sued for damages to his fruit and grocery market which were allegedly caused by the negligence of defendant. Interrogatories were submitted by defendant designed to determine whether or not plaintiff had been paid the full amount of his loss by an insurance company and had assigned his claim to that company. The trial court sustained a motion to strike the interrogatories. On appeal, held, reversed, two judges dissenting. Although a tortfeasor cannot defeat an action by the insured by showing full subrogation of the insurer, he can plead an assignment of the insured's claim to show that the …

Viewpoint Of Trial Counsel, Robert E. Coughlan Jr.

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Viewpoint Of The Psychiatrist, Manfred S. Guttmacher

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Viewpoint Of The Jurist, W. Conwell Smith

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Book Review, Carl G. Weygandt

Cleveland State Law Review

Reviewing Hon. Arthur Vanderbilt, Cases and Other Materials on Modern Procedure and Judicial Administration

Viewpoint Of The Traumatic Surgeon, George O. Eaton

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Viewpoint Of Industrial Medicine, T. Conrad Wolff

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Federal Procedure-Change Of Venue-Congestion Of Docket As A Factor Affecting Transfer Under Section 1404(A), Peter Van Domelen S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff sued in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York to recover damages under the Jones Act for illness sustained while he was serving as a seaman on the defendant's steamship. The defendant moved to transfer the action to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California pursuant to Title 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) which provides: "For the convenience of parties and witnesses, in the interest of justice, a district court may transfer any civil action to any other district or division where it might have been brought." Evidence introduced showed that …

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 …

Corporations-Officers And Directors-Fiduciary Duty Of Officer Purchasing Stock From Shareholder, Walter H. Weiner

Michigan Law Review

Defendant, president of a corporation acquired stock owned by plaintiff and others by falsely representing that the corporation had been sold. After enhancing the value of this stock, defendant sold it. Plaintiff brought suit for fraudulent conversion and the trial court directed a verdict for the defendant. On appeal, held, reversed. An officer negotiating with a shareholder for the purchase of shares must act with scrupulous trust and confidence, and unless the officer acts with the utmost fairness the wronged shareholder may invoke the proper remedy. Blazer v. Black, (10th Cir. 1952) 196 F. (2d) 139.

Fiduciary Aministration-Executors And Aministrators-Inventory Not A Condition Precedent To Recovery Of Assets, Carl S. Krueger S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In a suit by an administrator to recover funds claimed to be part of the decedent's estate, the defendant's answer alleged that the suit had been commenced prior to compliance with a statute requiring an inventory of the assets of the estate. On appeal by the administrator from the trial court's holding that filing an inventory of a claim is a condition precedent to a suit thereon, held, reversed. While an inventory is the basis of subsequent probate proceedings, title to personal assets of the decedent vests in the administrator when he qualifies, and he may sue on claims …

Federal Procedure-Jurisdiction-No Appeal Allowed Under Rule 54(B) When Separated Claim Not Final, Wilber M. Brucker, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Flegenheimer sued Manitoba Sugar Co., a Canadian Corporation, in a Vermont state court for breach of an employment contract to gain jurisdiction, Flegenheimer attached parcels of beet pulp which he claimed were the property of the Manitoba Co. After this action was removed to the federal district court, General Mills, Inc., was granted leave to intervene to establish ownership of the beet pulp. The claim of General Mills was dismissed after being heard on the merits. The order dismissing the claim contained a determination that "no just reason for delay" existed, and it therefore directed an "entry of judgment" under …