Torts Commons^™

Federal Courts - Substance And Procedure - Effect Of Erie Railroad V. Tompkins And Rule 8 (C) Of The Federal Rules Of Civil Procedure Upon Burden Of Proof Of Contributory Negligence, John H. Uhl

Michigan Law Review

The case of Erie Railroad v. Tompkins has wrought a great change in the relationship between the state and federal courts. Prior to its decision, the federal courts under the rule of Swift v. Tyson did not have to apply the state non-statutory law. They could apply their own notions as to what the law was in matters of general law relating to substance. The Conformity Act compelled the federal courts to follow the practice, pleading, and forms and modes of proceeding in like causes in the courts of the state within which the federal district courts were held. In …

Statute Of Limitations--Endorser's Warranty As Express Or Implied Promise--Application Of Ten-Year Statute To Negotiable Instruments

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Nuisances--Injunctions--Pollution Of Stream By City--Balance Of Convenience, Charles W. Caldwell

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fraudulent Concealment And Statutes Of Limitation, John P. Dawson

Michigan Law Review

In a recent article the writer has discussed a common exception to statutes of limitation - the exception for claims based on undiscovered "fraud." It was there pointed out how useful this exception has been made through the wide definition of "fraud" that is now fully established. By judicial decision "fraud" has been extended far beyond the field of misrepresentation of fact into the twilight zones of "constructive fraud" and out toward the open spaces of naked tort. But some boundaries had to be fixed even to the extension of substantive principles by the painless process of definition. There remained …

Actions-Single Injury To Person And Property As One Cause Of Action

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff suffered personal injuries and damage to his truck when the truck which he was driving collided with an automobile driven by the defendant's intestate, the latter being killed instantly by the collision. The plaintiff then brought this action alleging that the collision was caused by the intestate's negligence and asking damages for both personal and property injuries. The defendant contended that since his intestate was killed by the very blow which caused damage to the plaintiff no action lay against the intestate in his lifetime and since there was no statute giving an action against his administrator, the …

Torts - Malicious Prosecution - Termination Of Previous Proceeding In Favor Of Plaintiff

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff gave a note with power of attorney to confess judgment, to X who assigned to defendant. Plaintiff paid the note before maturity. On maturity, defendant got a judgment by confession and levied on plaintiff's property. Thereupon plaintiff asked the court to set aside the judgment, and a hearing was granted for the purpose, but the evidence showed that instead of proceeding to a hearing the parties agreed that defendant should mark the judgment satisfied. This was done. Plaintiff later sued for malicious prosecution. Held, that since the prior suit did not terminate in his favor plaintiff could not …

Torts - Due Care By Rescuer

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a woman about sixty years of age, described as "considerably overweight for her size and age," and her companion were swimming in a club pool. The companion went beyond her depth, called for help, and plaintiff went to her rescue. The lifeguard, believing plaintiff to be in difficulty, went to her rescue and, in pulling her over the bank of the pool, injured her arm, side, and back. From an award in favor of the plaintiff for $7,500, defendant, the lifeguard's employer, appealed. Held, the lifeguard owed the patron the duty of exercising ordinary care; judgment for plaintiff …

Torts-Malicious Prosecution-Advice Of Counsel

Michigan Law Review

Defendant, a practicing lawyer, lodged a complaint charging plaintiff with larceny. A criminal warrant was issued; plaintiff was arrested, but the action was dismissed when the complaining witness failed to appear at the trial. Plaintiff then brought this action for malicious prosecution. One of the grounds of defense pleaded was that which is commonly called "advice of counsel," defendant pleading that, in his judgment, the plaintiff was guilty as charged. Held, in Mawhinney v. Morrissey, that, under the facts of this case, the defense fails because the attorney-defendant was not a disinterested party.

Injunctions--Airports--Nuisance, Jack C. Burdett

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Torts - Negligence - Recent Acquisition Of Driver's License

Michigan Law Review

In a suit for damages for injuries allegedly negligently inflicted upon the occupant of an automobile, plaintiff testified that defendant was driving at a high rate of speed when his car began to zigzag and finally overturned, injuring plaintiff. Defendant testified that he was driving moderately when, upon their sudden application, the brakes locked, causing the car to zigzag and overturn. There was evidence to the effect that "defendant was an inexperienced driver, having just obtained his driver's license." Defendant's motions for a nonsuit and a directed verdict were refused. Held, that the question of defendant's negligence was for …

Avoiding Injurious Consequences, Charles T. Mccormick

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Demurrer As A Method Of Objecting To Separate Items Of Damage Alleged, L. C.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

States--Actions--What Are Suits Against The State, E. L. D.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

To Contribute Or Not To Contribute?--A Basic Inconsistency In The Law Of Negligence

Michigan Law Review

X accepts an invitation to ride with his friend A, in the latter's coupe. B has a party of friends in his new limousine. Both drivers are careless; the cars collide; and X is injured. X brings suit against B, and the latter has A brought into court as a defendant, a proceeding permitted under the provisions of the Wisconsin code of civil procedure. B claims the right of contribution against A, in the event that X is successful in his suit, and also asks affirmative relief against A for the damage done to his limousine. A counters with a …

Simplified Civil Procedure Under The Wisconsin Code

Michigan Law Review

A rare illustration of the possibility of simplified procedure, under the modern codes, is presented by a recent decision of the Wisconsin court. Singularly enough the case was also productive of some very interesting problems of substantive law, and will be commented upon, from that standpoint, elsewhere in this publication. As for the fact situation, it will be sufficient for our present purposes, to note that the plaintiff was injured, while riding as a guest, as the result of a collision occasioned by the negligent driving of her host and the operator of another automobile. The guest and the driver …

Cause, Legal Cause And Proximate Cause. Ii, Albert Levitt

Michigan Law Review

The problem connected with finding a passive situation to be a proximate cause is very different from that connected with finding an active force as a proximate cause. The reason for this difference is that the situation does nothing actively. It simply exists. Before it can contribute to an injury a force must be ejected from it or else the injured party must be brought, or bring himself, into contact with it. The situation never does; it just is. It is never an aggressor. Its contribution to any given injury is a passive contribution. The situation is usually created …

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Admiralty - Workmen's Compensation - Is a Hydroplane a Vessel? - Claimant was employed in the care and management of a hydroplane which was moored in navigable waters. The hydroplane began to drag anchor and drift toward the beach, where it was in danger of being wrecked. Claimant waded into the water and was struck by the propeller. Held, claimant is not entitled to compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Law, since a hydroplane while on navigable waters is a vessel, and therefore the jurisdiction of the admiralty excludes that of the State Industrial Commission. Reinhardt v. Newport Flying Service Corp. …

Reversal And Retrial Exclusively On The Quantum Of Damages, L. C.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Cases On Procedure, Annotated. Trial Practice, Edson R. Sunderland

Books

“The present volume is intended to develop and disclose the rational basis for the main principles of practice employed in the trial of civil actions at law. Recourse has been had to the whole body of American case law, and the choice of cases has been determined by the clearness with which the court has shown a logical justification for the decision made….

“The cases have been very freely edited, and everything not germane to the subject for which the case was chosen has been omitted….” --Preface

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Bankruptcy--rights of Action Passing to Trustee--Injury to Property; Banks and Banking--Who May Question the Power of National Banks to Take Real Estate in Trust; Bills and Notes--Avoidance of Indorser's Liability by Fraudulent Representations of Indorsee; Carriers--Is the Ticket Conclusive Evidence of the Passenger's Right to be Carried?; Carriers--When does the Liability of a Carrier change to That of A Warehouseman?; Constitutional Law--Equal Protection of the Law--Right to Hunt and Fish; Constitutional law--Liberty and Freedom of Conscience--Right to Wear a Religious Garb in Public Schools--Power of the Legislature; Contracts--Implied Contracts--Persons in Family Relations; Contributory Negligence--Acts in Emergency--Emergency Caused by Party Injured--Saving …

Note And Comment, Ralph W. Aigler, Thomas L. O'Leary, Harry W. Isenberg, Samuel R. Williams, Karl B. Goddard

Michigan Law Review

Interstate Commerce and State Control of Foreign Corporations; Quantum of Evidence Necessary to Sustain a Plea of Justification, to a Civil Action of Libel or slander, for charging the Plaintiff with a Crime; Statutes Requiring the Appointment of Public Officers from Certain Political Parties; Proximate Cause; Police Regulation of the Business of Plumbing

Pleading, Edson R. Sunderland

Book Chapters

Professor Sunderland's 780-page chapter on Pleadings: "Pleadings are statements, in logical and legal form, of causes of action and grounds of defense, terminating in a single proposition affirmed on one side and denied on the other. They are intended to form the foundation of the proof to be submitted on the trial, and should advise the parties to an action what the opposite party relies upon either as a cause of action or defense or objection as the case may be." Preceded by a 41-page outline.

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Bankruptcy--Assignment--Validity--Possession of Res.; Carriers--Assaults by Employees on Passengers; Constitutional Law--Judicial Powers--Legislative Action of City Council Not Enjoined; Constitutional Law--Privileges and Immunities; Constitutional Law--Taxation of Imports; Contracts--Accord and Satisfaction--Consideration; Corporations--Liability of Bondholders on "Bonus Stock"; Covenants--Creation by Acceptance of Deed Poll; Criminal Law--Habeas Corpus--Want of Jurisdiction; Damages--For Wrongful Cutting of Timber--Value of the Manufactured Lumber; Evidence--Admissions of a Tenant in Common; Evidence--Effect of Plaintiff's Refusal to Submit to Physical Examination; Equity--Laches; foreign Corporations--What Constitutes "doing Business" in the State--Restrictions on State in Case of Interstate Commerce; Injunction--Suspension of Operative Force Pending Appeal; Judgment--conclusiveness--Matters Concluded; Judgment--foreign Judgment--Enforcement; Landlord and Tenant--Trade Fixtures--Right of …

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Attachment--Property Subject to--Goods Conditionally Sold; Bankruptcy--Receiver and Manager--Insufficient Estate--Priorities; Bankruptcy--Solicitor and Client--Account Stated Bankruptcy of Client--Trustee's Right to Go Behind Stated Account, and Require Details; Banks and Banking--Receivers in Proceedings for Dissolution--Sufficiency of Bill; Bills and Notes--Foreign Bill of Exchange--Failure to Protest; Constitutional law--Equal Protection of the Law--Regulation of Common Carrier; Contracts--Mutuality of Obligation; Corporations--Agreement to Take Shares of Stock; Damages--Mental Suffering--Wanton Wrong; Deeds--Date--Presumption as to Time of Delivery; Deeds--Description--Statement of Quantity Controlling; Elections--Certificates of Nomination--Time of Filing--Accident and Mistake Causing Delay; Evidence--Admissibility of Conversation by Telephone; Evidence--Proof of Value--An Exception to the Hearsay Rule; Husband and Wife--Estate by Entirety--application …

Note And Comment, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Constitutional Law--Compelling one to be a Witness Against Himself--Comparing Defendant's Shoe with Footprints; Rights in Inventions as Between Employer and Employee; Constitutional Law--Power of Legislature to Prescribe Rules of Evidence--Making Conveyance by Person Indebted Prima Facie Evidence of Intent to Defraud Creditors; Decorum of Attorney in Argument--Propriety of Appeals to the Pathetic or Sentimental; Liability of United States for Injury from Elevator in its Public Buildings--Implied Contract to Operate Safely--Case "Sounding in Tort"; Statutes Regulating the Practice of Medicine--Osteopathy; Precedents