Transportation Law Commons^™

The Economic Treatment Of Automobile Injuries, Alfred F. Conard

Michigan Law Review

The automobile has changed more than Americans' ways of transportation. It has changed their ways of housing, of working and playing, of eating, living, and loving. It has also added to their ways of suffering and dying.

The suffering and dying have called forth two kinds of treatment. The better recognized kind is medical treatment, which staves off death and minimizes pain and disability among the living. The less recognized kind of treatment is economic-the restoration to the injury victim or to his dependents of some part of the economic wellbeing that has been snatched away from them by loss …

Freedom Of Navigation For International Rivers: What Does It Mean?, Ralph W. Johnson

Michigan Law Review

The purpose of this paper will be to analyze the origin of the concept, trace its (their) development, point out the most commonly used meanings, and then demonstrate the substantial irrelevance of the concept, by any of these definitions, to present-day river navigation and trade problems.

Private Insurance As A Solution To The Driver-Guest Dilemm, Harvey R. Friedman

Michigan Law Review

The duty of the driver of an automobile to his nonpaying passenger, and liability arising from the breach of that duty, has long presented a troublesome area of litigation for the courts and the parties involved. Application of standards unsuited for the peculiar risks of automotive transportation has produced inadequate compensation in some cases and excessive recoveries in others. Meanwhile, trial calendars are overcrowded with personal injury litigation, and insurance companies must bear the awards of sympathetic juries and those resulting from collusion between passenger and driver. The over-all expense of this method of determination of liability, far too little …

The Judicial Treatment Of The Automobile Dealer Franchise Act, J. Patrick Martin

Michigan Law Review

The representatives of the auto industry initially viewed the act with a jaundiced eye and warned that this special class legislation6 would radically change the existing case law by allowing the dealer to win where formerly he would have lost. However, the court decisions under the act have not borne out such dire predictions. This discussion will examine what has, in fact, been the judicial interpretation and treatment of the act.

Administrative Law-Primary Jurisdiction-Availability Of Common-Law Reparations Remedy Following Commission Finding Of Unreasonable Practice Under The Motor Carrier Act, James D. Zirin

Michigan Law Review

The petitioner delivered goods to respondent, a common carrier by motor vehicle, for shipment from Buffalo, New York, to New York City, with the route of shipment left unspecified. The goods were shipped over the carrier's interstate route at a higher tariff filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission rather than over its intrastate route at the lower tariff filed with the New York Public Service Commission. Alleging causes of action under the Motor Carrier Act and at common law, the petitioner brought a postshipment action in a federal district court seeking reparation of the difference paid. The court, after a …

Security-Chattel Mortgages-Mortgage Recorded Under Federal Aviation Act Of 1958s As Affected By State Laws, William C. Brashares

Michigan Law Review

Defendant, a Michigan corporation, ordered a new airplane from Air-O-Fleet, a retailer. Air-O-Fleet financed its purchase from the manufacturer through a loan from plaintiff, a Texas corporation, who took a chattel mortgage on the airplane. One day after Air-O-Fleet had made delivery to defendant and received full payment, plaintiff recorded the chattel mortgage with the Federal Aviation Authority in accordance with the Federal Aviation Act of 1958, section 1403, which provides that "no conveyance or instrument ... shall be valid ... against any person other than the person by whom the conveyance or other instrument is made or given, ... …

Civil Aeronautics Act-Discrimination-Private Cause Of Action For Punitive Damages, L. B. Hirsch

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff held a reconfirmed tourist reservation on one of defendant's St. Louis-to-Los Angeles flights. Defendant oversold the flight and subsequently "bumped" the plaintiff from the flight in favor of a first-class passenger who was given plaintiff's accommodations in the tourist section. Defendant's agent booked a reservation for the plaintiff aboard another airline and provided plaintiff with lunch. The only expense incurred by the plaintiff as a result of being removed from defendant's flight was the cost of a telephone call to inform his wife of his new arrival time; and plaintiff was inconvenienced by a delay of four hours on …

Negligence--Assumption Of Risk And Contributory Negligence--Abolition Of Assumption Of Risk As A Defense Separate From A Contributory Negligence In Autobmobile Guest-Host Situations Negligence In Automobile Guest-Host Situation, S. Anthony Benton

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a guest in an automobile driven by defendant, was injured when defendant's vehicle collided with another car. In plaintiff's suit against defendant and her insurer the jury found that defendant was causally negligent as to management and control and position on the highway, and that plaintiff was causally negligent as to lookout. After apportioning 85 percent of the negligence to defendant and 15 percent to plaintiff, the jury found that plaintiff had assumed the risk with respect to defendant's management and control and position on the highway, and the trial court therefore entered judgment dismissing the complaint. On appeal, …

Uniform Commercial Code - Motor Vehicles - Filing Requred To Perfect Security Interests, David Finkelman S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In 1958 Kentucky enacted the Uniform Commercial Code providing for the perfection of security interests in chattels by filing a financing statement, and a motor vehicle Certificate of Title Act requiring liens to be noted on the registration certificate covering the vehicle. The Code excludes from its filing provisions security interests in property subject to a Certificate of Title Act and provides that such interests can be perfected only by compliance with the requirements of the title act. However, unlike the typical Certificate of Title Act, the Kentucky title act does not provide that the notation of the lien on …

Constitutional Law-Eminent Domain-Master Flight Plan As A Taking Of Land Under Approach Area To Municipal Airport, Ralph L. Wright S. Ed

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff owned land adjacent to the Greater Pittsburgh Airport which lay under an approach area for one of the runways. Allegheny County, in compliance with rules and regulations of the Civil Aeronautics Authority, drafted a "Master Plan," approved by the CAA, which showed the approach area over part of plaintiff's property. Plaintiff sued to recover damages from the county, owner and operator of the airport, alleging an appropriation of his land because of the substantial interference with its use and enjoyment caused by flights at low altitudes above his land during landings and take-offs. Upon an award of damages by …

Labor Law- Railway Labor Act-Union Referendum Provisions As An Indication Of Failure To Bargain In Good Faith, Paul D. Borman

Michigan Law Review

In negotiations arising out of a "major dispute" under the Railway Labor Act, defendant's union representatives were prohibited by a provision in the union constitution from reaching any final agreement without the proposals having first been adopted by a majority vote of the union membership. At the bargaining table, the union representatives presented no specific proposals or counter-proposals; when a management offer was made and presented to the union membership, the representatives refused either to sign it or to recommend its adoption. The management proposal was defeated at the union referendum, and a strike date was set. Plaintiff railroad sought …

Labor Law - Norris - Laguardia Act - Federal Courts Without Jurisdiction To Enjoin Strike In Support Of Demand That No Jobs Be Abolished Without Railiway Union's Consent, David G. Hill

Michigan Law Review

Respondent railroad sought authority from the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission to reduce the number of its station agents. Petitioner union not only contested but also demanded of the railroad that the following provision be added to the existing collective bargaining agreement: "No position in existence on December 3, 1957, will be abolished or discontinued except by agreement between the carrier and the organization." The commission thereafter found maintenance of the particular jobs to be wasteful and issued a mandatory order directing their abandonment. When the union prepared to strike in support of its demanded contract provision, the railroad sought …

Unfair Competition-Motor Carrier Act - Private Remedy For Operation In Excess Of Certificate Of Necessity And Convenience, Daniel E. Lewis Jr.

Michigan Law Review

In response to plaintiff trucking company's complaint under section 15 of the Clayton Act alleging violation of sections I and 2 of the Sherman Act, defendant railroads entered a counterclaim for damages resulting from interference with the railroad's franchise rights by the plaintiff's operations in excess of its Interstate Commerce Commission certificate of convenience and necessity. On plaintiff's motion for judgment on the pleadings to dismiss the counterclaim for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted, held, motion granted. Congress did not contemplate that the common law action of a franchise holder would lie when …

Comparative Negligence And Automobile Liability Insurance, Cornelius J. Peck

Michigan Law Review

The purpose of this article is not to re-plow the ground of history, case law, and statutory developments which has been so competently tilled by others. Nor is the purpose to give a detailed consideration of each of the practical matters mentioned above. Instead, the focus of this article is on the relationship between comparative negligence and automobile liability insurance. Insurance rates and accident statistics, rather than rules of law and cases, are the primary materials. Such a consideration of the subject it might be hoped would give a positive and substantiated answer to the frequently debated but never documented …

Constitutional Law- Civil Rights - Union Use Of Dues For Political Action, Paul Hanke

Michigan Law Review

Defendant unions under the authority of section 2, Eleventh of the Railway Labor Act obtained union shop agreements from defendant railroads. Non-union employees sought to enjoin enforcement of the agreements because the unions used periodic dues, fees, and assessments to support political doctrines and candidates opposed by plaintiffs. The trial court dismissed for failure to state a cause of action, but the Supreme Court of Georgia overruled the dismissal and remanded. The lower court then ruled that petitioners were denied constitutional liberties and issued the injunction. On appeal, held, affirmed. Enforcement of union shop contracts requiring employees to pay …

Administrative Law - Powers Of Agencies - The Interstate Commerce Commission And Discontinuance Of Railroads Under The Transportation Act Of 1958, Robert A. Smith

Michigan Law Review

The Transportation Act of 1958 amended the Interstate Commerce Act by authorizing railroad discontinuance of interstate train or ferry operations by posting advance notices thereof. The Interstate Commerce Commission can investigate such discontinuances either upon complaint or its own motion, and may require continuance of service if, after hearing, it finds such operation required by public convenience and necessity and not unduly burdensome to interstate commerce. Public Law 85-625, August 12, 1958, 72 Stat. 568.

Hunt: Law And Locomotives: The Impact Of The Railroad On Wisconsin Law In The Nineteenth Century, Alan N. Polasky

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Law and Locomotives: The Impact of the Railroad on Wisconsin Law in the Nineteenth Century. By Robert S. Hunt.

Green: Traffic Victims. Tort Law And Insurance, Spencer L. Kimball

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Traffic Victims. Tort Law and Insurance. By Leon Green.

Insurance - Motor Vehicle Accident Indemnification Corporation Law - Compensation Assured For Innocent Automobile Accident Victims, Bartlett A. Jackson

Michigan Law Review

A 1958 New York statute requires the organization of an Indemnification Corporation by companies selling automobile liability insurance within the state. The corporation will assess members in order to establish a fund which will be used to reimburse persons who are injured in a motor vehicle accident and are unable to collect from the person causing the injury. In order to qualify, the injured party must not be covered by a policy of automobile insurance nor may he own an uninsured motor vehicle. He must secure a judgment against the financially irresponsible driver and petition the court to order the …

Conflict Of Laws- Foreign Executors And Administrators - Constitutionality Of Nonresident Motorist Statute Providing For Jurisdiction Over Personal Representatives, Thomas E. Kauper

Michigan Law Review

Decedent was killed when his car collided with another on a Missouri highway. Both the driver of the second car and its owner, residents of Nebraska, were also killed. Decedent's widow brought a wrongful death action. in Missouri against the Nebraska-appointed adminstratrixes of the estates of the driver and the owner of the second car. Summonses were served on the Secretary of State of Missouri in compliance with the Missouri Long Arm Statute which specifically provides for service upon and jurisdiction over the administrators of the estates of nonresident motorists. The trial court overruled defendants' motions to quash: On petition …

Antitrust Considerations In Motor Carrier Mergers, Carl H. Fulda

Michigan Law Review

Unification of separate independent business enterprises in a single organization may raise important questions of antitrust policy. The entity which emerges may have acquired, as a result of such unification, a market position of such significance that a substantial lessening of competition or even the creation of a monopoly becomes not only possible but probable. This would be apparent whenever opportunities for buyers of the products or services of the new single unit to shop freely, and to make independent decisions as to prices, channels of purchases and selection of suppliers were to be seriously curtailed, or where such curtailment …

Landowners' Rights In The Air Age: The Airport Dilemma, William B. Harvey

Michigan Law Review

If Lord Tennyson had been a student of the common law, he might well have qualified his poetic foresight of "the heavens fill[ed] with commerce" by some cautious reference to the complaints of landowners below against the "pilots of the purple twilight, dropping down with costly bales." The result doubtless would have been poorer poetry but a far more accurate forecast of the problems to confront mid-20th century lawyers. Although the phenomenal growth of civil aviation since the first World War has opened up a host of difficulties, the only ones of concern in this article are those presenting the …

Damages - Automobile Collisions - Penalties For Failure To Settle Small Claims Promptly, Ralph E. Boches

Michigan Law Review

Recent Arkansas legislation provides for double damages, reasonable attorney's fees of not less than fifty dollars, and court costs for failure to pay property damage claims arising from automobile collisions within sixty days after the submission of estimates of damage. Application of the statute is limited to claims under two hundred dollars. Furthermore, if the defendant presents a "meritorious defense," liability under the statute does not attach. Acts of Arkansas (1957), Act 283, Senate Bill 166.

Evidence - Dead Man's Statute - Interpretation Of "Transaction", Howard N. Nemerovski S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff was a passenger in an automobile which collided with one driven by defendant's intestate. Both drivers were killed, and plaintiff sued defendant, administrator of intestate's estate, for personal injuries, alleging negligence. There were no other eye-witnesses to the collision, and the trial court, relying upon the Alabama dead man's statute, would not permit plaintiff to testify to any of the details or circumstances of the accident, or even to the fact that she had been involved in an accident with an automobile driven by the decedent. The jury found for defendant. On appeal, held, reversed. Plaintiff, passenger in …

Torts - Guest Act - Negligent Conduct Of The Driver, William K. Muir Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff was a gratuitous passenger in an automobile driven by defendant. Defendant, intending to coast to his destination, turned off the ignition, removed the key, and placed it in his pocket. The removal of the key caused the steering gear to lock, and defendant was unable to avoid a collision with a tree. Plaintiff suffered injuries and brought suit. Evidence was adduced to show that in defendant's type of automobile the steering wheel was so constructed as to lock upon removal of the key. Testimony revealed that defendant understood the general operation of the lock, but that the particular mechanism …

Aviation Law - Tort Liability For Damage To Persons Or Property On The Ground - Res Ipsa Loquitur, Allan L. Bioff

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff's fishing vessel was struck and sunk by a practice bomb released from a Marine Corps aircraft. An action was brought against the government under the Federal Tort Claims Act. Plaintiff could produce no proof of negligence on the part of the government. Held, recovery allowed. The doctrine of res ipsa loquitur is applicable. Goodwin v. United States, (E.D. N.C. 1956) 141 F. Supp. 445.

Lecht: Experience Under Railway Labor Legislation, Sylvester Petro

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Experience Under Railway Labor Legislation. By Leonard A. Lecht.

Torts - Guest Statute - Carpools, Ross Kipka S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a passenger, and defendant's decedent, the driver on the day in question, were two of six members of a carpool, each of whom drove every six.th day from the town where they all lived to the place of their common employment, thereby effecting a saving to each of approximately five dollars per week. As a result of a collision due to ordinary negligence of the driver, plaintiff was injured and sued for damages, alleging that he was not a guest passenger. The court submitted to the jury the question of whether plaintiff was a passenger for hire or a …

Administrative Law - Judicial Review - Ripeness For Revew Of An Interstate Commerce Commission Order, Robert Knauss

Michigan Law Review

In order to operate in interstate commerce, motor carriers must obtain a certificate of public necessity and convenience from the Interstate Commerce Commission and must obey the Interstate Commerce Act. However, motor vehicles used in carrying " . . . agricultural . . . commodities (not including manufactured goods) . . ." may operate free of the act. The commission on its own initiative investigated the meaning of the term "agricultural commodities," and after two years published a seventy-one page list classifying certain commodities as within or not within the exemption. Petitioner, an interstate trucker of various commodities listed as …

Negligence - Breach Of Duty - Assured Clear Distance Ahead Doctrine, Herbert A. Bernhard

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, while driving an automobile through a tunnel, collided with defendant's truck, which was stopped without lights. The Pennsylvania Vehicle Code requires an operator to drive at such a speed as will enable him to stop within the "assured clear distance ahead." Plaintiff alleged he was temporarily blinded by the sudden change from bright sunlight to the darkness of the tunnel. The jury found for plaintiff, but defendant's motion for judgment n. o. v. was granted. On appeal, held, affirmed, one justice dissenting. Plaintiff's failure to stop his automobile within the assured clear distance ahead constituted contributory negligence as …