Labor Law - Improper Union Objective - Lawfulness of Concerted Action to Prevent the Use of Labor Saving Devices

Plaintiff, an association of painting contractors, brought an action to enjoin strike activities by organized painters who had struck to obtain a contract provision prohibiting the use of pan-rollers while on union jobs. The plaintiff contended that the newly developed method of applying paint with rollers is faster and results in no deterioration of the standards of the trade. The defendant local union maintained that the application of paint with rollers is injurious to the health and safety of painters and fails to furnish either the long-lasting or finely finished quality characteristic of brush painting. Held, that the application of paint by means of rollers is not injurious to the health and safety of painters, that the contractual prohibition of such method is not a proper object of concerted action, and that the strike activities by defendant local unions should, therefore, be enjoined by a court of equity. Austin v. Painters District Council, 339 Mich. 462, 64 N.W. (2d) 550 (1954)

Evidence - Privilege - Maintaining Action Where the Evidence May Affect the National Security

The plaintiff brought an action for the breach of a contract for the manufacture of certain arming mechanisms for the use of the United States Army. The defendant moved to dismiss the action on the grounds that the contract in question was classified as confidential by the army and that the disclosures of certain facts asserted to be material in the prosecution and defense of the action would be a violation of the Federal Espionage Laws. Held, motion denied. The court should invoke every proper judicial technique to keep state secrets unrevealed, but it should not dismiss a valid action until the court determines that further proceedings would actually disclose information injurious to the national security. Ticon Corp. v. Emerson Radio & Phonograph Corp., 206 Misc. 727, 134 N. Y. S. (2d) 716 (1954)

Labor Law - Labor-Management Relations Act - Applicable Remedies When an Employer Transers to a New Location to Avoid Dealing With a Union

An interstate trucking concern with depots in numerous cities, was approached by a union seeking recognition as the bargaining representative of the office and clerical workers at one of the depots. The employer, after interrogating the employees involved as to their union affiliation, transferred the clerical work done at that depot to an office in a different city, but continued operating the trucking depot itself. The clerical employees were discharged but were offered reinstatement at the new location, together with reimbursement of the expenses of moving to the new location. Held, the employer violated sections 8(a)(1), 8(a)(3), and 8(a)(5) of the National Labor Relations Act. The Board awarded the discharged employees back pay from the date of discharge to the date of the offer of reinstatement at the new location, ordered the employer to offer the discharged employees reinstatement if and when it resumed operations at the new location but, with Member Murdock dissenting, refused to order the resumption of the clerical operations at the old location. Tennessee-Carolina Transportation Co.,. 108 N.L.R.B. No. 179 (1954)

Labor Law - Objects of Union Action - Organization of Managers of Retail Chain Stores as Proper Object

The owner and operator of retail food stores located throughout the nation brought action to enjoin strike activities by the defendant union, which sought recognition as bargaining agent for managers and clerks in the local stores. Both clerks and store managers had been members of the defendant local unions since 1937, and the latter, acting under certification as bargaining representative for both groups of employees under the National Labor Relations Act, had negotiated contracts with the plaintiff covering managers and clerks continuously since that time. Upon the refusal of the plaintiff to include the store managers in the contract, or to recognize the clerks\u27 unions as the representatives of the store managers, the union struck and the present action was commenced. Held, with a dissenting opinion, that the union activities in seeking recognition as bargaining agent for local retail store managers, who were supervisory employees, were not reasonably related to any legitimate interest of organized labor, were not in furtherance of any proper labor objective, and, as a matter of sound public policy, were enjoinable within equity jurisdiction of the court. Safeway Stores, Inc. v. Retail Clerks International Assn., 41 Cal. (2d) 567, 261 P. (2d) 721 (1953

Conflict of Laws -- Escheat of Intangible Property to the State of Situs

The intestate died domiciled in California leaving no known heirs or next of kin. In addition to property in California adequate to pay his debts, the deceased left deposits in three New York banks. The domiciliary administrator, acting as ancillary administrator in New York, received the proceeds of the bank accounts, petitioned for judicial settlement, and requested payment of the ancillary estate to himself as domiciliary administrator. Held, the money should be paid to the Comptroller of the State of New York as abandoned property. In re Menschefrend\u27s Estate, 283 App. Div. 463, 128 N.Y.S. (2d) 738 (1954)

Partnerships - Valuation of Assets on Death of a Partner

There are three phases to the problem of arriving at a final dollar and cents valuation of a deceased partner\u27s share in a partnership. In their proper chronological order they are: a determination of what the partnership assets are, a valuation of those assets once determined, and a division of the remainder (after liabilities have been subtracted) into the proper proportions according to the partnership agreement. Only the second phase is within the scope of this comment, the purpose of which is to examine various asset valuation methods both with respect to, and in the absence of, a valuation established by the partners themselves. While the determination of asset value in the absence of agreement is largely an evidentiary problem, no inquiry will be made into the admissibility of evidence of value; instead, attention will be centered upon the qualitative importance of that evidence once it is proved. Particular emphasis will be given to the valuation of goodwill where there has been no agreement covering it, such emphasis being justified by the variety of methods evident in the cases

BBQ Grill Temperature Uniformity Study

Bull Outdoor Products, Incorporated, a barbeque grill and outdoor kitchen manufacturer, sponsored this project with the intent of improving the temperature uniformity across the surface of their barbecue grills. For this project, the Cal Poly team of mechanical engineering students, Monty Dodge Jr. and Samuel Melo, used the Brahma grill head model with setups for both natural gas and propane. In order to determine exactly what the uniformity across the grill surface was, the student team designed a testing apparatus which would measure a grid of temperature locations one inch apart spanning an area 16 by 36 inches. Developing a testing method which produced accurate results was done over five separate tests, at which point the team began testing various geometrical configurations of flame guards (flame tamers) to determine how these geometries affected the overall temperature uniformity. Across all of the tests, the results clearly showed that temperature in the back of the grill was consistently higher than the front. It was also found that approximately half of the propane grill, on the left side, was significantly lower temperature than the right. Upon further investigation, and bench testing a propane manifold for pressure at each valve, it was determined the cause of the discrepancy in temperature from left to right was the result of a pressure drop in the manifold. Recommendations were then made to Bull Outdoor Products with regard to how this might be improved. The student team did, in the end, design a set of louvers which would direct heat flow from the back to the front of grill. These new louvers did improve the temperature distribution from front to back, however, the most valuable deliverable was the actual design of the test apparatus, the test method, and method of data analysis used

Notes on Comparative Tolerance of Some Iowa Turtles to Oxygen Deficiency (Hypoxia)

Six species of Iowa turtles (including pharyngeal water-pumpers and non-pumpers) were tested for resistance to anoxia. Five species of juveniles were included in the series. With the exception of Trionyx, adult aquatic turtles tolerated hypoxia longer than juveniles of the same species. Some terrestrial species were as tolerant as some aquatic species. Maximum tolerance time submerged (18° to 19°C) was 56 hours for an equatic species, Chrysemys picta, whereas that of a terrestrial species, Terrapene ornata, was 12 hours

Natural Cardiac Deaths in Central Indiana

poster abstractCardiovascular disease is still the major cause of death in the USA for the past 50 to 60 years. Within cardiovascular disease there are many subtypes that cause death including hypertensive heart disease, atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease (CAD), myocardial infarction (MI), dilated cardiomyopathy, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, cardiomegaly, and misc.). In this review study we examined the Marion County, Indianapolis, Indiana Morgue, Indiana database for the total of deaths that occurred between 2004 through 2012 and evaluated the number of cardiovascular deaths including the various CV subtypes mentioned above. There were approximately 13,000 deaths examined that were sent to the Marion County Morgue during that time frame in Central Indiana. Approximately 2950 deaths were due to CV disease (22.6%). Total ischemia (coronary artery disease) was 1939 made up the majority of the CV related deaths. This was followed by hypertensive heart disease (571) and congestive heart failure (189). Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (89), cardiomegaly (16), and cardiac tamponade (11) made up the rest. Cardiac arrhythmias and myocarditis made up the remaining CV causes of death (131). In a previous study done at the Marion County Morgue from 1987 to 2003 focused on hypertensive CV disease and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy found 165 deaths and 134 deaths respectively. Compared to the previous local study in the same population the incidence of hypertensive heart disease was moderately increased. There was not much difference between hypertrophic cardiomyopathy between the two studies. Both studies are fairly consistent when compared to national statistics on cardiovascular death in the country