CRIMINAL PROCEDURE-EXTRADITION FOR NON-SUPPORT UNDER SECTION 6 OF THE UNIFORM CRIMINAL EXTRADITION ACT

Petitioner had been divorced while residing in the State of California and ordered to pay $30 per month to his wife for the support of three minor children. After moving to New Mexico he defaulted in the payments. The Governor of California requested the extradition of the petitioner under section 6 of the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act to answer the charge of failure to provide for minor children. Petitioner questioned his detention under the order for extradition by seeking a writ of habeas corpus in an original proceeding before the Supreme Court of New Mexico. Held, writ denied. Section 6 of the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act, providing for extradition when the accused was not in the demanding state at the time of the commission of the crime and has not fled therefrom, is constitutional and applicable to the crime of non-support. Ex parte Dalton, (N.M. 1952) 244 P. (2d) 790

TORTS-LIBEL AND SLANDER

Plaintiff brought an action in slander alleging that defendant orally described him as a Communist during the course of a neighborhood argument. Plaintiff further asserted that when the defamatory words were spoken he held the position of an official in the United Financial Employees Union. Defendant moved to dismiss the complaint on the ground that it did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. Held, complaint dismissed with leave to amend. The court ruled that the averments were not sufficient to show special damage to the plaintiff, nor did they support an interpretation that the words were spoken of and concerning the plaintiff in his business or occupation and thus actionable per se. The court further ruled that it was not slander per se to call one a Communist, for a rule to the contrary would trap the unwary and benefit the cause of Communism in the United States. Keefe v. O\u27Brien, 116 N.Y.S. (2d) 286 (1952)

Recent Decisions

Antitrust--Act of State Doctrine Precludes Judicial Review of Cases in which Private Defendant Induces Foreign Sovereign to Boycott Plaintiff\u27s Services and Products David R. Simon Plaintiff, a designer and manufacturer of short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft, sought damages from defendants for violation of sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act. Specifically, plaintiff alleged that defendant\u27s employees falsely disparaged General Aircraft Corporation\u27s (GAC) STOL aircraft products and services by circulating false and misleading performance reports and engaged in a vendetta designed to drive GAC out of business because of GAC\u27s refusal to conduct Southeast Asian Helio sales under the auspices of defendant Doole and Air American. Plaintiff asserted that in furtherance of this vendetta, Air Asia obtained GAC proprietary data and trade secrets that enabled the defendant to fabricate Hello planes and parts without license at its repair facilities in Taiwan from 1962 to January 31, 1975. Finally, plaintiff alleged that defendant orchestrated a boycott of GAC\u27s STOL aircraft, thereby completing the conspiracy to destroy GAC\u27s competitive position in the marketplace. ==================================== Sovereign Immunity-- Act of State Doctrine--Claim Lies for Iran\u27s Failure to Compensate Following Nationalization David D. Dowd Plaintiffs, three corporations collectively representing American insurance interests in Iran in 1979, filed a motion for partial summary judgment on the issue of liability in an action for damages brought in response to the nationalization without compensation of plaintiffs\u27 Iranian insurance interests by defendants Islamic Republic of Iran and Central Insurance of Iran (CII). This nationalization severed all business relations between plaintiffs, defendants, and those Iranian insurance companies in which plaintiffs had invested. Plaintiffs claimed this nationalization provided no mechanism for adequate compensation in violation of the Treaty of Amity and, independently, international law. Defendants argued that either the act of state doctrine or sovereign immunity precluded the court from awarding partial summary judgment. On plaintiffs\u27 motion for partial summary judgment on liability under the Treaty of Amity and international law, granted

EVIDENCE-PRIVILEGE-USE OF PRIVILEGED ACCIDENT REPORT TO REFRESH OFFICER\u27S RECOLLECTION

Plaintiff, a passenger in an automobile, recovered a judgment for injuries received in a collision. Defendants\u27 motion to exclude testimony of the police officer investigating the accident as to admissions of the driver was overruled by the trial court. Defendants contended that the required accident report filed by the defendant driver was privileged by statute, and therefore the testimony of the officer was inadmissible. On appeal, held, reversed on other grounds. It was proper for the officer to testify as to the defendant driver\u27s admissions even if it was necessary for him to refresh his recollection of these admissions by using the statutory report filed by the defendant. Wallace v. Skrzycki, 338 Mich. 165, 61 N.W. (2d) 106 (1953)

Federal Procedure - Realignment of Parties in Non-Diversity Case

Plaintiff (S1), a surety for the subcontractor, brought an action against the subcontractor and the prime contractor to compel them to set off their respective counterclaims in order to diminish the liability of S1. The subcontractor had another surety (S2) on a different obligation arising out of the same construction job, and the prime contractor, uncertain where liability should be placed, impleaded S2. On S1\u27s motion to vacate the impleader order, held, denied, and the court on its own motion directed realignment of the parties, ruling that the main issue was division of liability between the subcontractor\u27s two sureties, S1 and S2, to the prime contractor. The prime contractor was made plaintiff and the other parties, the subcontractor, S1 and S2, defendants, with the result that all matters in controversy could be settled in one action with one trial. In directing this order, the court stated that it relied on its inherent power to require realignment for convenience and expediency. Travelers Indemnity Co. v. J. S. Ramstad Construction Co., (D.C. Alaska 1954) 118 F. Supp. 423

TAXATION - FEDERAL INCOME TAX - DEFERRED COMPENSATION AS AFFECTED BY CONSTRUCTIVE RECEIPT DOCTRINE

Prior to his retirement as a general agent of a life insurance company, the petitioner entered into a new contract with the company by which he was to receive upon retirement fixed monthly instalments for fifteen years in lieu of his original contract rights to receive renewal premium commissions as they were paid into the company. Petitioner, as a cash basis taxpayer, reported as income only the instalments received. The Commissioner assessed deficiencies in the reports, contending that petitioner\u27s taxable income consisted of all renewal commissions received by the company during the taxable year, rather than the instalment payments. Rejecting the Commissioner\u27s argument that the constructive receipt doctrine was applicable to the renewal commissions, the Tax Court upheld the petitioner\u27s challenge of the assessment of the deficiencies. On appeal, held, affirmed. Since the new contract calling for fixed monthly instalments was a binding substituted contract, the taxpayer had no contractual right to the additional renewal commissions. Therefore the constructive receipt doctrine was inapplicable and only the fixed monthly instalments were income to the taxpayer. Commissioner v. Oates, (7th Cir. 1953) 207 F. (2d) 711

CONFLICT OF LAWS--EFFECT OF FORUM\u27S STATUTE OF FRAUDS ON FOREIGN ORAL CONTRACT TO BEQUEATH PROPERTY

Plaintiff brought an action in New York for specific performance of an oral agreement allegedly made by testator in Florida not to change his will without plaintiff\u27s consent. Defendant\u27s motions for dismissal of the complaint and summary judgment were dismissed. The appellate division on reargument entered orders reversing the lower court. On plaintiff\u27s appeal to the court of appeals, held, affirmed. The New York Personal Property Law, which states that oral contracts to bequeath property are void, is controlling, regardless of whether this section of the statute of frauds is procedural or substantive. If the section is procedural, the law of the forum would apply making the oral contract unenforceable; if substantive, the contract is void because the statute is an expression of the public policy of the forum, permitting the forum to disregard ordinary conflict of laws rules. Rubin v. Irving Trust Co., 305 N.Y. 288, I 13 N. E. (2d) 424 (1953)

Longevity hedge effectiveness: A decomposition

We use a case study of a pension plan wishing to hedge the longevity risk in its pension liabilities at a future date. The plan has the choice of using either a customised hedge or an index hedge, with the degree of hedge effectiveness being closely related to the correlation between the value of the hedge and the value of the pension liability. The key contribution of this paper is to show how correlation and, therefore, hedge effectiveness can be broken down into contributions from a number of distinct types of risk factors. Our decomposition of the correlation indicates that population basis risk has a significant influence on the correlation. But recalibration risk as well as the length of the recalibration window are also important, as is cohort effect uncertainty. Having accounted for recalibration risk, additional parameter uncertainty has only a marginal impact on hedge effectiveness. Finally, the inclusion of Poisson risk only starts to become significant when the smaller population falls below about 10,000 members over age 50. Our case study shows that, at least for medium and large pension plans, longevity risk can be substantially hedged using index hedges as an alternative to customised longevity hedges. As a consequence, when the hedger's population involves more than about 10,000 members over age 50, index longevity hedges (in conjunction with the other components of an ALM strategy) can provide an effective and lower cost alternative to both a full buy-out of pension liabilities or even to a strategy using customised longevity hedges

Spatial Patterns of Aflatoxin Levels in Relation to Ear-Feeding Insect Damage in Pre-Harvest Corn

Key impediments to increased corn yield and quality in the southeastern US coastal plain region are damage by ear-feeding insects and aflatoxin contamination caused by infection of Aspergillus flavus. Key ear-feeding insects are corn earworm, Helicoverpa zea, fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, maize weevil, Sitophilus zeamais, and brown stink bug, Euschistus servus. In 2006 and 2007, aflatoxin contamination and insect damage were sampled before harvest in three 0.4-hectare corn fields using a grid sampling method. The feeding damage by each of ear/kernel-feeding insects (i.e., corn earworm/fall armyworm damage on the silk/cob, and discoloration of corn kernels by stink bugs), and maize weevil population were assessed at each grid point with five ears. The spatial distribution pattern of aflatoxin contamination was also assessed using the corn samples collected at each sampling point. Aflatoxin level was correlated to the number of maize weevils and stink bug-discolored kernels, but not closely correlated to either husk coverage or corn earworm damage. Contour maps of the maize weevil populations, stink bug-damaged kernels, and aflatoxin levels exhibited an aggregated distribution pattern with a strong edge effect on all three parameters. The separation of silk- and cob-feeding insects from kernel-feeding insects, as well as chewing (i.e., the corn earworm and maize weevil) and piercing-sucking insects (i.e., the stink bugs) and their damage in relation to aflatoxin accumulation is economically important. Both theoretic and applied ramifications of this study were discussed by proposing a hypothesis on the underlying mechanisms of the aggregated distribution patterns and strong edge effect of insect damage and aflatoxin contamination, and by discussing possible management tactics for aflatoxin reduction by proper management of kernel-feeding insects. Future directions on basic and applied research related to aflatoxin contamination are also discussed

Effect of d-cycloserine on fear extinction training in adults with social anxiety disorder

© 2019 Hofmann et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Preclinical and clinical data have shown that D-cycloserine (DCS), a partial agonist at the N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor complex, augments the retention of fear extinction in animals and the therapeutic learning from exposure therapy in humans. However, studies with nonclinical human samples in de novo fear conditioning paradigms have demonstrated minimal to no benefit of DCS. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of DCS on the retention of extinction learning following de novo fear conditioning in a clinical sample. Eighty-one patients with social anxiety disorder were recruited and underwent a previously validated de novo fear conditioning and extinction paradigm over the course of three days. Of those, only 43 (53%) provided analyzable data. During conditioning on Day 1, participants viewed images of differently colored lamps, two of which were followed by with electric shock (CS+) and a third which was not (CS-). On Day 2, participants were randomly assigned to receive either 50 mg DCS or placebo, administered in a double-blind manner 1 hour prior to extinction training with a single CS+ in a distinct context. Day 3 consisted of tests of extinction recall and renewal. The primary outcome was skin conductance response to conditioned stimuli, and shock expectancy ratings were examined as a secondary outcome. Results showed greater skin conductance and expectancy ratings in response to the CS+ compared to CS- at the end of conditioning. As expected, this difference was no longer present at the end of extinction training, but returned at early recall and renewal phases on Day 3, showing evidence of return of fear. In contrast to hypotheses, DCS had no moderating influence on skin conductance response or expectancy of shock during recall or renewal phases. We did not find evidence of an effect of DCS on the retention of extinction learning in humans in this fear conditioning and extinction paradigm