Recent Cases

Civil Rights--Private Education-Racially Discriminatory Admissions Policies Violate Right to Contract Provision of 42 U.S.C. § 1981 Plaintiffs, \u27 blacks who had been denied admission solely on the basis of their race to two all-white private schools that received no state aid,\u27 sought damages and injunctive relief in federal district court contending that these rejections violated section 1981 of 42 U.S.C. by denying them the same right to contract as enjoyed by white citizens. ============================ Copyright--Telecommunications--CATV Importation of Distant Television Signals Constitutes Infringement Under Sections One (c) & (d) of the Copyright Act Plaintiffs,\u27 creators and producers of television programs,brought a copyright infringement action against defendants, owners and operators of Community Antenna Television (CATV) systems. Plaintiffs alleged that defendants\u27 five CATV systems, by intercepting the signals of local and distant\u27 television stations that were broadcasting plaintiff\u27s copyrighted works and then channeling those programs to defendants\u27 subscribers, had performed plaintiff\u27s works within the meaning of sections one (c) and (d) of the Copyright Act of 1909. =========================== Criminal Law--Right to Counsel--Sixth Amendment Does Not Grant Accused the Right to Counsel at Pretrial Photographic Display Respondent, convicted in federal district court of bank robbery,\u27 appealed his conviction alleging denial of his sixth amendment right to counsel. Prior to trial, and to ensure positive in-court identification, the prosecution had conducted a photographic display during which its witnesses identified respondent as a participant in the robbery, and at which neither respondent nor his counsel were present. The trial judge admitted this post-indictment photographic identification into evidence in addition to the witnesses\u27courtroom identification of respondent.\u27 Respondent contended on appeal that the post-indictment photographic display was a critical stage in the prosecution at which the presence of counsel was required by the sixth amendment. The prosecution argued that a photographic identification session which the accused does not attend cannot give rise to a right to counsel. The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit adopted respondent\u27s position and reversed. ============================== Labor Law--Strikes-Union Has Implied Obligation Under No-Strike Clause to Use Every Reasonable Means to End Wildcat Strike Pursuant to section 301 of the Labor-Management Relations Act,\u27 plaintiff employers brought an action against defendant local and international unions for damages resulting from wildcat strikes. Plaintiffs alleged that defendants\u27 failure to use every reasonable means to end the strikes constituted a breach of no-strike provisions\u27 in their collective bargaining agreements. Defendants asserted that a provision of the agreement stating that the Union would not be liable for any unauthorized acts of members expressly precluded union liability for such unauthorized strikes.\u27 The federal district court held, judgment for plaintiffs. ============================ Securities Regulation-Inside Information-Tippees Accountable at Common Law to Corporation for Profits Gained by Use of Inside Information Plaintiffs, corporate stockholders of Lum\u27s, Inc., brought a derivative action against an investment firm, its stockbroker, and two mutual funds,\u27 claiming profits that defendant mutual funds had realized upon their timely sale of stock in the corporation before the stock declined in price. Defendants had made the sale after receiving confidential information in the form of a tip by the corporation\u27s president. Although the corporation suffered no alleged specific damages from the sale, plaintiffs contended that defendant\u27s use of confidential information received while engaged in a common enterprise with an insider violated a state common law fiduciary duty\u27 owed to the corporation

The Law and Economics of Organ Procurement

This paper presents an economic analysis of the organ procurement system in the U.S. and examines proposals to alleviate the shortage of transplantable organs. The paper\u27s principal conclusions are: (1) Although non-market solutions deserve the highest priority, demand increases fueled by improvements in transplant technology will probably make some market-based solution necessary in the future. (2) Quality deterioration and coercion will not necessarily be worrisome problems under a market-based procurement system