ALIENS - DEPORTATION - CRIMES INVOLVING MORAL TURPITUDE

The petitioner in this case was an alien who had been convicted of smuggling into and concealing within the United States illegally imported alcohol. He was sentenced to serve a year and a day in a federal penitentiary. Upon his release, he was arrested and ordered deported under the Immigration Act of 1917, as an alien who after February 5, 1917 was sentenced to imprisonment for a term of more than a year because of conviction in this country of a crime involving moral turpitude, committed within five years after his entry to the United States. Petitioner seeks release on habeas corpus on the ground that the crime for which he was sentenced did not involve moral turpitude. Held, that the petition should be denied. Smuggling goods into the United States with intent to defraud the revenue is dishonest and fraudulent and involves moral turpitude. Guarneri v. Kessler, (C. C. A. 5th, 1938) 98 F. (2d) 580

UNITED STATES - GOVERNMENT CORPORATIONS - HOME OWNERS\u27 LOAN CORPORATION NOT SUABLE IN TORT

An action was brought in tort for damages sustained in a fall on ice on the sidewalk in front of premises which were in the possession and control of the Home Owners\u27 Loan corporation. The defendant corporation was created under the Home Owners\u27 Loan Act passed by Congress in 1933 which provides that it shall have authority to sue and to be sued in any court of competent jurisdiction, Federal or State. The corporation moved to dismiss the action, claiming that as an instrumentality of the United States it could not be sued without the consent of Congress and that consent had not been given to an action sounding in tort. Held, that the Home Owners\u27 Loan Corporation was not subject to a tort action and that the suit should be dismissed. Prato v. Home Owners\u27 Loan Corporation, (D. C. Mass. 1938) 24 F. Supp. 844

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

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 other words, under the Conformity Act and the rule of Swift v. Tyson, the federal courts in matters not covered by statute were free to apply their own rules as to substantive law, but had to follow the state courts in procedural matters

APPEAL AND ERROR - THE ADMINISTRATOR AS A PARTY AGGRIEVED BY PROBATE OF WILL

In an action to prove the existence of a lost will executed by the deceased, judgment was rendered setting up the lost will and revoking the letters of administration which had been issued. The administrator appealed from this order, and the appellee moved to dismiss the appeal on the ground that the administrator had no such interest as entitled him to review. The governing statute permitted appeal by any party aggrieved by any final order, judgment, or decree. Held, that the administrator who has qualified as such was entitled to appeal under the statute, as the party aggrieved by the probate of the will. Webb v. Lohnes, (App. D. C. 1938) 96 F. (2d) 582

NEGLIGENCE - CONTRIBUTORY NEGLIGENCE - LAST CLEAR CHANCE DOCTRINE APPLIED TO THE PLAINTIFF - NECESSITY OF ACTUAL KNOWLEDGE OF DANGER

The plaintiff was injured in a collision of the automobile in which she was riding, driven by her husband, and one driven by the defendant. The defendant, as an affirmative defense, alleged that as he was about to enter the intersection, his car skidded and went out of control; and that both the plaintiff and her husband saw the dangerous situation in sufficient time to have avoided the accident. The court instructed the jury that if the plaintiff or her husband saw, or by the exercise of reasonable diligence could have seen, that the defendant was in a place of danger and that by the exercise of reasonable diligence on their part they could have avoided injuring him, and that they failed to exercise such diligence, then the plaintiff could not recover. Held, this instruction was erroneous. A defendant may be entitled to the application of the last clear chance doctrine, but before it can apply there must be actual knowledge of the dangerous situation of the other person. The duty to avoid one who has negligently placed himself in a situation of danger arises only when his position is actually known, not when it ought, in the exercise of reasonable diligence, to have been known. Rew v. Dorn, (Ore. 1938) 85 P. (2d) 1031

UNITED STATES - GOVERNMENT CORPORATIONS - IMMUNITY FROM SUIT

The Emergency Relief and Construction Act, passed by Congress in 1932, authorized the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to create regional agricultural corporations, but did not expressly provide that such corporations might sue and be sued. However, Congress had made express provision to this effect with respect to the R. F. C. itself. The Regional Agricultural Credit Corporation of Sioux City, Iowa, was chartered by the R. F. C. in accordance with the statute. The plaintiff brought this action to recover damages for injuries to livestock alleged to have resulted from the negligence of the Regional Corporation in not providing proper care for the cattle delivered to it under a cattle feeding contract. The Regional Corporation demurred on the ground that it was a governmental agency and therefore not subject to suit. Held, that the Regional Corporation was not immune from suit in this action and judgment should be rendered against it. Keifer & Keifer v. Reconstruction Finance Corporation, (U.S. 1939) 59 S. Ct. 516

SALES - EFFECT OF BUYER\u27S INSOLVENCY ON SELLER\u27S DUTY TO DELIVER OR TENDER GOODS

The plaintiff ordered goods from the defendant for immediate delivery, terms, $1,500 down, balance in three and six months, notes being given for the unpaid balance. The defendant accepted the order. When the check which the plaintiff gave for the down payment was dishonored, the defendant investigated his financial condition and discovered that there were a number of unsatisfied judgments against him. On learning this, the defendant notified the plaintiff that he could not make the sale on credit but would do so on a cash basis. Upon the plaintiff\u27s refusal to accede, the defendant notified him that the order had been cancelled and returned the check, whereupon plaintiff brought suit for breach of contract. Held, a seller of goods on credit, upon learning of his buyer\u27s insolvency, may refuse to deliver except for cash; the fact that the buyer has given a note for the price, payable at the expiration of the credit, does not vary the rule; neither need tender of the goods be made with the seller\u27s demand for cash. Rock-Ola Mfg. Corp. v. Leopold, (C. C. A. 5th, 1938) 98 F. (2d) 196

161. The Potential Role of Extensor Muscle Fatigue in the Onset of Intervertebral Disc Degeneration: A Novel In Vivo Model

BACKGROUND CONTEXT: Occupation is strongly correlated to low back pain (LBP). Specific occupational activities associated with low back pain include poor posture, whole body vibration, and repetitive lifting. These activities have a common link: they result in fatigue of the primary spinal extensor musculature. This fatigue may lead to increased intervertebral loading - a stimulus for disc degeneration. If true, this association could provide a vital connection between detrimental physical activities and LBP. However, the link between muscle fatigue and increased load across the disc space has never been quantified in vivo. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to develop and test a wireless multi-axial force-sensing implant and large animal model of primary extensor muscle fatigue. Combined, these tools allow measurement of in vivo spinal forces during muscle fatigue to quantify changes in spine loading

Altered Neurocircuitry in the Dopamine Transporter Knockout Mouse Brain

The plasma membrane transporters for the monoamine neurotransmitters dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine modulate the dynamics of these monoamine neurotransmitters. Thus, activity of these transporters has significant consequences for monoamine activity throughout the brain and for a number of neurological and psychiatric disorders. Gene knockout (KO) mice that reduce or eliminate expression of each of these monoamine transporters have provided a wealth of new information about the function of these proteins at molecular, physiological and behavioral levels. In the present work we use the unique properties of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to probe the effects of altered dopaminergic dynamics on meso-scale neuronal circuitry and overall brain morphology, since changes at these levels of organization might help to account for some of the extensive pharmacological and behavioral differences observed in dopamine transporter (DAT) KO mice. Despite the smaller size of these animals, voxel-wise statistical comparison of high resolution structural MR images indicated little morphological change as a consequence of DAT KO. Likewise, proton magnetic resonance spectra recorded in the striatum indicated no significant changes in detectable metabolite concentrations between DAT KO and wild-type (WT) mice. In contrast, alterations in the circuitry from the prefrontal cortex to the mesocortical limbic system, an important brain component intimately tied to function of mesolimbic/mesocortical dopamine reward pathways, were revealed by manganese-enhanced MRI (MEMRI). Analysis of co-registered MEMRI images taken over the 26 hours after introduction of Mn^(2+) into the prefrontal cortex indicated that DAT KO mice have a truncated Mn^(2+) distribution within this circuitry with little accumulation beyond the thalamus or contralateral to the injection site. By contrast, WT littermates exhibit Mn^(2+) transport into more posterior midbrain nuclei and contralateral mesolimbic structures at 26 hr post-injection. Thus, DAT KO mice appear, at this level of anatomic resolution, to have preserved cortico-striatal-thalamic connectivity but diminished robustness of reward-modulating circuitry distal to the thalamus. This is in contradistinction to the state of this circuitry in serotonin transporter KO mice where we observed more robust connectivity in more posterior brain regions using methods identical to those employed here