Also known as: usefulness · usefully
Written by attorneys — see sources below.
A quality of having practical value or serving a concrete purpose within a legal rule or doctrine rather than remaining speculative or without application. The standard requires that the thing or arrangement actually accomplish its intended function when employed in the relevant setting.
Ulysses Maritime develops a new navigation device that functions reliably at sea. Congress includes funding for its development under the power to promote useful arts. The device qualifies because it performs its intended function in actual maritime operations.
Upland Industries holds an easement allowing water access across neighboring land. Upon sale of the parcel the easement benefits the buyer more than the original owner after transfer. The benefit is therefore appurtenant because it serves a purpose more useful to the successor.
Ulric Ung lives with extended relatives in a single home under a zoning ordinance. The arrangement supplies practical daily support that a smaller household could not provide. The court recognizes the living setup as useful to the family's welfare under constitutional liberty interests.
In early 1973, Mrs. Inez Moore received a notice of violation from the city of East Cleveland. The notice stated that her grandson John Moore, Jr., was an illegal occupant of her home. It directed her to comply with the housing ordinance. Mrs. Moore lived in her East Cleveland home together with her son Dale Moore, Sr., and her two grandsons Dale Moore, Jr., and John Moore, Jr. John came to live with her after his mother's death when he was less than one year old. When she failed to remove John from the home, the city filed a criminal charge against her. Mrs. Moore moved to dismiss the charge. She claimed that the ordinance was constitutionally invalid on its face. Her motion was overruled. Upon conviction she was sentenced to five days in jail and a $25 fine. The East Cleveland ordinance limited occupancy of a dwelling unit to members of a single family. The ordinance defined family to include only a husband or wife of the nominal head of the household, unmarried children of the head or spouse provided they have no children residing with them, a parent of the head or spouse, or not more than one dependent child of the head or spouse along with that child's spouse and dependent children. The Ohio Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction after giving full consideration to her constitutional claims. The Ohio Supreme Court denied review of the case. The United States Supreme Court noted probable jurisdiction of her appeal.
View caseUnison Media receives a large punitive damages verdict after misleading consumers. The court applies guideposts to determine whether the award remains useful for deterrence without becoming grossly excessive. The ratio between compensatory and punitive amounts supplies one measurable factor.
In January 1990, Dr. Ira Gore, Jr., purchased a black BMW sports sedan for $40,750.88 from an authorized dealer in Birmingham, Alabama. The vehicle had been manufactured in Germany by BMW and shipped to the United States, where an independent service company in Brunswick, Georgia, determined that its finish had been damaged by acid rain during transit from Europe and refinished it at a cost of $601.37 before delivery to the Birmingham dealership. At the time of the purchase, BMW of North America, Inc., maintained a policy of not disclosing to dealers or customers that a new vehicle had been refinished if the cost of the repairs was less than 3 percent of the suggested retail price, and the refinishing cost for Gore's car amounted to approximately 1.5 percent of that price. After driving the car for about nine months, Gore took it to an independent detailer, who informed him that the car had been repainted. Gore then filed suit against BMW of North America, Inc., alleging fraud under Alabama law for the failure to disclose the repainting. At trial, BMW acknowledged that it had sold approximately 983 refinished cars as new in the United States since 1983, including 14 in Alabama, without disclosing the repairs when the cost exceeded $300 per vehicle. The jury awarded Gore $4,000 in compensatory damages, representing the difference in value between the car as delivered and its value had it not been refinished, along with $4 million in punitive damages. BMW moved to set aside the punitive damages award, introducing evidence that its nondisclosure policy aligned with the laws of roughly 25 states that required disclosure only for repairs exceeding 3 percent of the suggested retail price. The trial court denied the motion. On appeal, the Alabama Supreme Court affirmed the judgment but reduced the punitive damages to $2 million after applying factors from Green Oil Co. v. Hornsby and Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Co. v. Haslip, concluding that the jury's award was excessive but that $2 million remained permissible. The Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari to review the case.
View caseUrsula Ung owns a historic terminal building. City rules prevent construction of a taller structure above it. The restrictions preserve the building's existing usefulness as a transportation hub while limiting new profitable uses.
In 1965 New York City enacted the Landmarks Preservation Law, which created an eleven-member Landmarks Preservation Commission and authorized it to designate buildings at least thirty years old that possess special historical or aesthetic interest. The law required owners of designated landmarks to obtain Commission approval before altering exterior architectural features and imposed an affirmative duty to keep those features in good repair. In August 1967 the Commission designated Grand Central Terminal a landmark and the city tax block it occupies a landmark site; the Board of Estimate confirmed the designation the following month. Penn Central Transportation Co. and its affiliates owned the Terminal, an eight-story Beaux-Arts structure completed in 1913 that served as the main station for the New York Central and Harlem lines. On January 22, 1968, Penn Central entered a fifty-year renewable lease with UGP Properties, Inc., under which UGP agreed to construct a multistory office building cantilevered above the Terminal and to pay Penn Central at least three million dollars annually after construction. Penn Central and UGP submitted two plans prepared by architect Marcel Breuer: Breuer I, a fifty-five-story tower resting on the Terminal roof, and Breuer II Revised, a fifty-three-story building that would have removed part of the 42d Street facade. After four days of hearings at which over 80 witnesses testified, the Commission denied this application as to both proposals. Penn Central filed suit in New York Supreme Court, Trial Term, seeking a declaratory judgment, injunctive relief, and damages for a temporary taking. The trial court granted the injunctive and declaratory relief. The Appellate Division reversed, holding that Penn Central had failed to prove deprivation of all reasonable beneficial use. The New York Court of Appeals affirmed, concluding that the Terminal could still earn a reasonable return and that transferable development rights provided significant compensation. The Supreme Court noted probable jurisdiction.
View caseUsman Uddin holds a beneficial interest in a trust. The trustee publishes notice of an accounting in a newspaper. The method supplies useful information to known beneficiaries who can then protect their interests in the proceeding.
In January 1946, Central Hanover Bank and Trust Company established a common trust fund in accordance with New York Banking Law § 100-c. In March 1947, the bank petitioned the Surrogate's Court for settlement of its first account as common trustee. During the accounting period a total of 113 trusts, approximately half inter vivos and half testamentary, participated in the common trust fund, the gross capital of which was nearly three million dollars. The record does not show the number or residence of the beneficiaries, but they were many and it is clear that some of them were not residents of the State of New York. The only notice given beneficiaries of this specific application was by publication in a local newspaper in strict compliance with the minimum requirements of N.Y. Banking Law § 100-c (12). The notice set forth merely the name and address of the trust company, the name and the date of establishment of the common trust fund, and a list of all participating estates, trusts or funds. At the time the first investment in the common fund was made on behalf of each participating estate, however, the trust company, pursuant to the requirements of § 100-c (9), had notified by mail each person of full age and sound mind whose name and address were then known to it and who was entitled to share in the income therefrom or who would be entitled to share in the principal if the event upon which such estate, trust or fund will become distributable should have occurred at the time of sending such notice. Upon the filing of the petition for the settlement of accounts, appellant was, by order of the court pursuant to § 100-c (12), appointed special guardian and attorney for all persons known or unknown not otherwise appearing who had or might thereafter have any interest in the income of the common trust fund, and appellee Vaughan was appointed to represent those similarly interested in the principal. There were no other appearances on behalf of any one interested in either interest or principal. Appellant appeared specially, objecting that notice and the statutory provisions for notice to beneficiaries were inadequate to afford due process under the Fourteenth Amendment, and therefore that the court was without jurisdiction to render a final and binding decree. Appellant's objections were entertained and overruled, the Surrogate holding that the notice required and given was sufficient. A final decree accepting the accounts has been entered, affirmed by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, and by the Court of Appeals of the State of New York. The effect of this decree, as held below, is to settle all questions respecting the management of the common fund. The decree is made binding and conclusive as to any matter set forth in the account upon everyone having any interest in the common fund or in any participating estate, trust or fund.
View caseAn invention is useful when it has a practical application that accomplishes its purpose in industry. Mere curiosities without intelligent purpose do not meet the standard.
No. The clause authorizes Congress to promote science and useful arts through exclusive rights to authors and inventors. It supplies one enumerated power among many listed in Article I Section 8.
A servitude benefit is appurtenant when it serves a purpose more useful to a successor property owner than to the original beneficiary after transfer of that interest to a successor. The comparison focuses on the practical advantage to the new holder of the benefited land.