Federal Fair Housing Act - Civil Procedure - Past Paper, Exams of Civil procedure

Download Federal Fair Housing Act - Civil Procedure - Past Paper and more Exams Civil procedure in PDF only on Docsity! Page 1 of 7 UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF LAW CIVIL PROCEDURE (4 Hours 50 Minutes) Day Division, 21893 & 21894 Wednesday, May 7, 2003 Professor Marina Hsieh 8:10am - 1:00pm No. ___________ Signature: _______________________ Print Name: ______________________ INSTRUCTIONS: 1. Honor Code. Student conduct, during exams and at all other times, is governed by the Student Honor Code. This examination is open book, but you may not consult with any person during this exam. 2. Signing and numbering. Sign and print your name in the blanks above. Put your pre- assigned exam number for Civil Procedure in the blank above and on each of your answers to the examination (blue books, hard or electronic pages or discs/CDs) and on the envelope. Both the envelope and your answers should contain your exam number, the course name, and the instructor's name. Do not put your name anywhere on the envelope or answers. If submitting to Blackboard’s Dropbox, include your exam number on each page of your file. 3. Submission. Upon completion of the examination, you may submit your answers via Blackboard’s Dropbox. Alternatively, put your answers in the envelope, fasten the flap with the clasp, and hand in the envelope to the exam administrator. Be sure to enclose all of your answers; you will be graded only on what is inside the envelope or in the Dropbox. Multiple submissions will not be accepted. 4. Time. You will be graded only on answers turned in to the exam administrator or time stamped by Blackboard’s Digital Dropbox within the announced time. The examination consists of 100 minutes of 4 essay questions based on a hypothetical, and 70 minutes of 10 short answer questions. Answers will be weighted in proportion to the suggested times. You have been given an additional 120 minutes to use as you wish. 5. Computers. Students may use computers for word processing and may have access to the Internet on this examination. Students are required to provide their own computers and must type their exam answer in Word 2000 or XP. Students may bring their own printer and turn in a hard copy, printing the answer within the time allotted for the examination; submit two discs or two CDs (a main disc/CD and a backup disc/CD.); or deliver their Word file to the Digital Dropbox via the Internet. Other than electrical/Internet hookups, law school facilities/computers in the TAL Center, the Clinic, student journal offices, other offices in the law school and pay-for-print Page 2 of 7 stations may not be used by students. If a student does not submit a hard copy and the student’s exam answers cannot be printed from either disc/CD or the Dropbox, the student will receive a grade of NC, No Credit. 5. Special Instructions. Your submitted answers must not exceed a total of 4,000 words. If possible, include the Word “Word Count” in your document, or note an estimate of your Words if handwriting. If typing, please use at least a 12-point font, double space, leave 1” margins on all sides, and put the page number and your exam number on every page. If writing by hand, use blue or black ink, write only on every other line and on only one side of each page. ///// Page 5 of 7 mothers of all of his children, “legitimate, illegitimate, natural or adopted.” b) Serves interrogatories on the gardener’s wife, who, according to old-timers at Azalea Estates, spends all her days watching the garden from her bedroom window. The interrogatories ask whether she saw Eric, Fluffy, her husband and the guard in the garden on April 1, 2003, and to describe what she saw. c) Serves on RDI a request for production of the security guard’s daily log and any report about the April 1, 2003 incident. Everyone objects to the discovery requests against them, so after reaching an impasse, Eric files motions to compel. Ruling 4 (25 minutes): What are the best arguments in each discovery dispute, and how should the Court rule on each? PART II (70 minutes, 10 Questions) Answer each question briefly. If reasons are requested, confine them to a few sentences. Question 1: Assuming complete diversity of parties, which, if any, of each of these claims may the federal court hear? a) Pat sues Dan for $75,000 for damages to her boat. b) Pat sues Dan for $100,000 for damages to her boat; Dan counterclaims for $5,000 for damages to his dock, where the boat crashed. c) Pat sues Don for $60,000 for damages to her boat, and $20,000 for an unrelated promissory note. d) Pat and her husband were both injured when Don hits them with his boat. Each seeks $50,000 for physical injuries. Question 2: Omega sues Alpha Corporation in Federal Court, claiming that Alpha fired him from its Georgia plant in violation of the Federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act. In a second claim, Omega alleges that Alpha violated his contract of employment by firing him without good cause. Assume that the majority of states make a “bad faith discharge” actionable if an employee is fired without cause. In Georgia the last Supreme Court case was 30 years ago and held that employers legally can fire a worker at any time without cause. In deciding the breach of contract claim, which of the following is the best course of action for the Federal Court, and why? a) Apply federal law, because it has subject matter jurisdiction over the case based on federal “arising under” jurisdiction. b) Apply the modern majority standard recognizing bad faith discharges. c) Apply Georgia’s common law “at will” standard to the claim. d) Dismiss the state law contract claim, because it lacks subject matter jurisdiction over it. Question 3: Yeazell says that the conclusion of Stewart v. Ricoh, CB 297, “represents very nearly a full circle back to Swift v. Tyson.” What does he mean by this? Page 6 of 7 Question 4: In Continental Casualty v. Suggs, PWLC, et al., the legal issue is whether PWLC’s professional liability insurance policy covers the damages sought in the underlying case of Suggs v. PWLC, pending in state court in the Middle District of NC. The District Court found that “the Policy was issued by Continental, a New York corporation, produced by an Ohio-based insurance agency, and delivered to PWLC, an Ohio corporation, at its Ohio offices. All negotiations took place in Ohio.” It is undisputed that at least one Defendant PWLC franchise, two of its Defendant owners, and some of the 2,000 state class action Plaintiffs live in the EDNC, other Defendants and Plaintiffs in the MDNC, and some Defendant and Plaintiffs out of the state of NC itself. What specific venue provision(s) should govern in this case? Should the District Court’s ruling that venue is proper in the E.D. NC be affirmed? Question 5: Explain how, under the Federal Rules, some defendants can be properly sued without ever being served with process. Question 6: Identify at least two ways the current Federal Rules of Civil Procedure increase parties’ incentives to plead with more particularity than is required by Rule 8. Question 7 & 8 (14 minutes total): George sues Oprah, alleging that she assaulted his prize cow. How should the Court rule given the following fact patterns, and in a sentence or two, why? a) In her Answer, Oprah denies that she ever touched the cow, and moves to dismiss George’s complaint under FRCP 12(c). How should the court rule? b) Assume Oprah also alleges the affirmative defense of self-defense in her Answer. She then attaches the affidavits of Dr. Laura, Colin Powell, and Billy Graham, all of whom swear they saw the incident, and that George’s cow had stampeded toward Oprah without warning. Has Oprah met her burden of production to move for a summary judgment on the issue of her affirmative defense? c) George files an opposition to the MSJ attaching an affidavit from Larry King, who swears he heard about the bovine brawl and “on information and belief” thinks Oprah started it. Result? d) What if George instead responds with deposition testimony from an alcoholic, indicted member of the beef lobby who swears he saw the incident and that Oprah had attacked the heifer without provocation. Result? e) Assume the George v. Oprah case goes to trial. George presents his case, relying heavily on the beef lobbyist’s testimony that: “For no apparent reason, Oprah kicked the cow, causing it to rear up on its back legs and dance away.” At the close of George’s case, Oprah moves for a judgment as a matter of law. Result? f) Assume the trial goes forward. Oprah presents the testimony of her three eyewitnesses and a cattle expert who testified that cows can’t stand on their hind legs. The jury returns a verdict for George. Oprah makes a renewed motion for a judgment as a matter of law. Result? g) Should Oprah succeed on a motion for a new trial? Question 9: Goldberg v. Kelly investigates how much process is required for constitutional fairness. What policy values does the device of a new trial motion serve, if any? At what cost? Page 7 of 7 Question 10: Assume that the time for Joanne Flynn to appeal Judge Wood’s JNOV decision in Flynn v. Goldman, Sachs has run, but that the statutes of limitations for Federal Title VII and New York State Human Rights laws claims have not. Joanne now files a suit in New York state court against James Clovis, the independent consultant who recommended that Goldman, Sachs hire Doris Smith. She claims Clovis violated Title VII and the NYHR law in his role in the hiring. Clovis moves to dismiss her claims on res judicata grounds. How should the state court rule? Why?