Paralegal

1.Richard, a resident of Raleigh, North Carolina, files a lawsuit against Brad, who lives in Durham, North Carolina. Richard files his action in North Carolina state trial court. His complaint reads, in whole:

“The Plaintiff alleges:
1. On or about April 5, 2013, Brad walked into Richard’s office and there illegally and feloniously assaulted and battered Richard, thereby causing to Richard great pain and suffering.
2. On or about April 5, 2013, Brad caused Richard to be unlawfully confined in a bound area, causing great physical and emotional suffering on the part of Richard.
3. As a proximate result of Brad’s wrongful and unlawful conduct, Richard suffered physical and emotional injuries worth the sum of $200,000.
Wherefore, Plaintiff demands that Brad be forced to pay to Richard the sum of $200,000 in compensatory damages, $1,000,000 in punitive damages and any other relief that the court deems just and proper.”

The complaint is properly captioned, signed and served on Brad.

1) Brad moves to dismiss the action on the ground that the complaint was not specific enough and therefore must be dismissed because it fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Under North Carolina case law, is Brad correct? This part of the assignment should be answered in essay/ IRAC form.

2) Do you see anything else that is missing from the complaint that makes it defective? If so, what? (and yes, you can infer from the question that there is something else that makes this complaint defective beside the issue addressed in question #1.) This part of the assignment can be answered in as little as one sentence.

 

 

3. Assume that Andy’s Auctions, Inc. is a corporation with its principal place of business in Illinois. Mike is a proprietor of a small shop in Georgia that sells used motorcycles. Andy’s calls Mike and offers to sell Mike 25 used motorcycles he has on his auction lot. Mike signs a contract with Andy’s Auctions, Inc. to purchase the motorcycles. Mike has never been to Illinois; all of his business with Andy’s Actions, Inc. was done either online or via telephone. Mike, of course, knows that Andy’s Auctions, Inc. has its principle place of business in Illinois.

When Mike receives the motorcycles, he examines them and discovers that five of the bikes are damaged and do not conform to the contract, that states the bikes will be delivered in excellent condition. Mike pays Andy for 20 bikes and refuses to pay for the five damaged bikes. Andy disagrees with Mike and files a lawsuit in the circuit court in Illinois claiming that the bikes do conform to the contract and that Mike owes him the purchase price for all 25 bikes. Mike claims that the Illinois court has no personal jurisdiction over him, while Andy claims that the state does have jurisdiction over him because he knowingly did business with an Illinois company. Assume that there is no applicable possibility of quasi in rem jurisdiction.

Please write an IRAC-style essay explaining whether Illinois likely to have personal jurisdiction over Mike.

NOTE: Please disregard the contract issue for purposes of this assignment. Focus on personal jurisdiction, only.

 

we will attempt to utilize some of the concepts of legal writing that we will discuss in class. Below you will find an essay that, to put it mildly, needs a bit of work. The wording is verbose and uses “slang”. There is no focus or organization to the essay and the case citations are in the wrong places and in the incorrect format.

Your assignment is to:

1) Critique the essay and explain, point by point, what is wrong with the essay; and

2) Re-write (salvage) the essay in a style and format that is appropriate for a legal document. You can assume that the cases cited are at least appropriate for the propositions that they purport to support and you need not find new cases. However, confirming that the appropriate statutes or sections of those cases are cited is important. If necessary, you should find the appropriate statute to cite and cite it.

Here we go…:

This story is replete with fascinating facts and the intricacies that are inherent in the facts of the case make for a great story. The baseball bat was broken from the outset when it was bought by the plaintiff. Therefore, the defendant should have to return the baseball bat and pay the money back to the plaintiff that plaintiff paid for said bat. The plaintiff bought a baseball bat from the defendant and the baseball bat turned out to be broken since as soon as the defendant used the bat to play baseball, the bat shattered into a million pieces. Shattering into a million pieces certainly violates the implied warranty of merchantability under the Uniform Commercial Code (“U.C.C.”). INDUSTRIA DE CALCADOS MARTINI LTDA. v. MAXWELL SHOE CO., INC. No. 92-P-1322 APPEALS COURT OF MASSACHUSETTS 36 Mass. App. Ct. 268; 630 N.E.2d 299; 1994 Mass. App. LEXIS 274; 23 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (Callaghan) 89 December 20, 1993, Argued March 21, 1994, Decided. Also, there’s a case that expounded upon this issue and told us that a baseball bat can’t crack when it’s used normally. Otherwise, the store has to give back the money to the plaintiff. Laurence Dudzik et al., Plaintiffs, v. Klein’s All Sports, Defendant. SC# 92-390 JUSTICE COURT OF NEW YORK, TOWN OF COLONIE, ALBANY COUNTY 158 Misc. 2d 72; 600 N.Y.S.2d 1013; 1993 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 272; 21 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (Callaghan) 592 June 9, 1993, Decided. 

The extrapolation that can be clearly drawn from these cases is that if a plaintiff buys a baseball bat, the said bat must be in that condition that was represented to the heretofore named parties. At least, the bat must be in sufficient marketable condition so that the implied warranty owing from the party of the first part to the party of the second part must be sustained. Also, as if those cases weren’t enough, the U.C.C. demands that goods must be in good condition when they are sold. I can’t show exactly where in the U.C.C. it says this, but that’s the general feeling I got from reading the U.C.C.

For the re-write, you do NOT need a full IRAC-style essay. Just make the same point as the essay above was trying to make in a more effective manner.

 

6. Please find all of the following cases on Lexis.

1) State for each case whether it is still good law and explain your reasoning; and

2) upon which (if any) court or courts the case is binding authority and explain your reasoning.

1. Harper & Row, Publrs. v. Nation Enters., 471 U.S. 539 (1985).
2. Schneider v. Finmann, 15 N.Y.3d 306 (2010).
3. Thompson v. Moore,72 Ohio App. 539 (1943).
4. Dillworth v. Gambardella, 776 F. Supp. 170 (D. Vt. 1991).
5. People v. Jackson, 150 Cal. App. 3d Supp. 1 (Cal. App. Dep’t Super. Ct. 1983).