Acing Civil Procedure
Author:
Spencer, A. Benjamin
Edition:
5th
Copyright Date:
2019
18 chapters
have results for acing civil procedure
Conclusion: General Examination Tips 209 3 results
- I truly hope the above material will be helpful to you as you go through your civil procedure course and examination. Acing civil procedure is not difficult with the right amount of study and preparation; these checklists should help you clearly organize procedural doctrines in a way that will make them manageable and facilitate your application of the doctrines to particular fact patterns. Good luck!
- ow that you have the full set of checklists for each of the topics that you will be grappling with on your examination, there are some final bits of advice to help you ace your civil procedure examination:
- It’s over! Don’t waste time talking with other classmates about the exam. You’ll just create more anxiety for yourself. Focus on the next exam; or, if civil procedure is your last exam, celebrate being done!
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Chapter 5 The Erie Doctrine 79 12 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Joseph W. Glannon, The Glannon Guide to Civil Procedure: Learning Civil Procedure Through Multiple-Choice Questions and Analysis
- which held that Rule 3 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (which indicates that an action commences at the time the complaint is filed) was inapplicable to the tolling of a state statute of limitations in a diversity action when there was a contrary state rule tolling the statute only upon receipt of service. The viability of by indicating that Rule 3 was not directly applicable to the tolling of statutes of limitations in diversity actions but rather was designed to govern the date from which various timing requirements of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure begin to run. Because Rule 3 was not controlling of the issue before the Court, there was no conflict between state and federal law, and the
- Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Rule 3
- line of cases was not applicable to the situation when there is a valid and applicable Federal Rule of Civil Procedure involved. Under such circumstances, said the Court, if the codified federal rule is directly applicable to the issue at hand, and if the rule is valid under the Rules Enabling Act
- , the Rules Enabling Act has been amended to permit rules that regulate “evidence” in addition to those that regulate procedure. (“The Supreme Court shall have the power to prescribe general rules of practice and procedure and rules of evidence for cases in the United States district courts . . . .”).
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Chapter 8 Discovery 153 2 results
- Federal civil discovery is governed by Rules 26 through 37 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (Rule 45, governing subpoenas, is relevant as well). The content of these rules could by itself occupy an entire course or textbook. Thus, here we will focus on those aspects of these rules typically covered in the basic first-year civil procedure course: the general scope of discovery, the workings of the six discovery mechanisms, and the nature of material that is protected from disclosure.
- iscovery is the process whereby parties to an action are able to obtain information from their adversaries regarding the various issues presented in the dispute. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure as adopted in 1938 provided for very broad discovery, something that was generally not the case prior to adoption of the Rules. Although several amendments to the discovery rules have restricted discovery in various ways, discovery under the Federal Rules remains relatively broad in its scope.
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Preface v 1 result
- This book was written to help the large number of students who emerge every year from their civil procedure courses dazed and confused. Civil procedure for many is the most confounding of subjects, dealing with technical arcana that beginning law students have a difficult time getting their minds around. Civil procedure does not have to be so difficult and indeed can be quite interesting to study. After teaching my own students the topic, I learned early on that they would benefit greatly from a useful organizing tool that brought all of the material for each subject together, not only in a way that would facilitate understanding, but also in a way that could be used to solve the problems they would face in working through classroom hypotheticals or examination questions. So I began developing checklists for their benefit that I presented to my students at the end of each unit. I found the students not only to be extremely grateful for this information, but it was universally...
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Chapter 6 Pleadings 95 2 results
- The pleadings material, as presented in most first-year civil procedure courses, focuses on the requirements for drafting pleadings, the circumstances under which the pleadings may be amended, and the rules for ensuring that allegations made in the pleadings are truthful. This chapter will address each of these matters in turn.
- Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2)
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- This chapter will not cover other post-trial motions, such as the motion for relief from judgment under Rule 60 or the motion to alter or amend the judgment under Rule 59(e), which are typically not covered in the basic first-year civil procedure course.
- The motion for judgment as a matter of law as provided for in Rule 50 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure is the federal equivalent of the traditional directed verdict motion and motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or j.n.o.v.
- , where it held that the Seventh Amendment does not preclude use of the directed verdict to prevent a jury from deciding a case primarily because at the time of the adoption of the Amendment in 1791 there were other procedures—namely the demurrer and the new trial order—that avoided the verdict of a jury.
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Title Page 2 results
Acing 1 result
- As noted at the outset of this chapter, class actions—a complex litigation topic not covered in all civil procedure courses—will not be discussed.
- Understanding Civil Procedure
- . This facet of the compulsory counterclaim rule is typically not discussed or tested in the basic first-year civil procedure course.
- Courts have not consistently applied the logical relationship test in a way that provides clear guidance for students of civil procedure. However, although the logical relationship standard does not provide a bright-
- 6 Charles Alan Wright, Arthur R. Miller & Edward H. Cooper, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1445 (3d ed. 2010)
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Copyright Page 1 result
- he Federal Rules provide for preliminary disposition of cases without trial through several procedural mechanisms. The devices typically covered in the basic first-year civil procedure course are those housed within Rule 12—often referred to as pre-answer motions—and the motion for summary judgment, which is governed by Rule 56. This chapter will focus on the standards and analyses applicable to these motions.
- The applicable standard of proof is a matter of substantive law connected with the underlying claim; typically, however, the standard is proof by a preponderance of the evidence in civil cases.
- If the party bearing the burden of proof at trial identifies factual information that can be reduced to admissible evidence that supports its claim—as opposed to mere opinions, unsupported allegations, or uncorroborated, self-interested testimony—then summary judgment against that party should probably be denied, assuming that the evidence supports the claim to the extent required by the applicable standard of proof at trial (typically a preponderance of the evidence in civil cases).
- (“By reading backwards from the directed verdict the Court transformed summary procedure into a full trial-before-trial.”).
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Chapter 11 Preclusion Doctrine 197 2 results
Introduction 1 3 results
- Unfortunately, my outlines never were able to provide me with anything more than a restatement of various principles of law or doctrine organized by topic; it remained for me to take those doctrines and apply them to the fact patterns presented in my exams. That process of applying legal principles to facts is a large part of what law school, law school exams, and lawyering are all about; knowing the relevant law is only half (oftentimes less than half) of the battle. So why were I and my fellow students devoting all of this time and energy into developing these miniature tomes on the law of Contracts, Torts, Civil Procedure, etc., and not putting more energy into developing a tool that could help guide our legal analysis of problems presented on exams?
- This book is not a hornbook and does not attempt to explain civil procedure doctrines in any great detail; rather, it merely seeks to organize doctrine into a dynamic tool that students can use to apply legal principles to fact patterns they will face on exams. Thus, students should use these checklists in conjunction with other substantive material in order best to prepare for their exams. That being said, use of these checklists should enhance the ability of the student to write reasoned and sound responses to examination questions. Further, these checklists should be helpful in putting the course material in perspective and providing a clearer picture of how the concepts students are learning should be integrated into a legal analysis. Finally, students should make sure to modify these
- The purpose of this book is to present law students with a comprehensive set of checklists pertaining to each of the topics typically covered in first-year federal civil procedure courses. The checklists are meant to provide students with a tool that facilitates their analysis of procedural problems. Each chapter will focus on a different topic, first presenting a brief review of the subject followed by the checklist for the subject. After the checklist has been presented, hypothetical problems will be analyzed to illustrate how the checklists can be used to resolve such problems. Each chapter will conclude with a section entitled “Points to Remember” to recapitulate key points that students need to remember when answering exam questions. A concluding chapter provides some final thoughts on preparing for and taking exams generally. At the end of the book there is an Appendix that presents condensed one- or two-page “mini-checklists” for each topic. Students may find these useful...
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About the Author vii 1 result
- . After law school, Professor Spencer served as a judicial law clerk for Judge Judith W. Rogers of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Before entering academia, Professor Spencer worked as a Litigation Associate at Shearman & Sterling and later worked as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Western District of Virginia. A member of the Civil Rules Advisory Committee of the U.S. Judicial Conference, the American Law Institute, and West Academic Publishing’s Law School Advisory Board, Professor Spencer teaches and writes in the area of civil procedure and federal courts. He also serves as an officer in the U.S. Army JAG Corps (Reserve).
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Chapter 2 Notice and the Opportunity to Be Heard 35 7 results (showing 5 best matches)
- ) for determining the validity of pre-deprivation procedures in Second, courts are to examine the risk of erroneous deprivation through the procedures under attack and the probable value of additional safeguards. These risks can be mitigated by procedures that require the plaintiff to make some showing of entitlement, that require that the plaintiff post a bond, or that involve a judge in making the determination, but such procedures need not be adversarial in nature.
- The city invoked this procedure with respect to Leonard’s 1955 Dodge. Leonard had parked the car lawfully on the street in front of his house but was traveling abroad for a three-month extended vacation. On his return he learned that his car had been impounded and destroyed. He sued to recover damages, arguing that the city’s deprivation procedure was constitutionally infirm for failing to provide him with a reasonable opportunity to be heard. How should the court rule on Leonard’s constitutional challenge?
- The issue here is whether the city’s deprivation procedure is defective for failing to provide an adequate hearing. Under , a three-pronged test is used to determine the adequacy of pre-deprivation procedures. First, the nature of the property interest at stake is evaluated. Here, the property interest is Leonard’s car. Presumably, this car is his primary means of transportation and is likely important in enabling Leonard to travel to work or to shop for necessities, although the facts do not disclose this information. In any event, it can be assumed that one’s interest in his or her vehicle is a sufficiently important interest such that it should not be violated absent adequate measures designed to protect the owner against a wrongful deprivation.
- Given these deficiencies in the city’s junk vehicle removal procedures, I would argue that Leonard’s constitutional argument is correct.
- The Due Process Clause does not require pre-deprivation hearings nor does it require that deprivation decisions be reviewed by a judge. Rather, the standard is a fact-dependent one that principally considers the protections against erroneous deprivation and the interests at stake. Thus, procedures that are adequate in one context may be inadequate in another.
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Chapter 3 Subject Matter Jurisdiction 45 4 results
- Two claims are involved here: one against Ann, the employer, and another against Liz, the co-worker. Regarding the claim against Ann, this claim is based on federal law because it is alleging a violation of federal civil rights law. As such, Oz’s claim against Ann qualifies for federal question jurisdiction.
- Oz, a citizen of Ohio, sued Ann, his employer and also a citizen of Ohio, in federal court alleging that Ann violated federal civil rights statutes by permitting her subordinates to engage in sexual harassment of Oz. Oz joins (under Rule 20) Liz as a defendant, a co-
- (CAFA cases), § 1442 (federal officer cases), and § 1443 (civil rights actions) are reviewable.
- (“The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action in which the matter in controversy exceeds the sum or value of $5,000,000, exclusive of interest and costs, and is a class action in which any member of a class of plaintiffs is a citizen of a State different from any defendant. . . .”).
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Appendix Mini-Checklists 213 1 result
Chapter 4 Venue 65 1 result
- Publication Date: June 10th, 2019
- ISBN: 9781642427011
- Subject: Civil Procedure
- Series: Acing Series
- Type: Exam Prep
- Description: Moving beyond the outline format used by most students, this book uses a checklist format to lead students through the questions they need to ask and answer to fully analyze the legal questions they are trying to resolve. It assembles the different issues, presenting a clear guide to procedural analysis that students can draw upon when writing their exams. Other study aids provide sample problems, but this book offers a systematic approach to problem solving.
