Civil Procedure
Spring 2008
Prof. Joan Steinman

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Syllabus

Syllabus
Personal Jurisdiction
Subject Matter Jurisdiction
Choosing the Law to be Applied
Pleadings
Pretrial Discovery
arrow Summary Judgment
Preclusive Effects
   

Syllabus

Downloadable Version

REQUIRED MATERIALS

Marcus, Redish & Sherman, Civil Procedure: A Modern Approach (4th ed. 2005), and the 2007 Teacher’s Update (which I will provide you);
Cound, Friendenthal, Miller, Sexton, 2007 Civil Procedure Supplement
or some other edition of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure;
Stern, The Buffalo Creek Disaster.

AVAILABLE SECONDARY MATERIALS

Hornbooks

Friedenthal, Kane & Miller, Civil Procedure (4d ed. 2005)
James, Hazard & Leubsdorf, Civil Procedure (5th ed. 2001)
Teply & Whitten, Civil Procedure (3d ed. 2004)
Wright & Kane, Federal Courts (6th ed. 2002)
Shreve & Raven-Hansen, Understanding Civil Procedure (3d ed. 2002)

Paperbacks

There are other texts, and several outlines and Q&A books designed for students, that you might find helpful. I do not know their content well enough to recommend one over another. The ones I am aware of include works by Mullenix, Miller & Friedenthal, Glannon, Freer/Redish, Clermont, Dittfurth, and Dorsaneo/Thornburg. Among other things, there is Emanual; Quick Review - Sum & Substance; Roadmap; Black Letter series; First Year Key Review; and Civil Procedure in a Nutshell.

So, there’s an abundance of aids. You should not feel obliged to buy any of them, but they exist and you can consult them, if you think that doing so would be helpful.

CLASS SCHEDULE

Class will meet on Mondays, Tuesdays, & Thursdays from 9:35-11:10 a.m. in room 510, beginning on Tuesday, January 22nd.

CLASS PARTICIPATION AND GRADES

Those students who, in my judgment, make particularly valuable contributions to the class may have their grades raised above their final examination grade by a half-grade (for example, B to B+). By the same token, chronic lack of preparation or chronic absence may be penalized by deduction of a half grade from your final exam grade to arrive at your course grade. If you attend fewer than 70% of the classes (fewer than 29 of 42) you may not be permitted to take the final exam and may be dropped from the course.

 

COURSE OUTLINE

The course will begin with an examination of constitutional limitations on the ability of a private plaintiff to sue a private defendant on a civil claim. It then will focus upon the process of civil litigation in the federal court system. The topics we will address, in varying degrees of detail, include: personal and subject-matter jurisdiction, pleadings and challenges thereto, pretrial discovery, and adjudication without trial. Time permitting, we will do more.

All page references are to Marcus, Redish & Sherman, Civil Procedure: A Modern Approach (4th ed. 2005). Always read the corresponding pages in the 2007 Teacher’s Update, as well. (Selected portions of Chapters I and II on Choosing a System of Procedure and on The Rewards and Costs of Litigation previously were assigned for background.)

In addition, we will periodically refer in class to The Buffalo Creek Disaster by Gerald Stern, as an example of how procedure works.

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Last Updated: March 26, 2008