Professor Henry H. Perritt, Jr.
Civil Procedure (Three Hours)
Exam No. ___________
Fall 2006
Time: 1800-2100, 13 December 2006
Chicago-Kent College of
Final Examination in civil procedure
Instructions
1. This examination
consists of 8 pages. Please check to make certain you have the complete
examination, including the statutory and rule appendix.
2. Read
these instructions carefully, read each question, and read the appendix carefully.
As you answer each question, make
use of any materials in the appendix that are pertinent. Think each problem through before you write and treat every
appropriate issue in each question. Be direct and concise.
3. Answers
will be graded upon the reasons given as well as the conclusions drawn.
If more than one reason is
pertinent to an answer, state every reason.
4. While you have been permitted to bring
materials into the examination room, answering the questions appropriately will
put time pressure on you. You should not do extensive research during the
examination. Credit will be weighted according to the time allocations
shown. Manage your time accordingly.
5. You may decide, in answering one or
more questions, that a complete answer would require legal research. If
this is so, you should identify the specific issue that you would
research. If you have a mastery of the basic concepts, you will be able
to frame research issues very narrowly and precisely.
6. It also may be that more factual
information is required to answer a question. If this is the case, you
should say what factual information is required and why you need it. A
mastery of the underlying concepts will permit you to frame any factual
inquiries very narrowly and link them precisely to the legal issue involved.
7. Organization and clarity are very
important. A shorter answer that is well organized and evidences a clear
understanding of basic concepts and their interrelationships is better than a
long answer with disconnected fragments of information.
8. Do not write outside the margins of your
bluebook pages, but write clearly. If it’s not legible, it will not get
credit.
9. Write your examination number on your
bluebook(s) and on each page of this examination. Do not use your name.
10. When you have finished the examination place it inside your bluebook(s) and deposit them in the appropriate box in the examination room.
MATERIALS WHICH
Any material including any outlines
whether commercially prepared or not, whether accessible by computer or
not. No communication by e-mail, cell phone, voice-over-IP, or any form
of instant- or text-messaging is permitted during the exam.
GOOD LUCK!
CIVIL
PROCEDURE
Final
Examination
13 December
2006
QUESTION I
Tommy White was moving from
He took the car to
Alarmed and angry, he contacts you and asks you to represent
him in an action for breach of contract and conversion. He tells you that, due
to the time pressures of his new job, he would prefer to litigate in
The complaint has straightforward counts for breach of contract and conversion against the defendant and also contains the following paragraph under a heading that says, “COUNT 3 – WIRE FRAUD:”
“15. By breaching the contract and converting the jeep by means of fraudulent communications, the defendants violated the federal Wire Fraud Act [as set forth in the appendix to this exam].”
Immediately after filing suit, you obtain subpoenas from the
relevant courts and serve them on v-Bay and Yahoo, demanding contact information
for the buyer. Both firms respond and inform you that the buyer is one Dick
Cataldo, who lives in
You amend the complaint again to add Barton as a co-defendant, and to include a paragraph in the conversion count against her alleging that she was not a bona-fide purchaser for value because she knew or should have known that Cataldo was not the rightful owner. Thus, if she has the car, she is liable for converting it.
You mail a copy of the summons and complaint to Cataldo in
Documents potentially relevant to your analysis of the following questions are included in the appendix to this examination.
QUESTION II
Nicole Lular recently bought a new motorcycle from the local
Yamahonda dealer. She parked the motorcycle in a lawful parking space behind
Chicago-Kent College of Law while she attended classes. After class, when she
went outside to ride the motorcycle home, she was horrified to discover that it
had been smashed to smithereens. She immediately called you on her cellphone
and asked you to represent her in recovering enough money to allow her to buy a
new motorcycle. While the litigation is pending, she contracts with a limousine
service to transport her back and forth to law school from her home in northern
You agree, and you send your investigator, who used to work for the Central Intelligence Agency, to interview people who might have seen what happened. The investigator reports to you that a parking lot attendant who works behind the law school told him that he saw a late model Chevrolet Suburban deliberately drive into the motorcycle, apparently because the driver of the Suburban wanted to displace the motorcycle so he could park in the parking space. Your investigator also tells you that someone called the police, who responded and wrote a report. The investigator has been unable to get more information from the attendant or from the police, telling you that he has followed your instructions and has not used clandestine methods he learned in his former employment.
You file a civil action in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, against John Doe, as the sole defendant, asserting claims for conversion, and for violation of the federal War Crimes Act. Your investigator suggested the War Crimes Act claim just in case the driver of the Suburban turns out to be a member of an international terrorist organization. You know very little about the War Crimes Act and do not have time to conduct research about it, so you take his word for it.
The questions you pose may be pursued in multiple methods of discovery. Explain why some methods may be better suited for some questions than for others.
APPENDIX
Title VI. Civil Practice and Procedure
§ 48.193. Acts
subjecting person to jurisdiction of courts of state
(1) Any person, whether or not a citizen or resident of this
state, who personally or through an agent does any of the acts enumerated in
this subsection thereby submits himself or herself and, if he or she is a
natural person, his or her personal representative to the jurisdiction of the
courts of this state for any cause of action arising from the doing of any of
the following acts:
(a) Operating, conducting, engaging in, or carrying on a
business or business venture in this state or having an office or agency in
this state.
(b) Committing a tortious act
within this state.
(c) Owning, using,
possessing, or holding a mortgage or other lien on any real property within
this state.
(d) Contracting to insure any
person, property, or risk located within this state at the time of contracting.
(e) With respect to a
proceeding for alimony, child support, or division of property in connection
with an action to dissolve a marriage or with respect to an independent action
for support of dependents, maintaining a matrimonial domicile in this state at
the time of the commencement of this action or, if the defendant resided in
this state preceding the commencement of the action, whether cohabiting during
that time or not. This paragraph does not change the residency requirement for
filing an action for dissolution of marriage.
(f) Causing injury to persons
or property within this state arising out of an act or
omission by the defendant outside this state, if, at or about the time of the
injury, either:
1. The defendant was engaged
in solicitation or service activities within this state; or
2. Products, materials, or
things processed, serviced, or manufactured by the defendant anywhere were used
or consumed within this state in the ordinary course of commerce, trade, or
use.
(g) Breaching a contract in
this state by failing to perform acts required by the contract to be performed
in this state.
(h) With respect to a
proceeding for paternity, engaging in the act of sexual intercourse within this
state with respect to which a child may have been conceived.
(2) A
defendant who is engaged in substantial and not isolated activity within this
state, whether such activity is wholly interstate, intrastate, or otherwise, is
subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of this state, whether or not the
claim arises from that activity.
(3)
Service of process upon any person who is subject to the jurisdiction of the
courts of this state as provided in this section may be made by personally
serving the process upon the defendant outside this state, as provided in s. 48.194. The service shall have the same effect as if it
had been personally served within this state.
(4) If a
defendant in his or her pleadings demands affirmative relief on causes of
action unrelated to the transaction forming the basis of the plaintiff's claim,
the defendant shall thereafter in that action be subject to the jurisdiction of
the court for any cause of action, regardless of its basis, which the plaintiff
may by amendment assert against the defendant.
(5)
Nothing contained in this section limits or affects the right to serve any
process in any other manner now or hereinafter provided by law.
§ 47.011. Where
actions may be begun
Actions shall be brought only in the
county where the defendant resides, where the cause of action accrued, or where
the property in litigation is located. This section shall not apply to actions
against nonresidents.[1]
§ 48.021. Process;
by whom served
(1) All process shall be served by the sheriff of the county where the person to be served is found, except initial nonenforceable civil process may be served by a special process server appointed by the sheriff as provided for in this section or by a certified process server as provided for in §§ 48.25-48.31.
§ 48.031. Service
of process generally; service of witness subpoenas
(1)(a) Service of original process is made by delivering a copy of it to the person to be served with a copy of the complaint, petition, or other initial pleading or paper or by leaving the copies at his or her usual place of abode with any person residing therein who is 15 years of age or older and informing the person of their contents.
§ 48.194. Personal
service outside state
(1) Except as otherwise provided herein, service of process on persons outside of this state shall be made in the same manner as service within this state by any officer authorized to serve process in the state where the person is served. No order of court is required. An affidavit of the officer shall be filed, stating the time, manner, and place of service.
Title 18. Crimes and Criminal Procedure
§ 1343. Fraud by wire, radio, or television
Whoever, having devised or intending to devise any scheme or artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, transmits or causes to be transmitted by means of wire, radio, or television communication in interstate or foreign commerce, any writings, signs, signals, pictures, or sounds for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both. . . .
[1] See Linger
v. Balfour, 136 So. 433, 434 (