What court wrote this Opinion and what was the legal issue on appeal?

Writing Assignment

There are three written assignments in this course. Please consult the syllabus and the D2L calendar for deadlines and assignment weight. You will be permitted to drop one writing assignment. Before beginning the first assignment, please read the following for guidance:

1. CONTENT

a. Your paper will be graded for proper grammar. Do not start your paper with “I am going to discuss”. Every student in this class has access to Grammarly. Make sure you use it. Proofread your paper and have a friend or family member proofread your paper.

Review your paper for:

organization (clarity, logic), grammar, spelling, avoid run on sentences and fragments, avoid usage of passive voice, and be sure to capitalize proper nouns.

b. Each writing assignment must be typed, double spaced, and use size 12 font with 1” margins and at least 800 words for the content alone. All paragraphs should be in a justified format. This word requirement does not include your citation to the source(s).

c. You may use a block format or, you may indent. If you choose to ident, the first line of each paragraph must be indented by 0.5”. The paper must be submitted through the D2L dropbox feature.

d. All work needs to be your own. Answer in your own words. Do not copy and paste from the case and do not use quotes. I do not expect you to be lawyers but do expect you to really dig in to facilitate valuable growth in critical thinking and communication skills. This may be challenging at first but stick with it! It can be very rewarding to see your case analysis skills and legal terminology improve over the semester!

e. Originality Check and Word Count is enabled for each assignment. No quotes allowed. The entire writing assignment must be in your own words. The plagiarism software will be turned on so NO QUOTES, NO COPYING AT ALL. You can check your own originality count. If you do not know how to do that, contact the MTSU Help Desk online (24/7) or at 1-615/898-5345.

2. CASE BRIEFING AND ANALYSIS

I understand that you are not attorneys. However, I do want you to be able to learn how to structure an analysis of a case. Each writing assignment will include a case “briefing” to structure your analysis. You will then be called upon to apply that case to a fact pattern. Your case briefing should use the following format:

Case Name
LEGALCOGNIZANCE1. What are the facts?Your boss heard about this case but does not know the details. Describe the case to him or her. Address the following:· What are the key facts?· Who filed the initial lawsuit and for what reason(s)?· Did the defendant file a counterclaim against the plaintiff, and if so, for what reason(s)?
2. What type of lawsuit did the plaintiff file and how did the lower court(s) rule?The cases included in the textbook are from an appellate court; i.e., there was at least one prior ruling from another, lower court that is being appealed. Describe the legal actions that happened up to the point of this appeal (Case Posture) (see the paragraph(s) at the end of the FACTS):· Who filed the initial lawsuit?· What was the initial legal claim(s)* filed by the plaintiff (e.g. fraud)?· What remedy was the plaintiff seeking (e.g. recission of the contract)?· If the defendant filed a counterclaim against the plaintiff, what type of legal claim did the defendant make?· How did the initial court (or magistrate or arbitrator) rule? If more than one court, how did each court rule?
3. What court wrote this Opinion and what was the legal issue on appeal?Describe which party appealed and to which court, as well as the legal question this Court was addressing (read and synthesize from the paragraphs at the end of the FACTS, the OPINION and the INTERPRETATION):· Who filed the appeal?· What is the name of the court in which the appeal was filed (i.e. which court rendered the Opinion in this case – see the light blue banner) (the “Court”)?· What was the issue on appeal (i.e. the legal question(s) the court addressed in its opinion (e.g. whether silence about a material fact can amount to fraud)?
4. What legal rule(s) did this Court reference to make its decision?Search for ALL of the legal rules referenced by the Court, such as the elements of the legal claim or the statute (see the Opinion section of this case). You may quote directly from the case here – just be sure to include parentheses around your quotes.
EXPANDPERSPECTIVE5. What were the Plaintiff’s Legal Arguments?
• What legal arguments did the plaintiff make as to why the plaintiff should prevail on appeal? (You may have to infer from the Opinion)
6. What were the Defendant’s Legal Arguments?• What legal arguments did the defendant make as to why the defendant should prevail on appeal? (You may have to infer from the Opinion)
7. What was this Court’s Decision and Reasoning?Describe the final decision of this Court and WHY if ruled this way:· What was the final decision of this Court?· Summarize how the Court applied the facts to EACH element of the applicable rule(s) to make its decision.
BE CURIOUSAND SEARCHFORKNOWLEDGE8. Search for Answers: What are you curious about and what did you find from your search?Pose your OWN question and search for an answer in the case through Westlaw Campus research. For example, suppose you are puzzled by the court’s decision and you want to read additional facts and explanations that are not in the abstracted version. Perhaps you are curious if this issue was decided differently by a court in another state.To look up this case in Westlaw Campus Research database (in the Library tab) enter one of the case citations in the light blue banner (e.g. 193 Cal.Rptr. 130 is one of the citations for the Reed v. King case on page 233).In your answer, address:· What question did you ask?· Describe what you discovered (cite the other case if you looked up another case, or reference the page number if you found information in this case?
THINKCRITICALLY9. What evidence was key to the outcome?• What facts were key to the outcome in this case?
10. Change up: What if the facts were different?• Pose the question: What if the facts were different? Create changes to the facts that would probably have resulted in a different outcome of the case and explain why this would have made a difference.
11. What is the impact?• Consider the ethical, legal, business, and societal impact of this decision. Do you agree or disagree with the outcome? Why or why not?
THINKSTRATEGICALLY12. What are your insights and recommendations?· How can you apply the insight you have gained to your future career or business transactions?· What do you recommend to businesses as a proactive legal/business strategy in light of the outcome in this case?
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