Purdue PA110 Full Course Latest 2019 September

PA110 Civil Litigation

Unit 1 Discussion

Discussion topics support this unit’s objective and should be completed after reading all materials. Your responses ought to include original evaluation, synthesis, or analysis of the topic, and contribute to the weekly discussion in a meaningful way. You must complete all discussion topics and reply to your peers’ posts. Refer to the Discussion Board Rubric under Course Resources for additional requirements.

Ethics and the Paralegal’s Role

This Discussion examines ethics and the paralegal’s role in the attorney-client relationship.

Based upon the following scenario, have you done anything unethical based upon the National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA) Model Ethical Guidelines?

Hypothetical: Your first day on the job you were allowed to interview your very first “real” client — Justin King! After years of working towards the new job, you are so excited that you call your partner and arrange for a very nice dinner together. During the dinner your partner says, “So tell me what you did today?” You are so proud of your new job that you begin to discuss some general details about the case, like Justin’s name, that he was in an accident, and is very disfigured. Your partner is intrigued and presses you for more information.

Without realizing it, you blurt out that Justin was the finalist in the National Idol competition and is going to sue some big companies and make lots of money. Have you done anything unethical?

Post a short answer on the Discussion Board for this hypothetical using the IRAC (Issue-Rule-Application-Conclusion) method of analysis. Download and review the IRAC Power Point presentation.

 

PA110 Civil Litigation

Unit 2 Discussion

Discussion topics support this unit’s objective and should be completed after reading all materials. Your responses ought to include original evaluation, synthesis, or analysis of the topic, and contribute to the weekly discussion in a meaningful way. You must complete all discussion topics and reply to your peers’ posts. Refer to the Discussion Board Rubric under Course Resources for additional requirements.

Justin King Initial Interview Follow-Up Questions

At this point in creating your Justin King client case file, you should have quite a few questions to follow-up with from the initial client interview. This unit’s Discussion will focus on developing and asking the questions of two key witnesses in the Justin King case: the police officer who investigated the accident, and the beer truck driver.

Your instructor will divide the class into two different “law firms”: one firm will be assigned to prepare and ask questions of the police officer, the other firm will prepare and ask questions of the truck driver. Separate Discussion topics for each firm have been created so you can collaborate in your witness interviews. The instructor will play the role of both witnesses. Be sure to look in on the other firm’s posting to get ideas for questions and strategy as well as to provide ideas for the other firm too.

View the interview of an eye-witness to a deadly crash at Daytona Bike Week 2007 in Sanford, Florida. A St. Petersburg, Florida couple coming home from bike week crashed and died at I-4 and 17-92 in Sanford, a spot which is called the “Dead Zone”, rumored to be haunted by the people whose graves were paved over to build the highway. NOTE: Pay attention to the “Follow-Up” questions that are being asked by the reporter.

Reference

Best, C. (2007, March 4). Interview 3: Deadly Crash Daytona Bike Week 2007 Sanford, FL [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nJZpUvyCwI

Beer Truck Driver

Collaborate with Your Group

This group will be interviewing the beer truck driver.

Each group will choose a leader or coordinator who will organize the various questions that each of you will post, and who will consult with the rest of the “law firm” on the final question list. These questions will then be answered by the instructor, from whom you will also receive feedback. You will be graded on your participation in the brainstorming process as your group considers which questions should be asked of the truck driver. The sooner you can finalize and post your initial questions, the sooner you can ask follow-up questions of the witness.

Police Officer

Collaborate with Your Group

This group will be interviewing the police officer.

Each group will choose a leader or coordinator who will organize the various questions that each of you will post, and who will consult with the rest of the “law firm” on the final question list. These questions will then be answered by the instructor, from whom you will also receive feedback. You will be graded on your participation in the brainstorming process as your group considers which questions should be asked of the police officer. The sooner you can finalize and post your initial questions, the sooner you can ask follow-up questions of the witness.

 

PA110 Civil Litigation

Unit 3 Discussion

Discussion topics support this unit’s objective and should be completed after reading all materials. Your responses ought to include original evaluation, synthesis, or analysis of the topic, and contribute to the weekly discussion in a meaningful way. You must complete all discussion topics and reply to your peers’ posts. Refer to the Discussion Board Rubric under Course Resources for additional requirements.

Spinach Recall and E. Coli

In your Discussion this week, you will explore the Spinach Recall and E. Coli article and complaint. Read the story and complaints and post your thoughts on the causes of action and possible defenses to the claims.

Article:

FindLaw, Spinach Recall and E. Coli (2018). Retrieved from

https://injury.findlaw.com/product-liability/spinach-recall-and-e-coli.html

Complaint:

Cardinale v. Freshway Unlimited, Inc., Complaint (Court of Common Please, Franklin County, Ohio)

https://www.marlerblog.com/uploads/file/Cardinale%20complaint%20(final).pdf

 

PA110 Civil Litigation

Unit 4 Discussion

Discussion topics support this unit’s objective and should be completed after reading all materials. Your responses ought to include original evaluation, synthesis, or analysis of the topic, and contribute to the weekly discussion in a meaningful way. You must complete all discussion topics and reply to your peers’ posts. Refer to the Discussion Board Rubric under Course Resources for additional requirements.

By now you have chosen to include — or exclude — defendants by listing them in the complaint. In this Unit 4 you now work for the law firm representing the defendants charged in the complaint you drafted.

Interview of Defendants

Based on the knowledge gained in this unit, and reading Chapter 5 “Affirmative Defenses,” answer the following questions on the Discussion Board. The instructor will then comment on your answers.

What affirmative defenses do you think are available to your client? (Provide a thorough discussion of each defense and why the defense applies in this case).

What facts would be important to help you prove each affirmative defense in your answer?

Which witnesses would you interview and what questions would you ask them?

Remember, as defense counsel your firm’s objective is to prevent the plaintiff (Mr. King) from proving his cause of action/claim(s).

 

PA110 Civil Litigation

Unit 5 Discussion

Discussion topics support this unit’s objective and should be completed after reading all materials. Your responses ought to include original evaluation, synthesis, or analysis of the topic, and contribute to the weekly discussion in a meaningful way. You must complete all discussion topics and reply to your peers’ posts. Refer to the Discussion Board Rubric under Course Resources for additional requirements.

This Discussion examines counterclaims in the answer.

Compulsory or Permissive Counterclaims

Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a counterclaim arising out of the same transaction or occurrence as the claim in the complaint is compulsory and the defendant must raise the counterclaim in the answer. A compulsory counterclaim “arises out of the transaction or occurrence that is the subject matter of the opposing party’s claim.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 13(a). Failure to assert a compulsory counterclaim in the answer precludes a later assertion of that claim in a subsequent or independent action, but failure to assert a permissive counterclaim does not preclude its assertion in a subsequent action. See 46 Am. Jur. 2d Judgments § 504.

In New York state courts, the rule is that all counterclaims are permissive. Urbanski v. Urbanski, 107 Misc. 2d 215, 215, 433 N.Y.S.2d 718, 719 (Sup. Ct. 1980). In New York, failure to state a counterclaim in the answer does not preclude the defendant from subsequently bringing an independent action against the plaintiff.

Discuss which approach you think is better: the federal rule requiring a compulsory counter-claim involving the same transaction or occurrence or the New York state rule where all counterclaims are permissive.

In addition, what do you think the phrase “transaction or occurrence” means under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure? Conduct research and summarize one federal case that discusses “transaction or occurrence” in the context of compulsory or permissive counterclaims to share with your classmates. Make sure to provide the Bluebook citation for the case you select.

 

PA110 Civil Litigation

Unit 6 Discussion

Discussion topics support this unit’s objective and should be completed after reading all materials. Your responses ought to include original evaluation, synthesis, or analysis of the topic, and contribute to the weekly discussion in a meaningful way. You must complete all discussion topics and reply to your peers’ posts. Refer to the Discussion Board Rubric under Course Resources for additional requirements.Choosing an Expert Witness

Using the Internet, locate three potential expert witnesses in different fields that could be used in the Justin King case. The experts can be for the plaintiff or the defense. Post your findings to the Discussion Board, along with an explanation of why this expert witness is needed and your reasons for choosing this expert. Provide feedback to your classmates’ postings as well.

Visit the ALM Experts website to get started with your research. Then, draft a checklist of items, evidence, and interviews you would include in your plan if your firm was representing Justin King or one of the defendants in the case. Keep your checklist for future reference.

ALM Experts . Retrieved from http://www.almexperts.com/

 

PA110 Civil Litigation

Unit 7 Discussion

Discussion topics support this unit’s objective and should be completed after reading all materials. Your responses ought to include original evaluation, synthesis, or analysis of the topic, and contribute to the weekly discussion in a meaningful way. You must complete all discussion topics and reply to your peers’ posts. Refer to the Discussion Board Rubric under Course Resources for additional requirements.

IMEs

Suppose an IME is properly requested by a defendant in the Justin King case. What would be the consequences of Justin King refusing to submit to such an exam?

 

PA110 Civil Litigation

Unit 8 Discussion

Discussion topics support this unit’s objective and should be completed after reading all materials. Your responses ought to include original evaluation, synthesis, or analysis of the topic, and contribute to the weekly discussion in a meaningful way. You must complete all discussion topics and reply to your peers’ posts. Refer to the Discussion Board Rubric under Course Resources for additional requirements.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

What are the advantages and disadvantages of alternative dispute resolution? Why might a defendant want to settle a case even though the defendant does not think that they are liable?

 

PA110 Civil Litigation

Unit 9 Discussion

Discussion topics support this unit’s objective and should be completed after reading all materials. Your responses ought to include original evaluation, synthesis, or analysis of the topic, and contribute to the weekly discussion in a meaningful way. You must complete all discussion topics and reply to your peers’ posts. Refer to the Discussion Board Rubric under Course Resources for additional requirements.

Preparing Voir Dire Questions

Jury voir dire is the selection of a certain number of jurors from a jury panel. The number of jurors required in a case will depend on the court. Voir dire is the way lawyers find out about the prospective jurors. The lawyers (or the judge in certain instances) will ask questions of the jurors to identify qualifications, experiences and interests, knowledge about the case, relationship or familiarity with parties, witnesses, and lawyers involved in the case, and bias or any other reason why a juror should or should not be selected to serve on a jury.

Most often, jury voir dire is conducted through verbal questioning of potential jurors, though in some cases written juror questionnaires may be used to facilitate the selection process.

Questions are asked in order to determine whether a juror should be removed from the panel because the juror cannot fairly hear and decide the case.

Based on the Seminar and your readings in this Unit, create two voir dire questions to use to help your supervising attorney pick the best jurors for the Justin King case. Your questions should relate to the subject matter of the case and focus on issues that could help your supervising attorney to determine if a juror might be biased in any way.

 

PA110 Civil Litigation

Unit 10 Discussion

Course Reflection

Now that you have completed this course, reflect on your personal goals for the course. This is the time for you to determine what areas of Civil Litigation interest you and why. This is not intended to be a mere recap of the course. The emphasis here is what you have personally learned and how it will affect your professional goals. Discussing what you have learned during the term will not only help you better process the information, but will help you enhance each other’s learning experience. Please reflect on the previous units and post a response that addresses the following questions:

What were the most important new ideas you encountered and how did they change your understanding of the legal profession?

What have you learned from your discussions and collaborations with your fellow students?

In what specific ways can you use the knowledge you have gained in this course in your chosen profession?

What areas of the subject would you like to continue to explore and why?

 

PA110 Civil Litigation

Unit 1 Assignment

Unit 1 Assignment: Initial Client Interview

Initial Interview of Mr. Justin King

Mr. Justin King has arranged a telephone interview with you to see whether the firm will take his case. Your role as paralegal is to listen to the “initial interview” of Mr. King by clicking the link below, taking notes, and completing the Initial Interview and Investigation Sheet (Click on “Resources” to access files to assist you in your Assignment.). You may have to listen to the interview several times to make sure you get all your facts straight.

Suggestion: Print out the Interview Fact Sheet found in the Resources section and take notes while you are watching the video.

Once you are sure you have written down all the important facts about Mr. King’s case, use your computer to fill out the interview fact sheet.

Initial Interview Follow-Up and Investigation

At the end of this — or any — client interview, you should always ask yourself: What information is missing from the client’s story? What other facts, information, or parties should I know about before I turn in my client interview sheet to the supervising attorney?

Your supervising attorney will want to know who you think the firm will need to interview and/or depose, and what kinds of evidence you think the firm will need to gather for this case to successfully advocate for the client. In your Initial Interview Sheet, be sure to include a brief explanation why each piece of evidence is necessary.

Complete the Initial Client Interview Form and Investigation Sheet and submit it to the Dropbox by the end of Unit 1. Click on “Resources” to access files to assist you in your Assignment.

 

 

PA110 Civil Litigation

Unit 2 Assignment

Unit 2 Assignment: Correspondence to Client

You recently met with the firm’s new client, Justin King. As you put together your notes and complete the Client Intake Interview Form, you realize you need additional information from Justin.

Draft a letter to Justin requesting that he make an appointment to come in and meet with you again. In the letter, be sure to identify any documents or other items you need him to bring in at the time of his appointment. Additionally, if there are specific areas of questioning you want him to think about ahead of time, include an explanation in the letter. Click on “Resources” to access files to assist you in your Assignment.

Submit your letter to the Dropbox by the end of Unit 2 in the dropbox titled Unit 2: Assignment.

 

PA110 Civil Litigation

Unit 3 Assignment

For this Assignment, you draft a complaint as if you are working for a paralegal for the law firm that represents Justin King. You should draft a complaint against Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc.

As stated in the accident report, the owner of the truck is Anheuser-Busch. Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. has its headquarters in the County of St. Louis, State of Missouri, and Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. also carries on business in the State of Illinois. Since Anheuser-Busch has its headquarters in Missouri, Anheuser-Busch is considered a citizen of Missouri for diversity of citizenship purposes. Justin King is a citizen of Illinois for diversity purposes. His address is 123 Main Street, Chicago, Illinois 60601 (In the Initial Client Interview, King indicates his address is 123 Main Street, Kansas City, Missouri, but the correct address is 123 Main Street, Chicago, Illinois 60601). Frank Cuellar is the driver of the Anheuser-Busch truck in question. Cuellar is a resident and citizen of Cook County, Illinois. The accident took place in Paxton, Illinois. Paxton is located in Ford County, Illinois. The name of the court where you should file the complaint is the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois. Federal court jurisdiction will be based on diversity of citizenship jurisdiction.

You can assume that the driver of the truck, Frank Cuellar, is an employee of Anheuser-Busch, and that Cuellar was acting within the scope of their employment at the time of the accident. As stated in the Initial Client Interview in Unit 1, King has $145,000 in past medical bills and has $100,000 in future medical expenses with plastic surgery and counseling.

Anheuser-Busch incurred total damages of $55,000 based on the accident involving Justin King. This includes $50,000 in damage to the beer truck and $5,000 in lost cargo. The vehicle was worth $120,000 before the accident and the vehicle was worth $70,000 immediately after the accident. As stated in the accident report, the date of the accident was April 8 [last year].

You should state only one cause of action for negligence in the complaint. The facts for the complaint should be based on the Initial Client Interview, information in the accident report, and the client intake form. For purposes of this simulated law office Assignment, do NOT include a summons or certificate of service. You should also not include the name of the judge or the civil action number since the court provides this information.

Use the Complaint Form to draft the complaint. Using the form, you should fill in the missing information. The complaint should be clean and presentable as if you were submitting the complaint to the court. Delete italics and instructions when using legal forms.

Certain sections of a complaint tend to be boilerplate language (for example, the greeting, damages, jury demand, prayer for relief). When looking at a complaint, sections are separate and in this order:

Case caption: Tells which court you are in and who the parties are. Leaves room for the court clerk to stamp a case number onto. Do not put this information in column format. The Dole case forgot the close-quotes down the middle to cordon off the names from the court space. See the Viacom case for a proper case caption.

Title of the pleading: The pleading here would be called the Complaint. In some jurisdictions, it is called a Petition.

Short introduction: A typical introduction might state: “Comes Now, the plaintiff, Justin King, by and through his attorney, and alleges:” (It can be just this short)

Parties: Who the parties are and where they reside to show the court it has personal jurisdiction over the parties.

Jurisdiction and Venue: What statute or statutes give the court authority to hear the subject matter of the case and that the chosen courthouse is the correct one (i.e., venue).

Allegations or Statement of Facts: What happened. Tell the story of the accident. Tell the story in the most succinct way possible. Do not skip around. Try to keep the flow so it is convincing. This is where computers are useful because you can cut and paste and rearrange paragraphs to make the client’s story more cohesive and enrapture the audience (the judge) to want to give you what you are asking for.

Causes of Action: What legal theories are you asserting? What duty did defendant have towards plaintiff? How did defendant breach that duty? How was plaintiff hurt by the breach? Each cause of action is listed separately. See Chapter 4 in the book for the facts needed to be alleged for each cause of action.

Damages: What is plaintiff asking for? Take a look at the damages request from the Dole case. It is a general damages request, and a lot of attorneys use just that wording in every complaint pleading they draft. Remember some lawyers consider this boilerplate language and cut from an old complaint pleading to paste into a new complaint pleading. (As you can tell, been there, done that to make life a little easier.) BUT keep in mind that depending on the causes of action you may need to be a lot more specific in your damages demand.

Jury Demand: If you want a jury, you have to ask for it.

Prayer for Relief: Ask the court nicely to help the plaintiff. Commonly considered boilerplate. The Dole E.coli case is a very good example.

Date when the complaint is submitted to the court: This is especially important because there will always be a statute of limitation, a statute of repose, etc. and time matters to the law.

Attorney information and signature: This is usually done single spaced, not double spaced. Remember the attorney’s bar number, street address, city, state and zip, phone number, and fax number. Also, who does the attorney represent?

Once you have your section headings and have started to craft the information within each section, remember to number your paragraphs sequentially (1, 2, 3, etc.; not 1.1, 1.2, 1.3). Click on “Resources” to access files to assist you in your Assignment.

Submit your Assignment to the Dropbox by the end of Unit 3 in the dropbox titled Unit 3: Assignment.

 

PA110 Civil Litigation

Unit 4 Assignment

You will now put yourself in the shoes of a paralegal working at a defense law firm. A defendant in the Justin King complaint has retained your law firm to represent it against Mr. King.

Your supervising attorney has asked you to do some preliminary research to determine what legal, affirmative defenses your client may have in this case.

You should conduct legal research on Westlaw to research cases. To access Westlaw, click on the Library under Academic Tools. No separate sign-on is required. You will then click on Westlaw Campus Research.

View a video tutorial on how to use Westlaw.

After viewing the tutorial, conduct research of cases of affirmative defenses on Westlaw. Select one case which you think is most relevant for the case. You should select a published or reported case for this Assignment. Do not select an unpublished case. Some courts prohibit using unpublished cases. Unpublished cases also carry less weight and authority than published cases. Go to the “Course Documents” section under Course Resources to access files to assist you in your Assignment.

Part 1. Research Strategy: In Part 1, explain your research strategy. Write this in first person. Make sure to write in complete sentences and paragraphs. You should state the database or sources of documents that you searched (e.g., Illinois state cases), the search method you used (e.g., “advanced search” or “easy search”), and the search terms you used. You should state how you used KeyCite to verify that the case has not been reversed or overruled. You should also explain the strategies you used to refine the search such as revising the initial search terms, limiting the search by date, and other search strategies.

Part 2. Case Citation and Summary: In Part 2, provide the citation for the case you selected in Bluebook citation format and provide a summary of the case and affirmative defense described in the case. The summary should provide a summary of the facts and holding in the case you select focusing on the affirmative defense.

Submit your Assignment to the Dropbox by the end of Unit 4 in the dropbox titled Unit 4: Assignment.

 

PA110 Civil Litigation

Unit 5 Assignment

For this Assignment, you will draft an Answer in the Justin King case. You are now working as a paralegal for the law firm that represents the defendant, Anheuser-Busch. You should provide an Answer to the Complaint that you drafted for the Unit 3 Assignment.

A sample Answer can be found here under “Resources”. The Resources provides a checklist and sample Complaints. Note that it is not acceptable to copy and paste the language from the sample forms. Remember, your work must be your own. Click on “Resources” to access files to assist you in your Assignment.

Use the following document to complete your Assignment:

Answer Form

How to Draft an Answer

You are to draft an Answer on behalf of the defendant who was sued by plaintiff, Justin King, in your Unit 3 complaint. Similar to the complaint, certain parts of the Answer typically contain standard or boilerplate language. Here are the standard sections of an Answer:

Case caption: Also called the style of the case, the caption identifies the court, the parties, and the case number. In some jurisdictions, the judge’s name may also be included.

Title of the Pleading: For example, the answer might be titled Defendant’s Answer to Plaintiff’s Complaint.

Short Introduction: Usually reads, “Comes now, the Defendant, by and through his attorney, and alleges:”

Answer to Plaintiff’s Allegations: Since you are learning the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, it is important to understand that under FRCP 8, the defendant must admit or deny each separately numbered paragraph in the plaintiff’s complaint. Alternatively, in some instances, the defendant may state he is unable to admit or deny plaintiff’s allegations due to insufficient information. Some states may permit a general denial of the answer. If the defendant is defending against a lawsuit filed in state court, you must research that state’s rules of civil procedure in order to determine whether or not the defendant must admit or deny each separately numbered paragraph or may file a general denial to the plaintiff’s complaint.

You should have specific admissions and denials which correspond to the Complaint you drafted for the Unit 3 Assignment.

Example:

Defendant admits the allegations of Paragraphs [ ] of the complaint.

Defendant denies each and every allegation of Paragraphs [ ] of the complaint because [state reasons].

With respect to paragraphs [ ], the Defendant is without knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the truth of the allegations.

Affirmative Defenses: An affirmative defense is a defense that defeats or diminishes the plaintiff’s claim or cause of action, even if plaintiff’s proves all elements of the claim. Examples include accord and satisfaction, statute of limitations, failure of consideration, consent, failure to mitigate damages, lack of personal or subject matter jurisdiction. In the answer, you will include affirmative defenses that may defeat or diminish the plaintiff’s claims.

Counter-Claim: A claim for relief asserted against an opposing party after an original claim has been made. A counter-claim is a counter-demand or a cause of action that exists in favor of the defendant against the plaintiff that the defendant might have brought a separate action. In the answer, you should assert a counter-claim for negligence against Justin King. You should include facts for all of the elements for negligence just like would with a cause of action in the complaint. Anheuser-Busch incurred total damages of $55,000 based on the accident involving Justin King. This includes $50,000 in damage to the beer truck and $5,000 in lost cargo. The vehicle was worth $120,000 before the accident and the vehicle was worth $70,000 immediately after the accident. You can allege that King was negligent and that this caused the damage to the truck and cargo.

Prayer for Relief: The general prayer asks for the relief requested in the answer, along with any and other such relief to which the defendant may be entitled, or similar language.

Date and Attorney Information and Signature

Your Assignment should be a 2–3 pages in length and include all of the sections listed above. In addition, ensure that your writing should be well ordered, logical, and unified, as well as original and insightful. Your work should display superior content, organization, style, and mechanics and follow the conventions of Standard American English (correct grammar, punctuation, etc.). Use the appropriate citation style for all citations. More details can be found in the GEL-1.02 Universal Writing Rubric.

 

PA110 Civil Litigation

Unit 6 Assignment

Interrogatories are a tool of formal discovery that permit a party to obtain written answers to questions about a case.

Similar to the complaint and answer, you will include the case caption, pleading title, and a brief introduction to the interrogatories.

Often, interrogatories will be accompanied by