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University of California, Los Angeles *

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Law

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Jan 9, 2024

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1. The federal courts would have subject matter jurisdiction because Susan’s lawsuit satisfies the two diversity requirements. Susan is looking for $200,000 as compensation for her damages, which amounts to more than $75,000, and there is diversity of citizenship between Susan and NBC. Susan is a resident of Los Angeles and NBC is incorporated and has their primary place of business in New York. Thus, the federal courts would have subject matter jurisdiction. 2. No, Amazon will lose the motion. Since this case is about the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a federal statute, the federal courts and state courts have subject matter jurisdiction and can hear this case. The demurrer will be rejected because the case is about a federal question.Therefore, the Los Angeles Superior Court has subject matter jurisdiction. 3. Tony can file his case in Federal District court. Despite not satisfying diversity jurisdiction, Tony is suing on the grounds of his constitutional rights being violated, which is a federal question. The case satisfies federal question jurisdiction. 4. b. Depositions Depositions are an examination of a witness under oath, and there is a court reporter present. Parties subject to a deposition may have counsel represent them, and opposing counsel may cross-examine them. Depositions are not held in court. They may be used in trial to discredit a witness on the stand if their testimony does not match what was said in the deposition. Q1 Susan, a Los Angeles resident, appears on a new NBC reality show. Susan is the first to be "kicked off the island" and leaves the show. On her way out, she throws a temper tantrum and destroys some of the furniture on the set. NBC is incorporated and headquartered in New York, where the show is filmed. NBC has offices and conduct business in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Humiliated by the loss, Susan plans to sue NBC for breach of contract, fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress, seeking $200,000 in damages. Susan is considering filing her lawsuit in California state court, New York state court or the federal courts. Explain whether the federal courts would or would not have subject matter jurisdiction. Q2 Harvey is a resident of California. Harvey files an action in Los Angeles County Superior Court, California against Amazon alleging $100,000 in damages in a claim arising under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Amazon is properly served a summons and complaint in California. Amazon requests that its attorney file a Demurrer for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Will Amazon win the Motion? Please explain why or why not. Q3 When Officer Krupke arrested Tony, a scuffle ensued. Tony believes that Krupke used excessive force in making the arrest. He wants to sue Krupke for violating his federal constitutional rights in a civil action. His injuries amount to about $25,000 of medical bills and a sore jaw. Both Tony and Krupke are citizens of New York. Can Tony file his case in Federal District court? Q4 Which of the following pretrial testimony is taken under oath, out of court, and may be used at trial: a. Complaint b. Depositions c. Pleadings d. Demurrer e. All of the above
Q1 Marie was a famous model. Temp magazine mailed her an offer to do a five-page photo layout for a new line of swimsuits for $135,000. Marie received the offer January 2. On January 3, Marie mailed Tempo the following note: “I accept, but must have twelve pages devoted to me and accordingly, $150,000.” Tempo received this note on January 5. On January 6, Marie called them and told them she would do the modeling under the original terms, but Temp refused. Is there a contract, explain why or why not? There is no contract because Marie made a counteroffer. The original contract was for five pages and $135,000, but Marie countered this with twelve pages for $150,000. When an offeree makes a counteroffer, the original contract is terminated. Q2 Patrick offered in writing to sell his house to Jarrod for $1,950,000. Jarrod was interested but did not wish to decide immediately so he asked Patrick if he would hold the offer open for thirty days in exchange for $5,000. Patrick agreed in writing and received the $5,000. Three days later Jarrod called Patrick and told him he was not sure he could purchase the property because of financing concerns, but he was still working on it. The next week, Patrick sold the house to Nick. If Jarrod accepts Patrick’s offer within the 30 days period, explain whether there is or is not a contract. There is a contract because Patrick and Jarrod entered into an option contract. The option period gives Jarrod 30 days to accept or reject the offer. Jarrod voicing his concerns over the phone did not constitute a formal rejection. Since Jarrod accepted the offer within the option period, the contract must be upheld. Patrick must sell Jarrod the house. Q3 Sean, 17, a snowboarder, signs a long-term endorsement agreement for sportswear. He endorses the products and deposits his compensation for the endorsements for several years. At age 19, he decides he wants to void the agreement to take a better endorsement deal. He claims he lacked capacity when he signed the deal at 17. Can he get out of the contract? Sean cannot get out of the contract because even though he was a minor and lacked capacity when he first entered into the deal, he continued to deposit his compensation after he turned 18. He cannot void the contract now that he is 19 because he was willingly participating and honoring the deal after turning 18. Q4 Larson had worked for BUBA Corp. for 30 years and was retiring from his job. At the time of his decision to retire BUBA Corp. had no pension benefits for its employees. However, the Board of Directors of the corporation voted to give Larson $1,000/week "for as long as he lives" as a retirement benefit to honor the fact that Larson was the first employee to work for 30 years for BUBA Corp. The president of BUBA announced this decision about the pension at Larson's retirement banquet. BUBA paid Larson $1,000/week over a period of 2 years, until a new Board of Directors voted to cease any more payments to Larson because of financial difficulties.
Based solely on the facts provided, if Larson sues BUBA to resume payment of the $ 1,000/ week: a. Larson will lose because BUBA's promise was not supported by consideration. b. Larson will win because he has a cause of action for implied contract. c. Larson will win because of the Doctrine of Promissory Estoppel. d. None of the above are correct. a. Larson will lose because BUBA's promise was not supported by consideration. If it were considered to be an oral contract, it would not be enforceable under the Statute of Frauds. It is a requirement that any contract paid over a one year period must be in writing in order to be valid. Therefore, Larson will lose because the contract will not be enforceable in court. Q5 Sister's husband died of a heart attack. Sister, who lived in Buffalo, called her brother-in-law in San Antonio and told him she had no money and no place to live. Brother-in-law told Sister she could live in a spare room in his house. Sister traveled to San Antonio and upon her arrival, Brother-in-law informed her that he had rented the room to a college student. Sister's best chance of enforcing brother-in-law's promise is to argue: a. The promise is supported by consideration and therefore a valid contract was formed. b. The Doctrine of Promissory Estoppel c. Implied Contract d. Unilateral contract e. None of the above b. The Doctrine of Promissory Estoppel. The brother-in-law knew the sister would take the steps to travel from Buffalo to San Antonio because of his offer. The sister relied on the offer and took those steps. The only reason the sister spent money to travel to San Antonio was because her brother-in-law agreed to give her a room. If he had not said this, she would not have come. There was detriment if the brother-in-law did not follow through with his offer because he knew the sister did not have any money and no place to live. Q6 On July 1, Jane sent Harry a signed letter offering to sell Harry her home in Aspen for $2,500,000. The letter included all the essential terms of the sale. In the letter, Jane stated that she would keep the offer open for 30 days. On July 15, Harry called Jane and stated that "The price for your home seems really high, I wish you would contemplate selling it for $2,000,000." On July 17, Jane receives a letter from Juan offering to purchase her condominium for $2,550,000. Jane immediately calls Harry and revokes her offer and then sends Juan an email accepting his offer. On July 27, Harry calls and insists he has the right to purchase the property and therefore officially accepts, in writing, the offer under all the terms stated in the July 1 letter,
including the $2,500,000 purchase price. Jane politely reminds him that she already revoked the offer and explains that it is too late because she has contracted to sell the property to Juan. Based upon the foregoing, fully explain whether there is an enforceable contract between Jane and Harry. There is not an enforceable contract between Jane and Harry because as the offeror, Jane has every right to pull her offer at any moment. Jane terminated her offer to Harry before he accepted. There was no offer for Harry to accept after Jane pulled her offer. Q7 1. Which of the following contract(s) do not have to be in writing under the Statute of Frauds? a. The agreement of a father made to his son that if his son doesn't pay his fraternity bill, he would pay it. b. A two year option contract to purchase a movie script. c. A contract of employment for a term of nine months, performance to commence four months after the agreement was entered into. d. Two of the above are correct. c. A contract of employment for a term of nine months, performance to commence four months after the agreement was entered into. Option a involves a surety agreement where the father guarantees to repay his son’s debts. Option b exceeds the one year period and must be put into writing. Since options a and b are both incorrect, option d cannot be correct. Therefore, the only one that remains is option c. Q8 Jesus Rodriguez, owns a car dealership in East Los Angeles. His customers, including Graciela, are predominately Spanish-speaking. When purchasing one of his cars, Jesus makes his customer sign a contract which is entirely in English and contains excessive dealer charges. Graciela buys one of his cars and later refuses to pay the dealer charges on the contract. If Jesus sues her, what is Gracielas’ best defense? a. Unconscionability b. Misrepresentation c. Undue Influence d. Fraud a. Unconscionability because the contract was written in English with one-sided terms. The terms are unjust because Graciela could not understand what she was signing. The terms are one-sided in favor of the dealer because he would gain more money from the excessive fees. Additionally, he was the only one who understood what was in the contract because he speaks English. This is Graciela’s best defense because Jesus did not say anything false during the contract formation to get her to sign the deal. There is no discernible fraud because Graciela
was not coerced into signing. There is no undue influence as Graciel and Jesus are not close, and Jesus does not have a special position of trust with Graciela. Q9 Samuel DaGrossa and others were planning to open a restaurant. At some point prior to August 2015, DaGrossa orally agreed with Philippe LaJaunie that LaJanunie, in exchange for his contribution in designing, renovating, and managing the restaurant, “could purchase a one-third interest in the restaurant’s stock if the restaurant was profitable in its first year of operation”. The restaurant opened in March 2016, and a few weeks later, LaJaunie’s employment was terminated. LaJaunie brought an action to enforce the stock-purchase agreement. Explain fully whether this oral agreement is enforceable under the Statute of Frauds? The contract is not enforceable under the Statute of Frauds because the contract would take longer than one year to be completed. The contract was made in August 2015, but the work would not be completed until March of 2017. This is more than one year as it is several months after August 2016. Therefore, the contract would only be enforceable if it was in writing. Q10 Sylvia, an elderly widow who is almost deaf, owns her own home. Her closest confidant for business transactions is her son-in-law, Ron. Ron offered to purchase her home for $100,000. The home had recently been appraised at $200,000, but Sylvia agreed, in writing, to sell when Ron persisted in making the offer. She never asked and he never volunteered information about the appraised value of the house. If Sylvia later desires to set aside that sale, what is her best argument against the validity of the contract? Sylvia’s best argument would be that her son-in-law had undue influence over her. Ron had a special position of trust as her closest confidant for business transactions. He unduly influenced her into making the sale because he knew that he would get the house for half of its true valuation. Ron was using his position to enter into a contract for his own economic advantage. Q11 Wally contracts in writing to buy 50,000 pounds of fertilizer from Theodore Garden Supplies for $25,000. Wally will be using the fertilizer to landscape a new hotel and will make a profit of $100,000 for the landscaping job. Two weeks before the landscaping job is set to start, Theodore notifies Wally, “I’m backing out of the deal...the price I gave you is too low because of “fluctuations in the market”, (not related to Covid 19). Wally calls several other suppliers and is told the same quantity of fertilizer will cost $35,000. Wally buys the fertilizer for $35,000 and completes the project for the hotel on time and received payment. Wally wishes to file a lawsuit against Theodore. In that lawsuit, please indicate whether Wally will be able to recover any or none of the following and why. A. Specific performance B. Compensatory damages C. Consequential damages. D. Compensatory & Consequential damages
Specific performance seems unlikely in this situation, as it would require making Theodore provide the originally agreed upon quantity of fertilizer at the initial price. This might not be a practical because Wally had to procure the fertilizer from another supplier at a higher cost. It would not make sense as Wally already completed the job, so he does not need the fertilizer. Wally does have the potential to claim compensatory damages. Compensatory damages are designed to reimburse someone for the losses incurred due to the contract breach. The calculation for compensatory damages is the difference between the contract price of $25,000 and the expense of purchasing the same amount of fertilizer from an alternative supplier, which is $35,000. Naturally, Wally may have a valid claim for compensatory damages amounting to $10,000. Consequential damages, on the other hand, encompass supplementary losses stemming from the breaching party's failure to fulfill the contract. In this case, Wally incurred consequential damages by having to buy the fertilizer at an elevated cost from another supplier. However, to recover consequential damages, it generally necessitates demonstrating that these losses were either reasonably foreseeable at the time of contracting or that the breaching party had knowledge of unique circumstances leading to such damages. Since the provided information does not specify whether Theodore was aware of the hotel landscaping project and the potential $100,000 profit, proving that Theodore should have reasonably foreseen these consequential damages may pose a challenge. Thus, recovering consequential damages may be intricate in this particular case. Wally could pursue both compensatory and consequential damages. As previously explained, compensatory damages would cover the extra $10,000 Wally spent on acquiring the fertilizer from another supplier. Nonetheless, the recovery of consequential damages hinges on the ability to demonstrate that Theodore should have reasonably anticipated the potential $100,000 profit resulting from the landscaping project. Without additional information, it is uncertain whether Wally would succeed in claiming consequential damages. In summary, Wally has a reasonable chance of recovering compensatory damages to offset the additional costs incurred due to Theodore's contract breach. The potential for recovering consequential damages depends on establishing that Theodore should have reasonably foreseen the potential landscaping job profits. Given the circumstances of the case, specific performance is less likely to be granted.
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