BLS 111 1st Edition Exam 1 Study Guide Identify Issue The legal issue Rule Give a rule Application Apply rule to the facts Conclusion Draw a verdict from applications Whether Standing Need to have standing Ripe A case needs to be ripe fresh and ready Pass a rule to help make it ripe Procedural Law The procedure required to commence a lawsuit Figure out correct court to go to Sue person in a timely matter The defendant needs to show up Give the defendant notice and opportunity to be heard Curable Fatal Substantive Law All actions have elements and substance to it Address whether it was intentional or not intentional Negligence vs Tort The merits Actually talking about the case Burden of Proof Biggest distinction in civil law Civil Law Need little proof Criminal Need a lot Case Law Looking at past cases to get a sense of what those verdicts were These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute Structure of Court System Bottom Level Original Court Supreme Court NY Middle Level Appellate Division Top Level Supreme Court Court of Appeals In Albany for NY In generally Supreme court is the top level however in New York Supreme Court is the lowest level 2 4 Federal Jurisdiction Is it criminal or civil Which state Conflict of Law There is conflict of laws between two different states Feds must determine which state it applies too Nexus which state is touched most by the conflict Court picks the state that satisfies the nexus decision Diversity two different states Case on Cheerios Federal Questions If it s a federal question it gets federal jurisdiction Everything in the constitution is a federal question Every federal regulation is a federal question Everything else is state Can have a state and federal jurisdiction with one given case Roe vs Wade Abortion Case 1973 6 to 3 If we didn t know the case we start by asking the two questions Roe sued Wade on the criminal sanction It is not a diversity case Question 1 The 6 found federal jurisdiction on the word liberty The battle on the case was whether it was federal or state jurisdiction They used the words liberty to discussed the body autonomy 2 6 Legal Realist You fit it to the circumstances today Legal Positivist Positivism Take law for literal meaning Waffle Switching between the two 2 9 If you have a court that lacks jurisdiction It becomes enforceable Jurisdiction The power to make legal decisions and judgments Their decision is enforcable Types of Jurisdiction Subject Matter Jurisdiction SMJ Picking the correct court In Personam Jurisdiction IPJ Once you ve picked the correct court deciding how to get the person to show up to that court Picking the correct person to court o Need a sanction o Authority never looks for you they simply find you through other means i e Not showing up to court for a speeding ticket then getting caught speeding later on Venue Picking the correct location Statute of Limitations SOL Issue of Time i e suing in the correct time frame Service of process SOP A Complaint It sets out a document describing the issue If the SOP is not proper there is no jurisdiction o It gives you notice that you are being sued o It gives you the opportunity to be heard You have the right to be sued Need to have ALL 5 to have jurisdiction When they ask about do you have any procedural matters it refers to the 5 constraints of jurisdiction SMJ IPJ Venue SOL and SOP Every court has three o Reverse Based on the court below o Affirm o Remand Court sees a small error and sends back to get redone The top court is going to hear an affirmation The court would affirm an affirmation to spread it All litigations goes to the original court Subject Matter Jurisdiction The Supreme Court is the umbrella group with family court vet court surrogates court court of claims tax court and more as subcourts o These are limited subject matter jurisdiction courts Supreme Court is unlimited SMJ Supreme Court can hear anything but they won t o They will do something called removal when you bring a limited SMJ to Supreme Court they will bring you to the correct limited SMJ o Supreme Court is a Court of original SMJ Any court in any state is LIMITED UNLIMITED or APPELETTE ORIGINAL Supreme Court will address cases that are limited courts but 25000 or more For cases less than 25000 it is brought to the county court 15000 25000 For case less than 15000 it is brought to the city court 1 15000 If the case has been sued before it goes to the appellate This allows testimonies Prime Questions To Ask for SMJ 1 Has this case ever been sued before o If no need an original if yes straight to appellate 2 Is there a limited court to deal with that subject matter o If no either supreme court city or county 3 How much is being sued for If you are in the wrong court curable if not SOL Fatal Small Claims Court If you have a case that is typically a small amount then you can bring it to a small claims court people s courts o Rules of evidence are not followed in the small claims court o Small Claims is based on using stories to convey your case At the Supreme Court litigants are putting facts in which people can object to those facts O Supreme Court A 4 Appellate regions A 1 Court of Appeal meant to be in boxes 2 18 Accrue start Toil expires SOL Statute of Limitations Like a clock must sue from when it starts to before it expires o The statue accrues when it starts the statue has run has expired o Must sue from when it accrues must toil it for it runs o Once a statue accrues you must toil it before it runs o To toil the statue serve the moving papers SOL s IN NY o Tort 1 year from accrual event Intentional injury when you punch someone in the face o Negligence 3 years from the injury Personal Injury 3 years from injury ie When it a car case o Contract 6 years from the breach of contract Certain causes of action that you can t discover The accrual event The Discovery Statute o Should allow you some time to discover the breach Professional Mal Practice 3 Years Injury o Any other profession that is not medical Medical Mal Practice 2 5 years Injury The Last Continuous Treatment Doctrine Time restarts following the last continuous treatment of the same illness o You get the 2 and a half years to sue Foreign Object Rule accrues from the date the object was discovered o One year from reasonable discovery of the foreign object You will not get penalized for discovering it early o X