"Fear is the path to the dark side: finals. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to finals. Finals is suffering." -Yoda (or, what he might have said, had he been in law school)
We've got 'em! You may have 'em too! We'll be back to schedule on Sunday!
May the Force be with you for your finals (and beware the siren call of the Dark Side)!
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Christensen v Swensen (Supreme Court of Utah- 1994)
Princess Leia, onboard the Tantive IV and anticipating the arrival of Darth Vader, employed her astromech droid R2D2 to deliver a frantic plea to the old Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, who was hiding on Tatooine.
R2D2, along with his befuddled BFF C3PO, crashed an escape pod onto Tatooine, and began to search for Obi-Wan. Unfortunately, they were quickly captured by Jawas and sold to Owen Lars. Before Owen could wipe their memories and subject them to an eternity of moisture farming, R2D2 was able to outwit the hapless Luke Skywalker and escape into the desert, desperate to complete his mission. However, Luke and C3PO followed him, and R2D2 unwittingly led them straight into a Tusken Raider ambush. After Obi-Wan mysteriously appeared and saved them, Luke (who had taken quite a tumble, and was additionally incensed by the murders of his aunt and uncle) pursued litigation against R2D2 for negligence. Knowing that as a droid, R2D2 would have very few assets, Luke attempted to hold Princess Leia, R2's employer/owner, vicariously liable for her droid's actions.
The lowest court on Tatooine held that an employer was vicariously liable when their employee's negligence occurred within the scope of their employment. Looking to an older case, they found that the test for scope was 3 pronged: The employee must be about the employer's business when the negligence occurs, it must occur within the hours and ordinary spatial boundaries of their employment, and the employee's conduct must be at least partially motivated by serving the employer's interest. The lowest court found, without a jury, that since Tatooine was not within the spatial boundaries of the Tantive IV, Leia was not vicariously liable for R2's negligence.
On appeal to the highest court on the planet, it was decided that vicarious liability is normally a jury issue, and is only decided by the court when there are no factual issues. They held that reasonable minds could differ (that is, there was a factual issue) as to all three criteria, including the spatial limitation. As an astromech, R2D2 was often employed far outside of the Tantive IV, which made the spatial boundaries of his employment hard to determine. The court held that a jury was required to determine the facts before liability was imposed on Leia, and remanded the case for further proceedings.
R2D2, along with his befuddled BFF C3PO, crashed an escape pod onto Tatooine, and began to search for Obi-Wan. Unfortunately, they were quickly captured by Jawas and sold to Owen Lars. Before Owen could wipe their memories and subject them to an eternity of moisture farming, R2D2 was able to outwit the hapless Luke Skywalker and escape into the desert, desperate to complete his mission. However, Luke and C3PO followed him, and R2D2 unwittingly led them straight into a Tusken Raider ambush. After Obi-Wan mysteriously appeared and saved them, Luke (who had taken quite a tumble, and was additionally incensed by the murders of his aunt and uncle) pursued litigation against R2D2 for negligence. Knowing that as a droid, R2D2 would have very few assets, Luke attempted to hold Princess Leia, R2's employer/owner, vicariously liable for her droid's actions.
The lowest court on Tatooine held that an employer was vicariously liable when their employee's negligence occurred within the scope of their employment. Looking to an older case, they found that the test for scope was 3 pronged: The employee must be about the employer's business when the negligence occurs, it must occur within the hours and ordinary spatial boundaries of their employment, and the employee's conduct must be at least partially motivated by serving the employer's interest. The lowest court found, without a jury, that since Tatooine was not within the spatial boundaries of the Tantive IV, Leia was not vicariously liable for R2's negligence.
On appeal to the highest court on the planet, it was decided that vicarious liability is normally a jury issue, and is only decided by the court when there are no factual issues. They held that reasonable minds could differ (that is, there was a factual issue) as to all three criteria, including the spatial limitation. As an astromech, R2D2 was often employed far outside of the Tantive IV, which made the spatial boundaries of his employment hard to determine. The court held that a jury was required to determine the facts before liability was imposed on Leia, and remanded the case for further proceedings.
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Summers v. Tice- (Supreme Court of California, 1948)
Commander Cody and two other clone troopers were in the field hunting for Separatist Droids on Geonosis when Cody decided to scout a head and recon the area. Due to radiation from a nearby nebula, all scanning transmissions were effectively jammed. When the other clone troopers caught up with Cody, he jumped up to give them further instructions, at which time they both fired very, very negligently directly in Cody's direction upon hearing this rustling and not detecting his signal. They shot him twice in the face.
During the Republic Tribunal's court marshal of the two clone troopers, it was determined that due to the lack of evidence as to which injury was the cause-in-fact of Cody's injury, then Cody could sue both of the troopers under the doctrine of Joint/Several liability. Further, under this doctrine if Cody could establish negligence on the part of the two troopers (which they totally were), he could recover the entirety of his damages from one or the other.
During the Republic Tribunal's court marshal of the two clone troopers, it was determined that due to the lack of evidence as to which injury was the cause-in-fact of Cody's injury, then Cody could sue both of the troopers under the doctrine of Joint/Several liability. Further, under this doctrine if Cody could establish negligence on the part of the two troopers (which they totally were), he could recover the entirety of his damages from one or the other.
Sunday, December 06, 2009
Dillon v. Twin State Gas & Electric Co.- (New Hampshire Supreme Court, 1932)
Master Chief Gunnery Officer Tenn Graneet was a Death Star Gunner on superlaser duty during the Battle of Yavin. Just as Luke Skywalker was completing his trench run, he slipped and fell back over the tiny railing on his platform as the Death Star's main superlaser was charging up in preparation to fire on Yavin IV. He was incinerated instantly by the beam, and his estate sued the Empire for his wrongful death. The Empire's advocates countered, stating that mere seconds later the Death Star would have been destroyed by Skywalker's torpedo, killing Graneet instantly. The Imperial Court agreed with the Empire, and lowered Graneet's damages to those few seconds of life lost between the charging of the superlaser and the destruction of the Death Star.
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
THANKSGIVING!
Law Wars took the holiday week (+an extra day) off for preparing outlines, but we'll be back Sunday!
MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU FOR FINALS!
MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU FOR FINALS!
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