CH 3 - Sources of Law, Courts, Disputes

Question 1

Declaration/statement of-facts made voluntarily and confirmed by oath/affirmation, taken before a person having authority to administer such oath.

Answer 1

Affidavit

Question 2

An assertion in an answer to a complaint that even if defendant has acted as plaintiff alleges, the defendant’s conduct was not the real cause of harm to plaintiff

Answer 2

Affirmative defense

Question 3

assertion

Answer 3

a confident and forceful statement of fact or belief.

Question 4

Alternative dispute resolution (ADR)

Answer 4

Alternative techniques (negotiation, mediation, arbitration, med-arb, arb-med, mini-trails, and summary jury trials) to resolve disputes without litigation

Question 5

The instrument by which a defendant admits or denies the various allegations stated in the complaint against them.

Answer 5

Answer

Question 6

The party appealing a case

Answer 6

Appellant

Question 7

Appellee

Answer 7

the other party in a case being appealed

Question 8

In the event of a dispute arising out of a contract, the parties will arbitrate specific issues in a stated manner

Answer 8

Arbitration clause

Question 9

Arb-med

Answer 9

Parties to a dispute present their case to an arbitrator who makes an award but keeps it secret while the parties try to resolve the dispute through mediation. A failed mediation means the arbitration decision is binding.

Question 10

A trial in which a judge, not a jury, decides all issues

Answer 10

Bench trial

Question 11

Choice-of-forum clause

Answer 11

A contractual clause wherein parties agree in advance the jurisdiction in which a dispute must be litigated.

Question 12

The identification of the place where the court’s decision in a particular case, a statute, or regulation is printed can be accessed. Case citations include the names of the parties, the court, and the date of the decision.

Answer 12

Citation

Question 13

The methods, procedures, and practices that govern the processing of a civil lawsuit from start to finish.

Answer 13

Civil procedure

Question 14

Litigation/arbitration brought on behalf of a group of persons (class) with a common interest by a representative

Answer 14

Class action

Question 15

A type of ADR that combines mediation and negotiations

Collaborative law is a new way to resolve disputes by removing the disputed matter from the litigious court room setting and treating the process as a way to “trouble shoot and problem solve” rather than to fight and win.

Answer 15

Collaborative law

Question 16

A legal claim by defendant in opposition to/deduction from the claim of the plaintiff

Answer 16

Counterclaim

Question 17

Attorney-client privilege does not protect client communications made to further a crime or illegal act

Answer 17

Crime-fraud exception

Question 18

de novo

Answer 18

A de novo proceeding takes place when a successfully appealed case will be litigated again from the beginning.

Question 19

a judgement that may be entered in favor of the plaintiff if the defendant does not file an answer within the time required

Answer 19

Default judgement

Question 20

the oral questioning of any person who may have helpful information about the facts of a case

Answer 20

Deposition

Question 21

A judge’s order to a jury to return a particular verdict. After presenting evidence in a jury trial, either party may assert that the other side has not produced enough evidence to support the legal claim/defense. The moving party then requests that the judge direct that a verdict be entered in favor of them.

Answer 21

Directed verdict

Question 22

motion

Answer 22

A motion is a written request or proposal to the court to obtain an asked-for order, ruling, or direction.

Question 23

Process of collecting evidence to support claims in lawsuit

Answer 23

Discovery

Question 24

Discretionary review

Answer 24

The principle whereby the Supreme Court has the power to decide which cases within its jurisdiction it will adjudicate (make a formal judgement on a disputed matter.)

Question 25

Dismissed with the provision that the plaintiff may not assert the same claims in another case

Answer 25

Dismissed with prejudice

Question 26

Dispute negotiation

Answer 26

Backward-looking negotiation that addresses past events that have caused disagreement

Question 27

Diversity jurisdiction

Answer 27

The power of U.S. district courts to decide lawsuits between citizens of two different states when amount in controversy exceeds 75K

Question 28

All the judges of a court of appeals sit together to hear and decide a particularly important or close case

Answer 28

en banc hearing

Question 29

In a diversity action in federal court, except as to matters governed by the US constitution and acts of congress, the law to be applied in any case is the law of the state in which the federal court hearing the case is situated.

Answer 29

Erie doctrine

Question 30

Federal law requiring courts to honor agreement to arbitrate and arbitration awards

Answer 30

Federal arbitration act (FAA)

Question 31

Federal question

Answer 31

A question in a lawsuit that concerns federal law

Question 32

Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP)

Answer 32

The procedural rules that govern civil litigation in US district courts.

Question 33

Final-offer arbitration

Answer 33

Each side submits its “best and final” offer to the arbitrator, who must choose one of the two proposals

Question 34

Personal jurisdiction based on the residence or activities of the person being sued. It is the power that a court has over the defendant itself, rather than interest in property itself.

Answer 34

in personam jurisdiction

Question 35

in rem jurisdiction

Answer 35

Jurisdiction over property based on the location of the property at issue in the lawsuit

Question 36

Interrogation

Answer 36

written question to a party to a lawsuit and its attorney

Question 37

Judgment n.o.v.

Answer 37

Aka judgement non-withstanding. A judgment in which the judge reverses the jury verdict on the grounds that the evidence of the prevailing party was so weak that no reasonable jury could have resolved the dispute in that party’s favor.

Question 38

Litigation hold precedure

Answer 38

The suspension of a company’s usual document disposal procedures when there is a reason to believe the documents are relevant to pending/potential litigation

Question 39

Long-arm statute

Answer 39

the subjection of an out-of-state defendant to state jurisdiction when the defendant is doing business/commits a civil wrong in the state

Question 40

Mandatory arbitration

Answer 40

When one party will not do business with the other unless it agrees to arbitrate any future disputes

Question 41

Med-arb

Answer 41

Parties to a dispute enter mediation with the commitment to submit the dispute to binding arbitration if mediation fails to resolve the conflict. (Note: in arb-med, the dispute is submitted to arbitration prior to mediation)

Question 42

Minitrial

Answer 42

Method of ADR in which lawyers present their cases in a trial format before a neutral third party, who acts as an adviser, or before executives of the parties to the dispute. The parties to the dispute then meet to try to resolve their differences

Question 43

Motion for judgement on the pleadings

Answer 43

A motion filed immediately after the complaint and answer have been filed. One party, usually the defendant, argues that the pleadings alone demonstrate that the action is futile.

Question 44

An individual who hears complaints, engages in fact finding, and promotes informal forms of dispute resolution

Answer 44

Ombudsperson

Question 45

Partial summary judgement

Answer 45

A summary judgment granted on some issues of a case while other issues proceed to trial.

Question 46

Personal jurisdiction

Answer 46

The power of a state court to hear (decide) a civil case based upon residence or location of activities of the person being sued

Question 47

Pleadings

Answer 47

The formal allegations by the parties to a lawsuit of their respective claims and defenses.

Question 48

After considering all the evidence presented in the prehearing and the hearing, the arbitrator makes his or
her award in the final ___ phase

Answer 48

posthearing

Question 49

The request for relief in a complaint

Answer 49

Prayer

Question 50

First stage in arbitration: parties submit trial-like briefs, supporting documents, written statements to make their case

Answer 50

Prehearing

Question 51

The power of a court of appeal to send a case back to a lower court for reconsideration

Answer 51

Remand

Question 52

The published volumes of case decisions by a particular court or group of courts

Answer 52

Reporter

Question 53

A collection of common law rules in a particular subject area - persuasive rather than authoritative sources of law

Answer 53

Restatement

Question 54

Delivery of legal documents, such as complaint in a lawsuit, to the party required to respond to them

Answer 54

Service of process

Question 55

A conference a judge holds to give each side a candid assessment of the strengths/weaknesses of its case and the likely outcome if the case goes to trial

Answer 55

Settlement conference

Question 56

The situation in which different US Courts of Appeal disagree on a legal issue

Answer 56

Split in circuits

Question 57

intentional, reckless, or negligent withholding, hiding, altering, fabricating, or destroying of evidence relevant to a legal proceeding.

An instruction by the judge to the jury that the jury may presume that missing or altered evidence would have been unfavourable to the party causing its alteration

Answer 57

Spoliation inference

Question 58

Requirement that a party must have a sufficient stake/interest in a controversy to bring a lawsuit, and will benefit from a favorable ruling

Answer 58

Standing

Question 59

To stand by a decision. Once a court resolves a particular issue, other courts addressing a similar legal problem generally follow the initial court’s decision.

Answer 59

stare decisis

Question 60

Jurisdiction over cases of a particular type

Answer 60

Subject matter jurisdiction

Question 61

A test to determine whether attorney-client privilege can be extended to a party who is not the client of the attroney. The tests holds true if the employee’s communication with a corporation’s lawyer is made at the direction of the employee’s supervisors and in the course and scope of the employee’s employment

Answer 61

subject matter test

A legal test used to decide when a company can protect from disclosure communications or discussions of a company employee with counsel for the company; to be protected by attorney–client privilege, the subject matter of the communication or discussion must relate to that employee’s duties and be made at the direction of a corporate superior.

Question 62

A procedural device available for disposition of a controversy without trial. A judge grants ___ only if:

• all of the written evidence before the court clearly establishes that there are no disputed issues of material fact
• the party who requested the ___ is entitled to prevail as a matter of law

Answer 62

Summary judgement

Question 63

ADR method in which parties to a dispute put their cases before a real jury, which renders a nonbinding decision

Answer 63

Summary jury trial (SJT)

Question 64

The official notice to a defendant that a lawsuit is pending against the defendant in a particular court

an order to appear before a judge or magistrate, or the writ containing such an order.

Answer 64

Summons

Question 65

Forward-looking negotiations concerned with desired relationships and future variable shared gains

Answer 65

Transactional negotiations

Question 66

To nullify a previous court’s ruling - courts of appeals have the power to do this

Answer 66

Vacate

Question 67

Questioning of potential jurors to determine possible bias

Answer 67

voir dire “speak the truth”

Question 68

Protection of information, including the private memoranda and personal thoughts of the attorney, created by the attorney while preparing a case for trial

Answer 68

work-product doctrine

Question 69

An order issued by the U.S. Supreme Court when it decides to hear a case, ordering the lower court to certify the record of proceedings below and send it up to the U.S. Supreme Court

Answer 69

Writ of certiorari