Posted: September 13th, 2017

5. You want to advertise your company, a furniture store. You think of a number of different options. However, everything you think of has a problem!

(A) You want to put up a billboard on your own property which would be visible from the nearby highway. But you learn that the city you live in prohibits any and all billboards for safety purposes. You want to object to this since you believe you have a First Amendment right to make any statement you want. You talk to a lawyer, who says you will lose such an argument. Why does the city have the right to limit billboards in this case? Why does it trump your First Amendment right?
(B) You try again, and decide to place signs on all the windows of your store, which is located in a warehouse district away from the attractive city center. After you cover every inch of the windows, town officials tell you to take them down. You learn that per a town law, all window signs must be no larger that 3 feet by 2 feet and cannot cover more than 20% of the windows of your business. This time, your lawyer says you might be able to successfully challenge the city ordinance with the sign limitations. Why might you be successful in this case? Be sure to cite the legal principles that apply in this case.
(C) You decide to advertise in the newspaper to get customers in the door. In your ad, you say you have couches for $10, and include the phrase “first come first served.”?You only have one couch that meets that criterion and it sells right away. Another customer comes in and wants the $10 couch but you tell him you don’t have any and try to sell him a $500 model. He gets angry and threatens to sue you for false advertising. Your lawyer tells you not to worry. What would the customer have to show to prove false advertising? Why is it not false advertising in this case?
(D) Bonus: explain why the ad described in part (C) was an offer not an offer to negotiate (unlike most ads).
Finally, you decide to try your hand at TV ads. You try a couple of different tactics: first, you download a catchy song by a famous band, and use it as background music while shots of your furniture are displayed. Second, you find an actor who looks and sounds just like the actor William Shatner to “pitch” for customers to come to your store. It should be noted that Shatner has a distinctive speaking style.
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(E) You get sued again! Big Music Corp., which owns the song and registered the copyright, tells you that you need to stop playing the music AND pay them royalties. Your lawyer tells you that Big Music Corp. is correct. Under the law of copyright, why does Big Music Corp. have these rights over the music?
(F) Then agents on behalf of William Shatner threaten to sue you for harm to his reputation. You argue that you never identified the actor in your commercial as William Shatner and that lots of people do celebrity impersonations. Plus, no one who looked closely would confuse the two actors. Finally, the actor in the ad didn’t use any catch phrases associated with Shatner. Who is likely to prevail in a lawsuit in this case? Explain your answer.
7. Paul owns a cash-for-gold store, which purchases people’s unwanted jewelry and then melts it down for money. Paul hired David as an employee to watch the store when he wasn’t there.
After a couple of months, Paul realized that he wasn’t making the profits he had made before David started working for him. He went through his receipts and discovered that much of the jewelry he purchased was missing. Paul then went to nearby pawn shops
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and found his missing jewelry and learned that it had been sold to the pawn shops by Donald, David’s best friend.
No one but Paul and David had access to the jewelry. Paul reported the theft to the police, who arrested David for larceny.
(A) What are the elements of the crime of larceny? What is the burden of proof? Based on the facts listed above, do you believe David could be convicted of the crime? Why or why not?
(B) Paul knew that David had some assets – a car and a home – and decided to sue him civilly for conversion. What are the elements of conversion? On what basis can Paul claim that David converted the jewelry? What is the burden of proof? Based on the facts listed above, do you believe David would be found liable for conversion? Why or why not?
8. Darwin owns a small business that provides computer services to customers. Normally he takes his van to the customers’ locations, but sometimes they come to his office for service.
Darwin has a small beagle. He used to leave his pet with a dog walker until the dog bit her a few times. The dog walker refused to care for the beagle any more, so Darwin brought him to work with him. The dog never acted aggressively towards anyone when Darwin was in the room.
One day, Penny dropped off her computer at Darwin’s shop. While Darwin was in the back room, Penny saw the dog. She leaned down, grabbed him, and started petting him. The dog promptly bit Penny, causing injury.
(A) Penny sued for strict liability. Based on the facts stated above, explain the basis under which Penny could justify bringing this lawsuit. Be sure to include the elements of strict liability torts.
(B) Would Darwin have any defenses to the lawsuit? What would it/they be? Would such defense(s) allow Darwin to win based on the facts presented? Why or why not?
(C) Bonus. What could Darwin have done to avoid this problem in the first place? What would a reasonably prudent business owner in the same or similar circumstance do if he could no longer leave his dog at home with the walker?
9. Michael owns a paper company based in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He sells reams of paper to clients in all the neighboring states.
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Michael’s paper comes from trees in a forest owned by a company also located in Pennsylvania. He contracts with the tree company to buy pulp for his paper. The supplier does not sell outside of the state.
Michael realizes that fewer restrictions on logging in Pennsylvania would help his business. He puts together a team to come up with a draft of legislation that he plans to show his Pennsylvania congressmen. He plans to lobby them to convince them to introduce his bill.
(A) Michael meets with the a congressman’s young staff member, who says that although he is sympathetic to Michael’s cause, the U.S. Congress has no authority to pass legislation relating to a Pennsylvania-based company that does not engage in commerce outside of the state. Michael knows that this is incorrect. On what basis/ with what authority could Congress pass Michael’s proposed legislation? Be sure to explain how the facts presented relate to the authority you choose.
(B) Having failed in his lobbying efforts, Michael looks for other options. He discovers that the U.S. Department of Interior is changing its regulations regarding forestry practices. What can Michael do to try to influence these regulations?
10. Suppose Massachusetts passes a statute that states that all cars that are stopped cannot be searched without a warrant – no exceptions.
(A) What are there exceptions to the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. constitution relating to car stops?
(B) What is the Supremacy clause?
(C) Suppose it is determined by a Court that the Massachusetts statute does not violate the U.S. Constitution or undermine the Supremacy Clause. Why not?
(D) Bonus. Instead of the above, assume Massachusetts passed a law that said that warrants are never required for any searches. That statute would violate the Constitution and Supremacy clause. Explain why.
11. Danny applied for a programming job with the City of Dallas. The City hired him after performing a background check. When they checked his background, they discovered that he had received complaints about his behavior towards fellow employees in the past (although nothing specific about the nature of the complaints), but that he was a great worker with particularly valuable skills relating to computer programming. Danny was hired by the City, and signed the employee handbook that required all employees to “behave in a professional manner towards co-workers.”
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Soon after he started, however, Danny started to harass his subordinate, Polly. He would call her derogatory names based on her gender, and would tell her in private that he was not giving her assignments because she was female.
Polly immediately reported her problems to the human resources department, which promised to speak to Danny. Polly never learned whether Danny was spoken to, but his behavior towards her continued. This went on for six months, and Polly was passed up for a promotion during that time because Danny gave her a poor review.
Polly decided to sue both Dallas and Danny. Assume she followed all procedures necessary for filing suit.
(A) Polly has a constitutional claim, based on her gender. What is the claim? How do the facts presented support that claim?
(B) Polly can also bring an action in common law tort on a number of different bases. What are the possible torts for which can Polly sue either the City or Danny? Explain why those torts are supported by the facts of the case.
(C) Even though it appears Danny violated the contract contained in the employee handbook, Polly cannot sue Danny for breach of contract. Why not?
(D) What steps could the City of Dallas as an employer have taken to prevent or avoid Polly’s lawsuit?
12. Paul worked in a factory for 10 years as a welder. He decided to go to school to obtain a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. He had a choice of local universities in which to enroll, and selected Dark University because students could obtain credits for relevant life experience.

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