Class Assignments

Syllabus (pdf) (Updated January 6, 2014)

Syllabus (pdf) (Updated January 9, 2014)

First Week Assignment (pdf) (Updated January 13, 2014)

Week One: January 14, 15, 16

Introduction to the course, judicial review, and limits on federal judicial power

Casebook: pp.1-40

1/16- Dist. Of Columbia v. Heller

(students should brief this case and be prepared to discuss it)

Syllabus (pdf) (Updated January 1, 2014)

Shakespeare Essay (pdf) (Updated January 1, 2014)

Here is the reading for the first week in January.  The textbook is Franklin, Rabin & Green, which you had in your first years. 

1. 1. Read, in Franklin, Rabin & Green, 9^th Ed (“text”):  Brown v. Kendall, p. 35; Tarasoff, p. 151; Strauss, p. 168; Palsgraf, p. 418; Escola, p. 557, and Henderson v. Cominco American, 95 Idaho 690, 518 P.2d 873 (1974)(please find this case on your own; if you still have your Goble Negligence book, at least part of the case is in there).  Just read and appreciate the cases, do not get into all the notes, etc.  Come to class prepared to explain: what a tort is; what the goals, constraints, and recurring issues are in the law of torts; what negligence is; what is the prima facie case for negligence is; and how the elements of the prima facie case fit together.  Come to class flexible in your vocabulary. Professor Goble and I use different words, and the new Restatement uses still more different words. Those of you who have had me as a torts teacher may be called upon to explain my vocabulary to others. 
2. 2. Mfr defect, STPL and negligence - Read 551, 557-571 (Escola, notes, Restatements, notes on Mrf defects).  (There will be a bit more to this assignment.)

(Updated January 3, 2014)

Syllabus (pdf) (Updated January 2, 2014)

First Week Assignments (pdf) (Updated January 1, 2014)

Syllabus (pdf) (Updated January 9, 2014)

First Week Assignment (pdf) (Updated January 13, 2014)

Assignments for First Week (pdf)

Syllabus (pdf) (Updated January 3, 2014)

Assignment for First Week (pdf)

This is the reading for the first week or so in January.  Textbook is Work Law by Crain et al., but the first case will be from the case reporter, and I suggest some movies to watch (more fun over break than reading, perhaps?)  Other good workplace law movies are Norma Rae and North Country.

 

Introduction:

1. A) Read Local 1330, United Steel Workers of America v. US Steel Corp.  I will be putting a handout in the library box.  You’ll find an abridged version in the book, pages 269-290; look at photo on p. 277.  The citation is 631F.2d 1264.  Read primarily for the facts - skim the law.  This will be the first case we discuss in class.
2. B) Consider renting the film Roger and Me (about Flint, Michigan).  Glance at http://www.colorado.edu/IBS/pubs/pec/pec2003-0003.pdf (Or google “effects of layoffs”)   Bruce Springsteen’s Ghost of Tom Joad album features a song about Youngstown.  (Do you know who Tom Joad is?)
3. C) Think about:  Who/what is harmed and who/what is benefitted by the closing of the Youngstown plant?  Was the plant “profitable” when it was shut down?  Was “profitability” the real issue for US Steel?  If not, what was the real issue for US Steel?  Why did this case come out as it did? Who actually governs the American workplace?  Who should?  If the government should have any say in the American workplace, why? And how (using what tools)?

The contractual relationship between employer and employee:

1. 1) Employment contracts, Gap Fillers and Presumptions: 95-111; Consider renting Up in the Air, a recent movie.
2. 2) “Cause” Contracts, Due Process, 111-112, 166-172

Syllabus (pdf) (Updated January 7, 2014)

First Week Assignments (pdf) (Updated January 6, 2014)

First Week Assignments (pdf) (Updated January 6, 2014)

Syllabus (pdf) (Updated January 1, 2014)

Syllabus (pdf) (Updated January 6, 2014)

Tribal Nation Economics (pdf) (Updated January 6, 2014)

Week One: January 14 & 16

Overview of the Criminal Justice Process and Applicability of the Federal Bill of Rights to the States

Casebook: pp.1-58

1/16- Duncan v. Louisiana

(students should brief this case and be prepared to discuss it)

Syllabus (pdf) (Updated January 3, 2014)

Ground Rules (pdf) (Updated January 3, 2014)

First Week Assignment (pdf) (Updated January 10, 2014)

Syllabus (pdf) (Updated January 3, 2014)

Syllabus (pdf) (Updated January 9, 2014)