The legal fraternity went out for pizza at Punch:
The legal fraternity went out for pizza at Punch:
We just a semi-brutal moment in Corporations. The professor started with yesterday’s reading:
Professor M: “And can shareholders act with written consent in Delaware?”
Jack: “I didn’t catch that in the reading.”
Professor M: “And you wouldn’t have caught it in the reading unless you read the statutes I assigned for today! Well?”
(Deathly silence. Jack blushes)
Professor M: “Does anyone know the answer?”
(More awkward silence)
Professor M: “I’m disappointed. I’m not surprised, but disappointed.”
Why isn’t Professor M surprised? General incompetence? Nope. Today is the day before “Winter Break.”
“Winter Break” is a four day weekend at UMN Law. I think Winter Break is designed to help 1L retention. Our professors told us to “take some time off to do things we love.”
No one bought that line.
Grades are in. Classes, legal writing and the 1L summer job hunt are in full swing. This is our 4-day catch up weekend and we are grateful for it. But whether Winter Break is the reason no one read the Corporations statutes is another matter…
The campus security alerts at UMiami were never this interesting:
On Saturday, February 7 at approximately 2:30 a.m., a 22-year-old male who is not affiliated with the University of Minnesota was the victim of an armed robbery and assault on the West Bank Plaza near Anderson Hall.
The victim was walking across the West Bank Plaza when he was approached by a group of four to six males. The group assaulted the victim, striking him with a metal pipe and kicking and punching him. During the assault, the suspects took the victim’s watch and car keys.
The victim eventually fled to safety, but did sustain injuries that required medical treatment.
That’s why I don’t feel bad crossing the street.
There’s generally more crime at UMinnesota than UMiami. There are several reasons for this: UMinnesota is 5 times bigger than UMiami (50,000+ students vs. 10,000).
The main UMN campus is and less than a mile from downtown Minneapolis and surrounded by low income and student housing, whereas UMiami is tucked away in an affluent suburb 8 miles from downtown Miami.
UMiami also has vastly better security (for humans at least). The campus is littered with cameras, rent-a-cops, and real cops. The campus is also so flood-lit that it resembles a sound stage at night.
A core difference is the nature of the schools: Miami is private, Minnesota is public. At UMiami, campus security booted those who obviously didn’t fit in and issued trespass warnings as if they were parking tickets. Although there was that random homeless lady who lived in the bushes near Miami’s business school…
UMN definitely doesn’t have the big boarding school feel of UMiami.
Homeless people are omnipresent, especially in the libraries. There are also characters: an old guy with a ponytail (and beret!) sings for tips outside of the Wilson library. Gypsies play the violin on the Washington Avenue bridge. There’s also fundamentalist preacher who stands near the student union and tells passersby exactly why, how, and when they are going to hell.
Yes, I’m serious.
The law school is its own little world in the chaos that is UMinnesota. I think the doors of the building lock at 7pm and there’s usually a student security-assistant within earshot.
Just don’t expect me to hang around outside of the law school in the middle of the night any time soon…
Our law library is cute:
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
We want you to know
How much we appreciate you!
Join the Law Library for Valentine’s Treats!
11 am – Cookies & Refreshments
Thursday February 12
Law Library Lobby
Yes, they emailed that.
Free food giveaways are a rule at UMN. The library offers free pizza for surveys and spreads for minor holidays. During finals, the law school provides free coffee.
Last semester I thought the free food was awesome. Now I’m not so sure. I think an encounter with a scale had something to do with it…
UMN is a public school, so the free food is used by random passersby (like the bridge gypsies! ) as much as it is by students. I wish the school would stop spending on food (we don’t need the calories, thanks) and start a building beautification fund, or increase scholarships…
We just had an interesting exchange in Criminal Law:
Jack: “I don’t get how the defendant didn’t know he was a felon. I mean, how can you not know? This is nuts. Are you saying I can just murder someone and then vote?
Prof R: “Well, they generally don’t run criminal checks when you vote. If they do catch you then you’re violation…”
Jack: “I just lost respect for this system! (professor and class gasps, awkward moment ensues…) I know that’s not your fault, it’s more of a societal thing, but whatever…”
Today is the third day of Minneapolis’s 40 degree heat wave.
40 degrees means that the ice from the sidewalk now blankets the entire lawn and half of the street in a misguided attempt at melting.
Everything is so slick and disgusting that most people walk in the middle of the road. We’ll take our chances with the cars.
Getting to the front door of the house feels like a real-life version of Mario Kart’s ice world, minus the cool little car and Donkey Kong of course…
Yesterday was my breaking point: I almost took a nose dive into the slush in front of our house, so I decided to take out the pick and start hacking some ice:
THAT took an incredible amount of effort. When I saw how much I had left I decided to leave it to the housemates (hint hint!)
Jill has the best legal argument…
Jack: “I would argue that the possession wasn’t hostile. There was no confrontation at all!”
Jill: “I don’t think the standard here is to dig a moat and set up the catapults…”
I know I’m in trouble when my CivPro book tells me a chapter is dull…
“Nevertheless jurisdiction has continued to plague lawyers, judges and law students. Many, no doubt, would agree with the judge who observed that “the legal issues raised in these cases are rather dull. If Judge Wapner had to worry about personal jurisdiction, ‘The People’s Court’ would not be on television.”
Professor M is very to-the-point:
Prof M: “In this case we have someone who gets drunk and dies in a night club.”
The case is: Soerries v. Dancause, 248 Ga. App. 374 (Ga. Ct. App. 2001)
The facts, viewed in a light most favorable to the jury’s verdict, show that Soerries was the sole shareholder of Chickasaw Club, Inc., which operated a popular nightclub in Columbus for 23 years until it closed in 1999.
At approximately 11:45 p.m. on July 31, 1996, 18-year-old Aubrey Lynn Pursley was intoxicated when she entered the Chickasaw Club. Although a Columbus ordinance prohibits individuals under 21 years old from entering nightclubs, it is undisputed that club employees did not check Pursley’s identification to establish her age.
A friend testified that Pursley already was intoxicated when she arrived at the club. Even so, friends testified that Pursley drank additional alcohol at the club and was visibly intoxicated when she left at approximately 3:00 a.m. on August 1, 1996. Security videotapes showed that she left the club with a beer in her hand.
Shortly thereafter, Pursley was killed when she lost control of her car and struck a tree.
Prof P: “Let’s see this is a very hard case… Jill let’s start with you!”
Jill (loudly): “ARGH!”
Prof P: “What was that?”
Jill : “Oh nothing!”
Prof P: “I thought I heard ‘no’, because if that’s so then I could just move on…”
Jill: “Wait, is that an option!?”
Prof P: “I wouldn’t recommend it.”
Prof P: “So does your client lose?”
Jill: “No. Not automatically.”
(long silence)
Prof P: “That’s the sound instinct of an advocate! Now I’m interested to hear the legal argument…”
The mystery bike groper has been caught! The University just emailed this out:
On 1/30, UMPD issued a public safety alert in response to a series of criminal sexual contacts around campus. Today’s Star Tribune is reporting an arrest in the case:
Man arrested in groping of 9 women at U
February 4, 2009
A man suspected of groping several women on the University of Minnesota campus was arrested Tuesday night and jailed on suspicion of criminal sexual conduct.
University police arrested the 41-year-old man on the East Bank campus after a woman complained that she had been molested about 8:30 p.m.
She was at least the ninth woman, most of them students, who have grabbed in the genital area by a man who sometimes was riding a bicycle.
The first assaults occurred in December, when two women were groped, and resumed last Thursday, when three women were victimized.
After two more women were groped this week, Minneapolis police issued a crime alert and university police increased patrols on the campus.
About 8:30 p.m., university police dispatchers received a call about a woman who had been touched inappropriately by a man in front of the McNamara Alumni Center.
Police said the suspect was last seen observed running towards the Aquatics Center, but after checking the East Bank and Dinkytown areas, officers spotted a man who matched the description offered by the victim on the West Bank campus.
As the officers were arresting the man, dispatchers told them about another groping that had occurred about 20 minutes earlier on Washington Avenue SE in front of Moos Tower. Both victims, who are students at the university, were brought to the suspect, where they identified the man as their attacker.
While the man was being told of the charges he was facing, he confessed, police said.
The suspect, with a listed address in Brooklyn Center, was booked into the Hennepin County Jail at 11:30 p.m. He has “no known affiliation” with the university, police said.
— BOB VON STERNBERG
© 2009 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.
At Java City:
Me: “May I have a latte, whole milk, with five shots?”
Java City Girl: “How many shots?!”
Me: “Five.”
Java City Girl: “You want five shots in your latte?!”
Me: “Yes. And whole milk. Don’t judge me. Thanks”
…and now for my stint at the nice library.
So the professor calls on a student:
Professor M: “Is it… Lay Smith?”
Leigh:“It’s pronounced Lee.”
Professor M:“Oh, I really got that one wrong. I bet you’re used to it though.”
Jack says nevermind:
Professor V: “So what type of evidence is allowed?”
Jack: “Well, you can go to rule 56(c) and the permitted materials from rule 56(e)(1), or you can go to rule 32…”
Professor V: “Wait, so where are we going?”
Jack: “Uh, I shouldn’t have opened my mouth…”
Re: The Elvis hypo
Professor V: It’s pretty persuasive that when you clean your gun you don’t put it in your mouth to lick it off.”
What? It’s only been two weeks? Second semester is definitely busier for a few reasons:
Jamie and I saw The Uninvited* on Friday night. We used the comp tickets from the Unborn fiasco. The movie theater wasn’t as chaotic, but the girls next to us got into a fight with the movie theater cops. I’ve never heard someone call a police officer a “stupid m-f” to his face. It was impressive, in a “I feel bad for your public defender” sort of way.
The fees hearings took up the bulk of Saturday (noon-6pm-ish). That evening we went to the roller derby:
My camera only gave me two options that night – blurry or dark. Let’s blame the lighting. This was my first time at a roller derby. I didn’t expect it to be so family-friendly. The husbands of the rollergirls had shirts that read “Mr. (Wife’s Nickname)” the best was Mr. Strawberry Snatchcake. Yes. He actually had that on his shirt.
The roller derby was very tame. There were little kids running around everywhere. Brady, Jamie, and I got bored fairly quickly. Joe (who initiated the event) was MIA for the majority of the time. After the roller derby we went to the 19. On the way there I almost slid Charlie-Brown-Style on some black ice. Ugh.
Sunday Jamie and I loitered at Panera. I read this obnoxious case for Civil Procedure where the Supreme Court Justice attempted to compare a modern suit to 18th-century British claims for law and equity… it was dense, confusing, and irritating.
And apparently some of the Justices agreed: two of the concurring opinions said, “Uh guys, why are we doing this? We Justices not historians. We look ignorant, and we are wasting our time…” Yes Indeedy.
After Panera we went to Target and Ikea. I almost bought two (5-foot) palms for my room at Ikea, but when I got to the checkout line the cashier said, “Uh, that’s a display pot you can’t buy that.”
Me: “You mean this plain ceramic pot?”
Cashier: “Yeah. It has the product price tag on it. You can’t buy it.”
Me: “It’s a plain pot from a stack of plain pots. Can you just put the tag on another one?”
Cashier: “No. You need to get another pot”
Me: “Fine. I don’t want either of the plants or pots.”
I didn’t return her bitchy attitude, but I hope she had fun putting back those massive plants and the pots. I got some smaller plants from Home Depot.
I’ve noticed a change in my attitude: I have become more efficient. I realize that I am too busy for certain things, like arguing over an Ikea pot.
In the spirit of efficiency, I will work harder this week at single-tasking. I wasted a full two hours on Wednesday night doing a little bit of everything: scholarship essays, corresponding with professors, updating my calendar, etc – but I was at the library to read Criminal Law – not to do all those other things.
And what was the one thing I didn’t get done? Exactly.
*The Uninvited was an ‘okay’ ghost movie, but uses that cheap, “gotcha/camera trick” common to High Tension and (more recently) my Bloody Valentine.
Prof V gave us an insurance dispute hypo. The fact pattern is a tad graphic:
On Saturday morning, February 17, 1996, Priscilla Anderson left the apartment to do some grocery shopping. When she left, Elvis Anderson was sitting at the kitchen table. A cloth was spread out on the table and resting upon it were Elvis’ revolver and a bottle of cleaning solvent. Two hours later, Priscilla returned to the apartment and found Elvis dead from a gunshot wound to the head. The autopsy report found that Elvis had died from a shot into his mouth and through his brain. The medical examiner determined that at the time the bullet had been released the barrel of the gun was fully inside the decedent’s mouth.
… who said CivPro was boring?
University of Minnesota’s mascot is Goldy the Golden Gopher. There’s a wooden statute of Goldy in front of the school recreation center:
Hey, at least we aren’t the Beavers right?
Here are some things I’ve found useful, thought I’d share:
One day, she held up her casebook to point out there was almost no underlining or highlighting. However, in the margins of the book were handwritten notes. She explained that doing full briefs for cases was a waste of time. (Via Law Ingenue)
I finally uploaded the rest of the Bemidji trip photos.
Ms. Montana-Cyrus is inspiring litigation:
A dude claims he’s the inspiration and more for “Hannah Montana” and wants Disney to give him due credit — as in a lot of money.
Richard Fronduto filed a lawsuit today in L.A. County Superior Court, claiming he wrote a script in 1990 called “The Secret Life of Sindi” which eventually became “The Family Business.”
Fronduto claims his agent pitched his work to Disney and that Disney liked it so much they asked him to turn his script into a two-hour pilot. In short, he claims he’s the brainchild for what became “Hannah Montana.” (Via TMZ)
Turns out that this isn’t the only Hannah Montana law suit…
Whenever a show or movie experiences high success rates, the inevitable happens. Someone shows up to claim that this lucrative idea was theirs all along. Such is the case with Disney’s Hannah Montana. This weekend, a comedy writer has filed a lawsuit against the Walt Disney Company that, in 2001, he came up with the idea for a show but used a different show title.
Taylor “Buddy” Sheffield, a veteran comedy writer, is suing for alleged breach of contract, breach of confidence, unfair competition and unjust enrichment. Six years ago, he pitched a show called Rock and Roland to the Walt Disney Company, about a middle school girl who has a secret alter-ego as a rock star. Sound familiar? (Via TV Buddy)
I couldn’t find anything on the Sheffield case except for a more recent lawsuit for Disney canning him. Hm.
Now, I know this may be outrageous, but maybe the problem is that the premise of Hannah Montana isn’t that original? Just a thought… I prefer Trace Cyrus anyway…
