CONFLICT OF LAWS



Professor Franks

Final Examination, Summer 2000





GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS


1. Carefully analyze the facts and grasp the issues in each question before beginning to write. Spend time reading the question slowly and carefully.

2. State the issues and answers to each question concisely. Lengthy answers are not necessary.

3. Do not repeat questions in your answers. Write neatly and legibly on only one side of each page.

4. Number your answers to correspond with the question, e.g., "II-A-2."

5. If you feel it necessary to assume additional facts in any of the questions, give the facts that must be added and state why.

6. Do not write in the margin of the book.

7. All major questions are equally weighted unless otherwise indicated. Subparts are approximately equal but may be weighted slightly differently according to the number of issues involved in that subpart.

8. Write your personal identification number and the name and section number of the course on which you are being examined on the cover of each examination book.

9. If you use more than one book, indicate "Book One," "Book Two" and so forth on the cover of each book and write your PIN and the name and section number of the course on the cover of each examination book.

10. A GOOD ANSWER IS NOT NECESSARILY A LONG ANSWER.











QUESTION I

60 per cent of test


The fun never ends on the riverboat at Casino Rouge. Meet our cast of characters. Cindy Sue Gumpner, age 24, works as a cocktail waitress at "The Strip Mine" in Nashville. On 22 June 2000, she divorced her husband, Forrest Gumpner, in the Chancery Court of Davidson County, Tennessee. Both Cindy Sue and Forrest are life-long domiciliaries of Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee.

Wishing to celebrate this great event in her life (the dumping of Forrest), and also hoping to strike it rich, Cindy Sue took the first available bus to Baton Rouge. Had she stayed home even one day longer, she would have received a letter from her Nashville lawyer enclosing a copy of her divorce decree and advising her: "Tennessee has a thirty-day appeal period for divorce. Under no circumstances remarry within this thirty-day period, as Tennessee considers any remarriage within the appeal period absolutely null and void. Any such marriage would remain void forever even though your former husband never appealed the divorce." Assume that to be a correct statement of Tennessee law.

Meanwhile back at the ranch near Odessa, in Ector County, Texas, one Bubba Slugwell, age 24, was having a fight with Betty Lou, the woman he'd been shacking with for the last ten years. "We're through!" the cowboy intoned as he stormed out of their rented trailer. Hopping on to his motorcycle, he raced off into the night. In the satchel of his "Harley hog" were two sixpacks of Lone Star beer, and in his studded leather jacket one Louisiana Department of Tourism map. Thirteen hours and 768 miles later, he was in Baton Rouge, arriving (unbeknownst to him) only hours before Cindy Sue's bus would also arrive.

They saw each other at the blackjack table. It was love at first sight. Four days after their arrival, Bubba and Cindy Sue tied the knot over at Baton Rouge City Court. To celebrate their marriage, they got drunk. Seven sixpacks into their honeymoon, they got into a nasty fight. The next morning, Cindy Sue took the first bus out of Baton Rouge headed back to Nashville. Bubba got on his bike and raced all the way back home to West Texas and to his dear Betty Lou.


















ANSWER THE FOLLOWING


Please answer the following specific questions:

A. Bubba's annulment

1. Does Bubba have grounds for annulment? Discuss.
2. Identify each court where Bubba can properly file for annulment if he has grounds. Discuss.
3. State the jurisdictional basis on which each court would or could have jurisdiction. Discuss.
4. Identify any jurisdictional problems. Discuss.
5. State what substantive law each of the courts could apply. Discuss.
6. Identify the best jurisdiction in which Bubba could file, and state why. Discuss.

B. Cindy Sue's annulment

1. Does Cindy Sue have grounds for annulment? Discuss.
2. Identify each court where Cindy Sue can properly file for annulment if she has grounds. Discuss.
3. State the jurisdictional basis on which each court would or could have jurisdiction. Discuss.
4. Identify any jurisdictional problems. Discuss.
5. State what substantive law each of the courts could apply. Discuss.
6. Identify the best jurisdiction in which Cindy Sue could file, and state why. Discuss.

C. Creative solutions

Assume that your law firm has offices in Baton Rouge, Nashville and Odessa, and assume further that you are licensed in all three jurisdictions -- Louisiana, Tennessee and Texas. Assume that Cindy Sue comes to you wanting an annulment. What creative solutions can you offer her to accomplish her goal as quickly and efficiently as possible?














QUESTION II

40 per cent of test


Please answer the following specific questions:

A. Please discuss the difference between:

1. jurisdiction in personam,

2. jurisdiction in rem, and

3. jurisdiction quasi in rem.

B. Please list (without explanation or discussion) the various ways a court may obtain jurisdiction in personam over a party.

C. Please explain the doctrine of collateral estoppel and the concept of issue preclusion.



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