Exam 3: Judgement

Sheila is a paralegal who works for Paul, an attorney representing the plaintiff in a commercial-litigation case. As requested by Paul, a subpoena was issued and served on Ruf-n-Tuf Chainsaw Company, a third party to the lawsuit. Paul is only interested in the correspondence, including e-mail, between employees of Ruf-n-Tuf and the defendant. The subpoena set a deposition for Ruf-n-Tuf's custodian of records for September 15, but included a standard letter stating that the deposition will not be necessary if Ruf-n-Tuf provides copies of the correspondence as requested. Is it necessary in this situation for Sheila to arrange for a court reporter just in case Ruf-n-Tuf would prefer an actual deposition?

A police officer was cruising down a suburban street when he saw a juvenile standing in the front yard of a house and holding two or three rocks. The officer then noticed another juvenile two houses down the street standing in the front yard of another property. The second juvenile was holding his head and bleeding. The homeowner of the property between where the first and second juveniles were standing wants to sue the first juvenile for trespass. To prove trespass, a plaintiff must prove an intentional invasion of the person's property. What additional fact must the homeowner prove to support a trespass claim?

A paralegal's supervising attorney needs to mail out a notice of a meeting of limited partners. The limited partnership agreement provides that a meeting of the limited partners cannot be held with less than ten days' notice. If the notice is mailed today, Wednesday, June 1, what is the first day that the meeting could be held on?

Jan is a paralegal employed by Curley & Moe, a mid-size law firm. Her supervising attorney is Bob. Bob is representing Gil in the sale of the manufacturing division of Gil's business. Jan is aware that, pursuant to the purchase and sale agreement, Curley & Moe is holding $75,000 in its trust account. Curley & Moe has procedures for handling client money and deposit of fees, and those procedures include using a check request form to obtain checks for payment of funds out of the firm's trust account. However, all accounts are overseen by a senior partner, and only two senior partners are signatories on the trust account. Under the purchase and sale agreement, the $75,000 can be released to Gil when all assets of the manufacturing division have been transferred to the purchaser. After a month of work, all of the assets have been transferred. Jan's supervising attorney has asked Jan to submit a check request to the office manager and obtain a check payable to Gil in the amount of $75,000. From the answer choices listed below, what is Jan's best response?

Mary is a paralegal who works for Jill. Jill is an attorney who represents clients in business and transactional matters. One of Jill's client's is Gigantic International. Gigantic is selling one of its smaller factories. In addition to selling the real estate and building, Gigantic is selling the factory's machinery, but not selling any small hand tools at the factory. Mary has been assisting Jill with drafting and organizing the sale documents, which are lengthy and include several exhibits and schedules. One of the schedules attached to the main purchase agreement is a listing of personal property that is included in the sale. Gigantic has given Jill an inventory, and some of the items on the inventory need to be added to the personal property schedule. Of the following, which items should Mary NOT add to the schedule? Industrial-grade lathe bolted to floor Three standard hammers Electrical transformer attached to outside of building Five workbenches with attached vices 12" x 18" tool chest with assorted screwdrivers, wrenches, and ratchet drives Two personal computers with software for controlling automated assembly machine

Melissa is a paralegal at a mid-size firm that provides legal services to small- and mid-size businesses. Melissa works for Jack Samuelson, who assists small- and mid-size businesses with corporate transactions. One of Jack's clients is Central City Flooring, Inc. One day, Melissa takes a call from Sharon, who is the executive assistant to Peter Johnson, the president of Central City Flooring. Sharon asks Melissa to e-mail copies of the deed for a parcel of land that Central City purchased last year and the construction contract for a new building that Jack helped negotiate. Melissa remembers working on the transactions and knows Sharon from previous matters. Can Melissa send electronic copies of the documents without getting Jack's permission?

The following conversation took place between Consuela, a paralegal, and Rita, the owner of Citywide Realty. Consuela's employer has asked her to interview Rita about whether an enforceable contract was formed between Citywide and an office leasing company. Consuela: Good morning, Rita. I understand we need to talk about the leasing company matter. Rita: Good morning, Consuela. That's right. I first started by calling Cal, the leasing agent for the office space on Main Street. I asked him if the space was still available and rental rate on a per-square-foot basis. I had done a walkthrough of the office with Cal about five months earlier, but decided I wasn't ready to move out of my home office, so I didn't lease at that time. Consuela: What did he say? Rita: Cal said it was available and that the asking price was $5.50 per square foot. He said he could offer it at that price for a total of 1,000 square feet. I then asked him if that included utilities and maintenance, and he said yes. Consuela: What happened then? Rita: Well that price was about $1.00 higher than when I did the walkthrough. I told him I didn't like the asking price. He told me that vacancy rates had gone down, so the market price had gone up and that he couldn't go any lower. I told him I'd think about it, but I had doubts about leasing at that price. That was the end of the call. A week later, Cal claimed we had entered a lease for the space. Which of the following best identifies the key facts as described by Rita?

Brenda is a paralegal working at a small law firm with four attorneys. Bayside Printers, Inc. is one of the firm's clients, and the firm also acts as statutory agent for Bayside Printers. In an unfair competition case, Florida Printing Supply Co. sued Southeast Printworks, Inc. During the case Florida Printing served a subpoena on the law firm as statutory agent for Bayside Printers. Florida Printing's subpoena sought copies of Bayside's purchase orders sent to Southeast Printworks. Following office procedure, Brenda sent the subpoena and all documents served with the subpoena to the chief operating officer of Bayside. The next day, Brenda received a call from Bayside's office manager, who was in a panic and stated that she did not know Bayside had been sued and that the chief operating officer did not want to cooperate because he detests Florida Printing. Of the options listed below, what is the Brenda's best approach to responding to the office manager?