Hamer v Sidway Case Brief and Analysis I choose the Hamer v. Sidway caseForegoing smoking, drinking, etc. as consideration in a contract: Hamer v. Sidway,

Hamer v Sidway Case Brief and Analysis I choose the Hamer v. Sidway caseForegoing smoking, drinking, etc. as consideration in a contract: Hamer v. Sidway, 124 N.Y. 538ALL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE ASSIGNMENT ARE ATTACHED IN A WORD DOCUMENT BELOW. SPEA-V 184: Law & Public Affairs – Dunlap
Spring 2019
Legal Case Briefing – 1st Assignment
The purpose of this exercise is for you to gain experience briefing a case and to improve your
understanding of how cases relate to one another. You will also gain experience using online
resources to research cases and “law review” journal articles. Below, I have provided you with a
list of popular cases because there will be a large number of cases and law review articles that
cite each of the cases on the list. Substantively, the cases you will be researching are related to
upcoming units on criminal law and later units on tort and property laws.
First, choose one of the following:
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Foregoing smoking, drinking, etc. as consideration in a contract: Hamer v. Sidway, 124 N.Y. 538
Ownership of Body Tissue / Stem Cells: Moore v. Regents of the Univ. of Cal., 793 P.2d 479
Warnings / Airline Injury: Andrews v. United Airlines, 24 F.3d 39
Industry Custom / Medical Malpractice: Lama v. Borras, 16 F.3d 473
Strict Liability / Escalator Injury: Colmenares Vivas v. Sun Alliance Insurance, 807 F.2d 1102
Joint Liability / Quail Hunting Injury: Summers v. Tice, 199 P.2d 1
Manufacturing Defects / Fire: Speller v. Sears Roebuck & Co., 790 N.E.2d 252
Product Warnings / Buzz Saw Injury: Hood v. Ryobi America Corp., 181 F.3d 608
Nuisance Remedy / Air Pollution: Boomer v. Atlantic Cement Co., 257 N.E.2d 87
Buyer Beware / Haunted House: Stambovsky v. Ackley, 169 A.D.2d 254
Individual Right to Bear Arms: District of Columbia v. Heller, 128 S. Ct. 2783
Search and Seizure / Wiretapping: Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347
Search and Seizure / Thermal Imaging: Kyllo v. United States, 533 U.S. 27
Cruel and Unusual / Mandatory Minimum Sentencing: Solem v. Helm, 463 U.S. 277
Cruel and Unusual / Death Penalty for Developmentally Disabled, Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304
Second, brief your chosen case. As I noted in class, a case brief is usually written in an outline
format. However, this assignment calls for you to brief your case in the format of a professional
memo like you would write to an employer. Therefore, you must write your brief in prose rather
than as an outline. The brief should include all of the six parts that we discussed in class: (1)
facts & procedural history, (2) legal issue, (3) decision/outcome, (4) holding/principle, (5)
rationale/reasoning, (6) IF there is a dissent mention it and briefly describe the rationale for the
dissenting opinion (7) policy implications. The case brief should constitute the vast majority of
your memo (about two pages).
Third, research and write about one case that cites and discusses your chosen case. The
easiest way to do this is to use the LexisNexis “shepardize” feature that I showed you in class. In
your memo, briefly identify this second case and describe the point of law for which it cites the
case you that you briefed. Does this second case follow your original case or not? Note: Do not
provide a full case brief for this second case.
Fourth, research and write about one law review article that cites and discusses your
chosen case. You can also use the shepardize feature in LexisNexis for this. But it might be
easier to search for the same citation of your case in the law review database in LexisNexis, as
shown in class. In your memo, briefly identify the thesis of the article and describe the point of
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SPEA-V 184: Law & Public Affairs – Dunlap
Spring 2019
law for which the author cites the case you chose to brief. The paragraphs about the second case
and the law review article should make up no more than one page of your memo.
The citing case and law review article must mention the case you briefed. They do not have to
discuss your case at length, but it is not sufficient to find a case or law review article that cites
your case as one in a long list without mentioning it in the text.
You may work alone or with a partner of your choosing. If you work with a partner, then
this is how you should work together. Each person reads and outlines a brief of the chosen
case. Partners discuss and compare outlines. Partner 1 prepares the prose version of the
brief while Partner 2 locates a citing case and law review article and prepares the prose
version describing each of those. The partners then provide one another with their drafts
and each partner reviews and edits the other partner’s work. The partners then show their
suggested edits to one another and settle on a final draft to turn in.
Format: Each memo should be about 1,000 to 1,500 words (about three pages, Times New
Roman, 12 point font, 1 inch margins, double spaced.
Include a bibliography with citations to law review journal articles in the “journal” format like
this:
In the body: (Abelkop, 2014)
Abelkop, Adam. 2014. “Tort Law as an Environmental Policy Instrument.” Oregon Law
Review 92: 381–469.
When writing about cases, use the following rules:
In the body: If you are discussing a case in the body of your paper, then italicize the case
name. Use the full case name the first time you cite the case and thereafter refer to the
case (still italicized) by one of the parties’ names. When referring to the party, do not use
italics. Only use italics when referring to the case. The only parenthetical cite you need is
the date in parenthesis, the first time you cite the case. For example:
“Roe v. Wade (1973) was a foundational case in constitutional law on abortion. Roe had
wanted an abortion, but abortions were illegal under Texas law. Roe created a trimester
framework for deciding on whether or not state restrictions on abortion violate the
constitution. In Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), the Supreme Court upheld Roe’s
creation of a fundamental right to privacy in abortion decisions, but overruled the
trimester framework, replacing it with the “undue burden” standard.”
In a bibliography: Include the full citation to the case with no italics. Often cases will
have multiple citations. You only need to include one. Also, note that you do not need to
include the database on which you found the case. In other words, do not cite LexisNexis
(that’s the same to citing Google as your source). Also, do not put a URL, even if you
found the case online.
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SPEA-V 184: Law & Public Affairs – Dunlap
Spring 2019
Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973)
Roe v. Wade, 314 F. Supp. 1217 (N.D. Tex., 1970)
Case briefs are intended to be summaries that put the sometimes difficult-to-understand legal
jargon of the case into terms that are easier to understand. What’s more, your descriptions of the
citing law review article and citing case are meant to be brief. I want you to get practice
paraphrasing hard-to-understand language. Therefore, for this assignment, you are not allowed to
quote anything.
You may use online case briefs and notes in LexisNexis as you would use Wikipedia: You may
not quote or cite them. But they can be used to give you some guidance. PLAGIARISM FROM
AN ONLINE CASE SUMMARY WILL RESULT IN AN AUTOMATIC ZERO ON THE
ASSIGNMENT.
Grading rubric
Grammar, punctuation, spelling: 15%
Style/Formatting: 5%
Logical flow/readability/clarity: 5%
Relevant & Accurate facts: 10%
Accurate issue: 5%
Accurate decision/outcome: 5%
Accurate holding/principle: 15%
Accurate rationale/reasoning: 15%
Discussion of some policy effects: 5%
Discussion of citing case: 10%
Discussion of citing article: 10%
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