Business Law, LEB 320F Unit 3 Exam Questions and Answers
Personal jurisdiction over certain cases, such as bankruptcy cases, can be established simply by having property relevant to the suit within the jurisdiction of the court. - Answer -True: In Rem jurisdiction, which can be established by having property within the jurisdiction of the court, can satisfy jurisdictional requirements for a case.
For a criminal trial, the government must prove their case "beyond a reasonable doubt" in order to secure a guilty verdict. - Answer -True: Civil cases vary, but generally require
proof by a "preponderance of evidence."
Federal District Courts are courts of general jurisdiction. - Answer -False: Federal District Courts are courts of limited jurisdiction. A Federal District Court must have Subject Matter Jurisdiction in order to hear a case.
Because a corporation is not an individual, a corporation does not have to be served prior to a suit. - Answer -False: Corporations generally appoint and register an agent to be served and some jurisdictions will consider service valid if any officer of the corporation is properly served.
It is possible to violate moral or ethical standards without violating the law. - Answer -
True: Some laws are less stringent than some moral or ethical standards
A claim arising out of the Americans with disabilities act, which is a Federal statute, would be a Federal Question case and, therefore, be within a federal district court's jurisdiction. - Answer -True
A party may make a special appearance at any point in a trial - Answer -False: Most jurisdictions consider any defense claiming lack of personal jurisdiction to be waived when a party makes an appearance before the court.
Magnus, a citizen of Sweden, has a significant number of contacts with the United States as a whole to establish personal jurisdiction, but not enough contacts with an individual state to establish jurisdiction. An American court cannot establish personal jurisdiction over Magnus. - Answer -False: Under Rules of Civil Procedure 4(k)(2), if a foreign defendant has a significant amount of contact with the United states, but personal jurisdiction cannot be established with any individual state, the foreign defendant can still be found to have personal jurisdiction. When expanding a business, a company must consider if they will be subject to legal liability in a new jurisdiction and if the new jurisdiction is more or less favorable to businesses attempting similar ventures. - Answer -True
All laws are rooted in moral standards - Answer -False: Many are of convenience, custom, or made for other reasons
Jeff sues Stephen for violating portions of the Federal Labor Standards Act, a federal statute, and for fraud, a state claim. Both claims arise from the same set of facts. Jeff can bring both causes of action before a Federal Court. - Answer -True
The Due Process requirement of the constitution is met if a defendant has enough minimum contacts for the court to establish personal jurisdiction over the defendant. - Answer -False: Simply establishing minimum contacts does not always ensure that the Due Process requirement is met.
Conner, a citizen of South Carolina, intentionally publishes articles defaming Blake, a citizen of Oklahoma, in the state of California. Defamation is an intentional tort. The state of California has personal jurisdiction over Conner. - Answer -True: If the harm of an intentional tort is aimed at a specific jurisdiction, a court has personal jurisdiction even in the absence of other forms of personal jurisdiction.
A website accessible in a jurisdiction is enough to establish general jurisdiction - Answer
-False: Simply having a website, "without requiring some level of 'interactivity' between the defendant and consumers in the forum state" is not enough to establish general jurisdiction in a given jurisdiction.
All cases before a federal circuit court have the right to be heard on appeal. - Answer -
False: The Supreme Court gets to choose which cases it hears. Generally, only cases granted writ of certiorari are heard by the Supreme Court.
A jury is, in most civil cases, considered to be a "judge of facts" while the judge is only the "judge of the law". - Answer -True
A contract between a Texas corporation and a California corporation, signed in New York contains a provision that all litigation regarding the contract will be preformed in California. What state's law should be applied to the litigation? - Answer -California:
What happens when an appellate court finds that a lower court judge erred in granting summary judgment? - Answer -The case is remanded to the lower court with instructions on what the lower court erred on and how to properly try the case
Which of the following claims, when brought under federal statute, can only be brought in Federal Court? - Answer -Patent and Copyright claims. Which of the following is necessary for a court to have in order to hear a case? - Answer
-Personal jurisdiction, proper venue, and subject matter jurisdiction.
Alternative Dispute Resolution is the blanket term used to describe techniques used to resolve legal conflicts outside of courtrooms, and includes mediation, arbitration, and other methods. - Answer -True
Te defendant bears the burden of proof of proving their innocence in a civil case - Answer -False: The plaintiff bears the overall burden of proof in a civil case and must prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the defendant committed the alleged acts and that none of the potential affirmative actions the defendants claim are true.
If the plaintiff properly proves all the necessary elements of his claim, he can still lose a civil case. - Answer -True- affirmative defense
If a defendant fails to respond to a complaint within a certain amount of time (generally 20 days), a default judgment is granted against the defendant and the plaintiff wins by default. - Answer -True
A deposition is a line of questions sent by one party to the other, which much be answered under oath. - Answer -False: A deposition is the record of the testimony of a witness under oath. Both parties are generally present during the testimony and have an opportunity to cross-examine the witness.
An attorney generally cannot ask leading questions of a witness. - Answer -False: Although an attorney is not allowed to lead the witness during direct examination, an attorney is allowed to lead the witness if it is an adverse witness.
Courts of appeals often hear new testimony a party may have found after the trial - Answer -False
All judges in a panel for a circuit court must agree on the outcome of the case and the reasoning used to justify the outcome. - Answer -False: If a judge does not agree with the majority of the case, he can write a concurrence if he disagrees with the reasoning and agrees with the outcome, or a dissent if he disagrees with the outcome.
A court enforces an injunction by charging the defendant with contempt of court if the defendant fails to perform - Answer -True
One of the reasons alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is becoming more popular is because they avoid costly and time consuming trials. - Answer -True
One of the disadvantages of arbitration is that it is not legally binding - Answer -False: Under the Federal Arbitration Act, all written commercial arbitration agreements and arbitrator awards are legally enforceable if the underlying business transaction affected interstate commerce. Even in instances where the underlying business transactions do not affect interstate commerce, state arbitration statutes in every state usually make the arbitration agreement and award enforceable.
Mediation is required before parties go to trial in all jurisdictions. - Answer -False
Precedent set by other states (such as Oklahoma) is mandatory authority which a Texas state court must follow. - Answer -False: A court does not have to follow the precedent from a higher court if the higher court is not directly above it. This means that Texas courts do not have to follow Oklahoma precedent, even if it is the Supreme Court
of Oklahoma.
A court will generally consider the textual context of a statute, when attempting to determine the meaning of an ambiguous statute, prior to taking into account the circumstantial context of the passing of the statute. - Answer -Courts often consider the textual context of a statute when trying to interpret the meaning of the statute prior to considering the circumstantial context of when the statute was passed.
The UCC is Federal law that applies to all states - Answer -False: The UCC is made by a non-government entity offered in hopes that all states accept it, in order to increase uniformity for legal issues faced by multi-state corporations. Although most states have adopted it, many states still have variations of many pieces of it.
Which of the following are types of discovery tools generally used during pretrial discovery? - Answer -Depositions, interrogatories, requests for production of documents
Which of the following is a reason a potential juror may be dismissed during voir dire? - Answer -An attorney uses a peremptory challenge or a strike against the juror, and a judge excuses a person by granting a challenge fo cause made by one of the attorneys
Which of the following is not a popular method of ADR? - Answer -Lawsuits
Which of the following is a reason for the increasing popularity of arbitration? - Answer -
The parties have more control over the process, the proceeding can be kept entirely private, no expensive pretrial discovery
Which of the following is, according to Benjamin Cardozo, a "directive force" which shapes the law? - Answer -Philosophy, history, custom, and social welfare
Judicial review is established in the constitution - Answer -False: Judicial review was established in Marbury v. Madison
Congress has the ability to delegate legislative powers to other branches. - Answer -
True: Congress can, and has many times before, allowed other branches to create agencies with legislative-like powers. Some examples are the SEC, the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office, and the U.S. Parole Commission.