September 30, 2010

POS 282--Introduction to American Law
In class today, Thursday 9/30, I returned the Katko briefs and distributed two handouts; one was the key to the my comments on the Katko brief, and the other was the Maine criminal statute regarding criminal responsibility in situations similar to that in Katko. We went over the Katko briefs, and I stressed the importance of following the case brief format I have assigned. We discussed the use of secondary authority in the Katko opinion (Prosser and the Restatement), and the use of persuasive authority as well (Iowa case with different circumstances --"key facts"--and cases from different jurisdictions). We discussed those things that are not "facts" at all. I went over one additional case, Pappas v. Clark, 494 N.W. 2d 245 (Iowa App. 1992) which rejected recovery for a wrong-doer due to public policy. I went over the Cruzan case, going over particular questions like "citation" and "trial court defense", and then discussing different standards for the burden of persuasion, and the idea of substituted judgment. The assignment for Tuesday 10/5 is to write up and prepare to hand in at the beginning of class the Cruzan brief previously assigned.