Lessons From Law School

I thought I would start posting these here, so I can keep track of them. They amuse me and I thought they might amuse you too! ^_^ Here's all the lessons I've learned so far:

10/8/09: Apparently accelerating into oncoming traffic is not an effective method of learning to fly like Batman. It's also not an excuse that will get you out of paying damages if you should happen to cause an accident while trying it. Just FYI.

?: We are being brainwashed. Literally. There is a plot amongst the various authors of our casebooks to force the creation of their preferred version of the law by way of influencing the young and impressionable minds of law students everywhere. These students learn to view the law through as their casebook authors frame it (that is, in the way these authors wish it to appear in future). These students then grow up to become judges, who rule on cases in the way they learned the law in law school. Voila! Author=unobtrusive creator of future law, just by sitting at home and writing a book or two. Now we all know who's really in charge in this country...

?: A professor who is also a good father sends his high school daughter to an all-girls school during the day, and walls her in at night to keep her away from the nefarious clutches of his first year law students. (warning to the male students, FYI for the future professors in the room)

9/11/09: 1) Don't shoot people; 2) don't shoot dogs; 3) don't throw Barbies; and 4) don't yell at clients on camera.

8/26/09: Lie, plagiarize, be disrespectful, and be aggressive. (The repetition of these is, obviously, a joking parody of the way they were stated by professors in class.)

Complaint

The formatting's way off, and you don't get the pleading paper background here, but otherwise this is a copy of my first Complaint! I got a decent grade on it, so I thought I'd share. It's kind of a neat thing to have actually written one of these, even if some of the langauge is copy-and-pasted in (which we were instructed to do ^_^).

PEPPERDINE ASSOCIATES
Amber L. M. (Bar No. 144206)
1423 Pacific Coast Highway
Malibu, California 90017
(310) 320-2003

Attorneys for Plaintiff

UNITED STATES DISTRICT FOR

THE CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

PETER PLANT, an individual,

Plaintiff,

vs.

DANNY DAT, an individual; and, EASY GO CARTS, INC. a corporation; and DOES 1 through 10, inclusive,

Defendants

)))))))))))
))

Case No.: TBA
Dept: TBA
Judge: TBA


COMPLAINT FOR:
1. NEGLIGENCE
2. STRICT LIABILITY (PRODUCT DEFECT)

Filing Date: September 12, 2004
Trial Date: None set


Plaintiff Peter Plant (“Plaintiff”) hereby complains and alleges as follows:

JURISDICTION AND VENUE

1. This Court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 United States Code section 1332 as there is complete diversity between the Plaintiff and Defendants and the amount in controversy exceeds the sum of $75,000.00. Venue is likewise proper in this district under 28 United States Code section 1391 because Defendants’ acts of negligence and strict liability complained of herein have occurred and are occurring in this judicial district.

THE PARTIES

2. Plaintiff is a citizen and resident of the State of Florida.

3. Defendant Danny Dat (“Dat”) is a resident of Los Angeles, California.

4. Defendant Easy Go Carts (“Easy Go”) is incorporated in Delaware and thus is a citizen of the State of Delaware.

5. The true names and capacities, whether individual, corporate, partnership, associate or otherwise, of defendants Does 1 through 10 inclusive, and each of them, are unknown to plaintiff who therefore sues them by such fictitious names. Plaintiff will seek leave to amend this Complaint to show the true names and capacities of Does 1 through 10 when he has discovered them. Plaintiff alleges that, at all times mentioned herein, all of the defendants acted or participated in some manner in the acts alleged herein, and in some way caused and are responsible for plaintiff's damages. All references to the named defendant shall include, without limitation, Does 1 through 10 inclusive.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

6. Plaintiff is a sophomore at the University of Florida on a basketball scholarship. He grew up in Miami, where he has lived his entire life.

7. Dat is a retiree who lives in Los Angeles and often goes to Disneyland with his grandchildren.

8. On July 1, 2009, Plaintiff flew to Los Angeles with some of his friends to go to Disneyland.

9. While at Disneyland, during the fireworks show, which started at 10:00 p.m., Dat ran into Plaintiff with a golf cart at which time Plaintiff saw that Dat was so engrossed in watching the fireworks show that he was not looking at where he was driving.

10. The cart Dat was driving was a 2009 RXZ Golf Cart made by Easy Go Carts Inc, which he had rented from Disneyland for the day.

11. In a report taken by a Disneyland security officer it was noted that Dat’s golf cart seems to have malfunctioned because the accelerator pedal was stuck.

12. The security officer also attached a copy of a letter dated August 1, 2009, to his incident report. The letter was from Easy Go to Disneyland, in which Easy Go notified Disneyland that there was a problem with the design of the 2009 RXZ Golf Cart’s brake and gas pedals. Testing showed that unless the pedals were greased during the monthly maintenance check, the pedals would stick.

13. Because of the accident, Plant suffered severe damage to his left foot. The damage was so extensive that three of his toes had to be amputated. His doctor bills to date total $85,000; however, Plant will have many more follow-up visits to his doctor. Plant fears that he may not be able to play basketball anymore, and that he might lose his scholarship. I believe that Plant has a claim of negligence against Dat.

COUNT 1

(Negligence: Against Danny Dat)

14. Plaintiff incorporates herein by reference paragraphs 1 through 13 of this Complaint.

15. Dat had an affirmative duty to Plaintiff to use care in the operation of a motor vehicle in the presence of pedestrians.

16. Dat breached this duty of care owed to Plaintiff, and was negligent, in at least the following ways:

(a) Failing to ensure before driving that his vehicle was fully operational

(b) Failing to take note of his surroundings and the pedestrians in his immediate vicinity and allowing himself to become distracted by the nearby fireworks display.

17. Defendants’ negligence was the legal and proximate cause of Plaintiff’s damages but Plaintiff is presently unaware of the full extent of those damages. Plaintiff will seek leave to amend this Complaint when the full extent of its damages are ascertained.

COUNT 2

(Strict Liability (Product Defect): Against Easy Go Carts and Does 1-10)

18. Plaintiff incorporates herein by reference paragraphs 1 through 13 of this Complaint.

19. The cart driven by Dat in this incident was a 2009 RXZ Golf Cart, which is made by Easy Go Carts Inc.

20. Golf carts are intended for use as a method of transportation at golf courses due to their large size and the subsequent amount of required walking. Disneyland, like a golf course, is large in size and requires a lot of walking. Disneyland purchased such carts from Easy Go for the purpose of providing, for a fee, an alternative method of transportation within the park for guests who wished to take advantage of that option. This was the purpose for which it was being used at the time of the incident by Dat, a retiree.

21. Easy Go sent a letter dated August 1, 2009, to Disneyland, in which Easy Go notified Disneyland that there was a problem with the design of the 2009 RXZ Golf Cart’s brake and gas pedals. Testing showed that unless the pedals were greased during the monthly maintenance check, the pedals would stick.

22. Due to the defective design of the 2009 RXZ Golf Cart’s pedals, the gas pedal of the cart driven by Dat on July 1, 2009 stuck while he was driving it, preventing him from taking corrective measures once he realized the imminent danger of collision.

23. Plaintiff has been damaged by Easy Go’s defective design and has strict liability for those damages in an amount to be proven at trial.

PRAYER FOR RELIEF

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff Peter Plant prays that judgment be entered against the named defendants as follows:

For the First Count

1. For compensatory damages in an amount of $85,000 plus the cost of any follow-up visits to his physician and pre- and post prejudgment interest pursuant to Civil Code Section 3291.

For the Second Count

2. For damages according to proof at trial but no less than the jurisdictional minimum of this Court; and

3. For punitive damages.

For all Causes of Action

4. For attorneys’ fees and costs of suit incurred herein; and

5. For such other and further relief as the Court deems just and proper.

DATED: September 13, 2009

Pepperdine Associates
By: Amber M.
Attorneys for Plaintiff

Week 2...

Okay, first thing: I told everyone that I would post my address, and then I did not. Oops! So here it is:

Pepperdine School of Law
24255 Pacific Coast Hwy. #0228
Malibu, CA 90263-0228

Now that that is taken care of, I have a few other things to say. First, let’s talk about my books. I did, as some of you may recall, spend way too much money on my books this year. They were ridiculously expensive. (They’re just 1L case books; it’s not like they contain the secret to life or the formula for world peace or something!) So can someone please explain to me why my ridiculously expensive books are already showing signs of wear? I’m not just talking a bent page or two either, I’m talking about all those pretty black and gold titles on the cover and spine wearing away! Seriously! I’ve only been carrying them to and from class for the last two weeks. There is no way they should be looking so worn already. For the kind of money I paid, the publisher should be using indestructible inks and foils on my book covers, sheesh!

And now for the weather. While I am happy that the weather here in Malibu is so warm (I am hearing reports from my beloved Portland of sweaters and scarves, and I laugh at you! Muahahaha! I think I shall go to the beach today… insert evil smiley face here), I wouldn’t mind if it were a little less so. Last week was so hot! And muggy. We were struggling with our tiny, inadequate fans just to get a bit of air movement through the apartment. And then our professors come zooming into class (in their suits): “Is it hot in here, are you guys hot? Here let me crank the AC all the way up!” So there we are, dressed in tank tops and shorts and flip-flops, FREEZING because the professor feels the need to compensate for the outdoor temperature. I’ve begun toting a sweatshirt to class with me, because I would like to survive long enough to graduate law school, and frostbite has never been my preferred method of dying. At least the temp has decided to drop the last few days so the weather has cooled noticeably and things are finally pretty comfortable here (although they’re still blazing on the other side of the canyon. Whew!)

As for school itself, things are both picking up and slowing down. The workload isn’t as bad now that I know a little better what I am doing, but the assignments are getting bigger, it’s time to start outlining, and professors have started to say things like “you won’t need to know this for the exam, but you’ll need to know this and this and this…” (Keep in mind that there is only one exam, the final in December. It’s the only grade, literally. So for the professors to be talking about it in September…it’s a little stressful.)

Also, I finally got called on this week. Three times. The first was a little disastrous—the prof. asked a question about a case, but didn’t tell me which case it was. So I asked, and he said “the first one.” Which first one? The first one we discussed in class that day? The first one we discussed that week? The first one ever? (Keep in mind that discuss three to five cases per class per day…that adds up to a lot of cases!) Just as I figured out which one he wanted, he called on someone else. Failure! Not entirely my fault, but still embarrassing! So of course he called on me the next day so that I could redeem myself, and it was fine, but even so…I still have not been called on to actually go over a case brief, however. I am fully okay with this though.

On the upside, I think I’m going to love my new church. Goldman recommended that I start at Conejo Valley CoC, so that’s what I did. My roommate and I liked it so well that we’ve decided to attend there on a regular basis. There are some definite differences (they have women do bible readings there for instance, which is really weird for me) but other than that, they’re CoC as usual. And they might well be the most visitor friendly congregation I’ve ever been to. They are so loving and friendly! Our first Sunday there, we were invited out to lunch. When we declined (we were nowhere near finished reading for the first day of class) and explained that might be easier for us in a couple of weeks when we’d figured out the swing of things, we were told that they would hold us to that and that we would be expected to go out to lunch with them in the very near future.

This last week, the preacher and three or four other people caught us on our way out the door for introductions because they didn’t recognize us and they wanted to say hello and make us feel welcome. When we expressed an interest in staying and getting involved, and mentioned that we liked Conejo because it’s a family-oriented congregation (can we say kids everywhere? It’s what we wanted in a SoCal church home, so it’s good, but so many kids!), they started pointing out who we needed to talk to to get involved in the children’s ministries. We both felt very uplifted when we left, which we decided was a good thing since we are going to be spending most of our time in a very stressful environment. I really hate trying to find, and then get settled in at, a new church (especially with a home congregation like Cordova! Who can compare?), but I really feel like Conejo is going to make that transition easy, and even enjoyable. It’s a huge relief.

Other than that, things are going pretty well. I’m mostly over the weird cold/allergies thing I had going on this last week, so my roommate has (mostly) stopped following me around with Lysol spray and Clorox wipes. We have some kind of baking spree going on apparently, with some new goody being made at least once a week. (This week, I’ll be making banana pudding). I finally got my room set up, and will be taking pictures to post here or on Facebook sometime in the next few days. And this long weekend has been absolutely lovely, both for getting things done and for relaxing (we went out to see a movie last night with our neighbors, which was a lot of fun). Maybe I’ll actually feel ready when classes start up again tomorrow! (Although, I still don’t want to be called on!)

First Impressions

All right. So I said I would blog, but I haven’t been. I’m sorry, to those of you who have been waiting. In my defense, I don’t know when I could have done so, considering that I have been on the go from the moment I hit Malibu. I get up in the morning, I go to class, I do homework, I go to bed. Get up, repeat. I spent all of last weekend doing homework due the first day of class. (Welcome to law school.) This is the first genuinely free time I’ve had in a week, and I’m still fighting the urge to go work on homework I have sitting here on the table next to me. Thursday and Friday’s work is done, but I still need to review for class, outline the first section of Civil Procedure, and get started on the stuff for Monday (of which there is quite a lot). In short, things are a little busy.

But!

They are really, really good. Law school is hard, I’m not going to lie. I’m two years out of practice with this whole school thing, and my study habits and critical reading skills are shot. I’m picking them back up as I go along, but law school in general is, I’m discovering, a whole lot of trial by fire. The experience so far has gone pretty much like this: Last week, they spent three days (Weds. through Friday) explaining how to swim. You know, “when you get in the water, you want to move your arms in big circles, and kick your legs a lot.” Then they sent us home with some assignments prior to starting school: “go home and practice moving your arms and kicking a lot while sitting in your bedroom.” Then this week, they pretty much just tossed us into the deep end, and occasionally they shout instructions at us. When they feel like it. And every so often, I have epiphany moments: “Ah! If I keep my fingers together, I stay afloat better.” But mostly I’m just going through the motions, trying to train myself to think the way they’re trying to teach me to think when I have no clue what we’re talking or reading about half the time.

The weird thing is, I LOVE class. Despite my continuing fear of getting called on (which hasn’t happened yet, although I have volunteered a couple of times), I really enjoy class discussions, and the subject matters are really interesting. I just am not as fond of the workload. There’s a lot to do, not much time to do it in, and I’m still not always certain what it is I’m supposed to be doing. My roommates and I confer a lot. Interestingly, but unsurprisingly, conversations around our kitchen table center often around cases we’re reading for class and what we think about them. (Although they can, and often as not do, turn into conversations about the most ridiculous, fluffy, mindless things.)

But what, I know you’re asking, have I actually been DOING? Specifically?

Well. Let’s start with basics. I live in the law school apartments, which are on-campus dorms directly across the street from the law school. It’s great. I walk five minutes every morning to get to class. It includes a decent set of stairs (or two)…but on this campus, the stair situation could be a lot worse. Anyway, God has blessed me with three amazing roommates. We each have our own room within the suite, which is nice, although we end up squished in around the kitchen table to do homework as often as not. If you haven’t inferred as much by now, we get along pretty well. So far, no major hitches, and a lot of similarities. (For one thing, sarcasm runs rampant in our room some days ^_^)

School is, like I said, pretty interesting. They’ve divided us into three sections (A, B, and C), and each section takes most of its classes together. Everyone is taking five classes this semester—Contracts, Civil Procedure, Legal Research and Writing, Property, and Torts—but each section is taking them from a different set of professors (excepting LRW, which they’ve mixed the sections together for). Next semester we’ll be adding Criminal law to that list, which is exciting to me. I don’t want to practice it, but I’m fascinated by Crim law, and I’m really eager to start that class. I am very lucky in that all of my professors are supposed to be very good. I like some of them (and their teaching styles) better than others, but there isn’t a single professor or class which I dislike (not even contracts, surprisingly enough, nor civ pro, which is really dry). And while I cringe every time a professor’s eyes sweep the room looking for a new victim to call on, I have yet to be truly bored in a single one of my classes. While the Socratic method is a stressful way to learn, it has the advantage of fostering discussion and debate, so I end up really loving class, even when I’m trying to hide from my professors in plain sight.

Now, if only I could decide which programs and activities I want to join (for NEXT year. They’ve pretty much told us 1L’s don’t do much their first year in clubs. ^_^). I’m planning on doing one of the London programs, but I don’t know if it will be fall or summer semester. And I had no idea just how many different areas of law there are to practice—there are so many to choose from, and I’m interested in so many, I have no idea how to start narrowing down my options!

So school is good. Life is good. And even though I’m not terribly excited about the complete and utter lack of free time…I can always go study on the beach. I have done so, in fact. And it really doesn’t get much better than that!

Well, I’ll try to do this again next week. In the meantime, I love you all, and miss you dearly! ^_^

It all began with Myspace...

Do you remember where you were when Myspace happened? (And by "happened," I mean "became a national addiction," "brainwashed everyone twenty-five and younger into becoming recluses despite being a social networking site" and generally "took over the world.") I do. I was in college. I remember because grades campus-wide suddenly dropped and internet slowed substantially as students flocked to their computers, clogging the bandwidth with their inane messages, flashy profile designs, and invasive surveys (which everyone seemed to love despite the seemingly inevitable TMI). I remember because my roomate was obsessed. I watched in awe as she messaged, posted surveyed and designed for hours on end. I didn't get it. People were messaging each other on Myspace when they were just down the hall, one room apart, in the same room!

I will never do this, I swore to myself as my roomate cackled into the glow of her computer screen and typed madly. I will never join Myspace.

But then graduation loomed on the horizon. I was moving back home, out of state, while most of my friends would remain in Portland. I am a terrible telephone communicator. How was I to keep in touch? After much thought, I heaved a sigh of great trepidation and coaxed my roomate away from her own account to help me set one up for myself.

The shame!

And then there was Facebook. By this time, the names of social networking sites had become verbs. Scheduling attempts, assignment questions, the sharing of life experiences: "I'll Facebook you!" became the answer to all of them. ("Facebook" is a noun, people!) And once again, I swore I would never join it--I had Myspace; what did I need with a second social networking site? But most of the people I know here at home are on Facebook. And I am as bad at short distance telephone communicating as I am at long distance. I was getting complaints. "How come you never pick up your phone?" "Why didn't you call me back?" "Amber, you are the hardest person to get ahold of." Sigh.

Facebook became a communication necessity for me. For that ten minutes or so a day, I actually spoke to people, received messages, and, you know, found out what it was people wanted when they tried to call but got my Voicemail instead.


But blogging. That was something I would never do. What's the point? What do you talk about? Who in their right mind would read it?

And yet...I am about to leave for law school. I have one day left here at home before the upheaval and drastic changes associated with "moving" and "school" begins again. (Are you ready for that one, everybody? Remember in-school Amber? *Snickers* You have a week to prepare yourselves for the insanity before school actually begins. Consider this your one fair warning!) And I've heard rumors about law school. Nasty rumors. They include mention of "no time" "you'll hate it" "don't get discouraged" and some rather more colorful phrases I'll not be repeating. I have been told I might even be happier moving to Mexico to be a waitress on a beach. I get the feeling I will not have a lot of time. And yet, everyone says they want to know "all about it." I am to keep everyone updated on how I'm doing, what it's like, who I've met, so on and so forth. That's an awful lot of phone calls. Have I mentioned that I'm really, really bad at communicating via phone?

So here I am, yet again doing something I swore I never would. I am blogging. So that I can tell all of you all about law school all at the same time. If this thing will save me time and stress, I am so there. We all know how obsessive I am over grades...and how un-obsessive I am over my phone.

And for someone who never wanted to blog to begin with, this first post is much longer than I expected.

Well. Don't say I didn't warn you. I did say "brief" was the oxymoron of my life.