Professor Franks
Final Examination, Summer 2004
| 1. | Carefully analyze the facts and grasp the issues in each question before beginning to write. Spend time reading the question slowly and carefully. |
| 2. | State the issues and answers to each question concisely. Lengthy answers are not necessary. |
| 3. | Do not repeat questions in your answers. Write neatly and legibly on only one side of each page. |
| 4. | Number your answers to correspond with the question, e.g., "II-3." |
| 5. | If you feel it necessary to assume additional facts in any of the questions, give the facts that must be added and state why. |
| 6. | Do not write in the margin of the book. |
| 7. | All major questions are equally weighted unless otherwise indicated. Subparts are approximately equal but may be weighted slightly differently according to the number of issues involved in that subpart. |
| 8. | Write your personal identification number and the name and section number of the course on which you are being examined on the cover of each examination book. |
| 9. | If you use more than one book, indicate "Book One," "Book Two" and so forth on the cover of each book and write your PIN and the name and section number of the course on the cover of each examination book. |
| 10. | A GOOD ANSWER IS NOT NECESSARILY A LONG ANSWER. |
Bubba, from Denham Springs, wins well over a million dollars in the Louisiana Lottery, which he deposits in the Hibernia National Bank in Baton Rouge. Having just recently broken up with his girlfriend and wanting to celebrate his winnings, he catches the next flight to San Diego, California, renting a car at the airport and crossing the border into Tijuana, in the United States of Mexico (Estados Unidos de Mexico). Tijuana is located in the Mexican state of Baja California, which is not to be confused with the US state of California.
Bubba heads directly to El Rancho de las Conejitas, the most luxurious and expensive brothel in Mexico. Prostitution is legal in the Mexican state of Baja California. Bubba rents a room at the brothel and begins an extended stay with a playful girl named Passionita, who for six glorious, fun-filled days caters around the clock to his every whim.
On the seventh day, Bubba checks out. The bill for the week comes to $36,000.00. No problem. Bubba whips out his American Express card. Alas, when the brothel attempts to run the charge, they tell Bubba that AmEx refuses an authorization because Bubba is over his credit limit. Bubba has no choice but to write a check to the brothel instead.
On arrival back home in Denham Springs, Bubba develops some symptoms. He quickly goes to his primary care physician. Blood tests reveal that he has gonorrhea. On referral to a specialist, further tests are run, and it is discovered that Bubba is now HIV-positive. From the blood work, this appears to be a newly-acquired HIV infection no more than three weeks old. The particular strain of the virus, Bubba is told, is of a type common in Mexico. (Curiously, Bubba was HIV-negative on a test that he had had run when he broke up with his girlfriend just two weeks before the trip.)
Bubba checks with his bank and ascertains that his check has not yet cleared. He immediately stops payment on the check. The law firm of Gonzalez, Rodriguez & Martinez, the brothel’s lawyers in Tijuana, have now sent Bubba a letter threatening to sue on the "bad check." (As this is not a course on Commercial Paper, please disregard and do not discuss any holder-in-due-course options under the law of negotiable instruments that the brothel may be tempted to use.)
| 1. | Explain to Bubba the options the brothel may use to attempt to collect on the debt, and the probable outcome of each option. Discuss. |
| 2. | Also explain Bubba’s best way to collect on his claim for having been infected. Discuss. |
| 3. | If your strategy of first choice fails to work, is there an alternative, a "Plan B," that might work? Discuss. |
| 4. | What if anything should you do on Bubba’s behalf at this time with regard to his claim? Discuss. |
| 5. | Write a letter to the brothel’s lawyers responding to their threat to sue. |
| 1. | List each of the various ways in which a state may obtain in personam jurisdiction over a person. Discussion is not necessary. |
| 2. | Explain the doctrine of mutuality of estoppel. State the Louisiana position on mutuality of estoppel, i.e., whether Louisiana requires mutuality of estoppel for issue preclusion. |
| 3. | Define "home state of the child" and list the various tests for determining child custody jurisdiction between two competing states, putting them in the order in which those tests will be applied. |
| 4. | Define "renvoi." |
| 5. | Define "dépeçage." |
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