Professor Franks

Final Examination, Spring 2001

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-A-2."

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.

You have graduated from Southern University Law Center and opened a law practice in Baton Rouge. Your first clients are Kitty and George Johnston, residents of the Parish of East Baton Rouge.

This middle-aged couple tells you they always dreamed of visiting the Holy Land. They saved their money and finally contacted a travel agent in Baton Rouge, Worldwide Travel, Inc. The travel agent got them seats on the following flight schedule, and the Johnstons paid for their tickets in advance:

Saturday, March 3, 6:37 a.m. Depart Baton Rouge,
American Airlines flight 4140 to Chicago, Illinois

Saturday, March 3, 7:40 p.m. Depart Chicago,
Israeli Airlines flight 204 to Tel Aviv, Israel

Saturday, March 10, 11:10 a.m. Depart Tel Aviv,
Israeli Airlines flight 203 to Chicago, Illinois

Saturday, March 10, 7:14 p.m. Depart Chicago,
American Airlines flight 4189 to Baton Rouge

The tickets cost $3,279.80. The travel agent told the Johnstons to pick up their tickets at the Baton Rouge airport on the day of their flight. Their tickets indeed were waiting, and their flight to Chicago went smoothly. Breakfast was served on board, and surprisingly it was no worse than the food at most high school cafeterias. Then there was a long layover at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

On the flight from Chicago to Tel Aviv, the taste of the food improved. Israeli Airlines served the passengers, among other things, a snack consisting of some delicious cheese blintzes. Everyone who ate them remarked how delicious they were. Seven hours later, almost everyone on board got sick. Seriously sick. The only passengers who did not become ill were those who had not eaten the blintzes.

On arrival in Tel Aviv, the Johnstons (and all the other passengers who had taken ill) were transported to Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center. There they were diagnosed with a listeria infection, and the Johnstons spent their next four days in the hospital. They were so weakened and ill that they did not leave their hotel room for the balance of their vacation. "We so wanted to go to the Holy Land, and we spent our dream vacation heaving and watching television, first from a hospital bed, then from a hotel bed." The hospital bill came to $23,852.00 for the two of them, which Ochsner Health Plan refuses to pay because the hospital is not in the United States.

You ask your clients to show you their tickets. The tickets have a forum selection clause: According to the tickets, any action must be brought in the courts of Israel.

For purposes of this examination, assume Israel does not permit class actions, and assume further that Israel does not have res ipsa loquitur or strict liability as to food products, and that Israeli law would require proof of specific negligence. Assume in addition that if Israel would impose liability, any damages that an Israeli court would award would be small.

Assume Israeli Airlines does not fly into Louisiana and does not have offices here.

Discuss your plans for handling the Johnstons' case. Discuss all issues and raise any questions that may be necessary to represent this couple creatively. Tell what you intend to file, where you intend to file it, and why.

Please answer the following specific questions:

A. Please discuss the difference between:

1. jurisdiction in personam,

2. jurisdiction in rem, and

3. jurisdiction quasi in rem.

B. Please list (without explanation or discussion) the various ways a court may obtain jurisdiction in personam over a party.

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Copyright © 2002 by M. R. Franks - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED