MBA 8030 Online Class

© 2001-2006 Perry Z. Binder

Welcome to the Lecture Hall

We will discuss how the following process for class works at the Orientation:

1. Go to VISTA – print out the Lecture Hall Notes and Terms & Concepts (your VISTA passwords will be loaded right before the Orientation)

2. Read the weekly Text and Web assignments

3. In VISTA, go to the Bull (Discussion Board)  – post meaningful messages

4. Monitor the Bull continually to respond to fellow student postings and for Announcements from me

5. I’ll guide the class through discussion in optional Chat Sessions (Chat Room 1)

Getting Your Computer Ready for Vista - go to this web site:

http://www2.gsu.edu/%7Ewwwvst/help/browserproblems.html   - Here's what you'll find...

WEEK 1 - COURTS I (Court Structure & Jurisdiction)

THE COURTS 

A.  Federal Court

The trial court (US District Court) has jurisdiction over

   - Federal Constitutional matters

   - Violation of federal statutes

   -  civil matters in excess of $75,000 AND Diversity of Citizenship (all parties are from different states)

The losing party at trial (Appellant) has a right to appeal to the US Court of Appeals (we're in the 11th Circuit).  If s/he loses again, the US Supreme Court can take the case by granting certiorari (4 out of 9 judges vote to take the case).

How a federal case number is written - - 1:96-cv-02587-CAM

- 1 refers to the area of the case (the Atlanta area)

- 96 refers to the year of the case

- cv or cr tell us whether it's a civil or criminal case

- 02587 tells us it was the 2,587th case filed in that court in 1996

CAM stands for the judge's initials.

What needs to be filed with a Complaint filed in federal court:

1. Complaint - an original and one copy gets filed with the court. In addition, we need to have a copy for our law firm's file and for each defendant we will be serving (the Complaints will be stamped with the case # by the clerk).

2. Summons - a separate summons for each defendant. The clerk then stamps each summons and gives them back to us. Each summons is attached to the complaint and served on each defendant.

3. Civil Cover Sheet (also known as a Civil Initiation Form) - only one is prepared and given to the clerk - it explains what type of civil case you are filing

4. A Mandatory Disclosure Form. According to the "Local Rules" of the Northern District of GA, a plaintiff must answer several questions about the case, and attach the responses to each Complaint.

What is the filing fee for a federal complaint? ($150)

What is a certified copy ? (at the clerk's office) - it's a photocopy of a court document (such as a judgment), with the clerk's seal on it - we need this to verify that it is a true copy. We'll use this, for example, to "domesticate a judgment" -- recording a judgment from one jurisdiction in another jurisdiction's public records office.

What is a pro se litigant ? (someone proceeding in a lawsuit without an attorney)

What is an "in forma pauperis" affidavit? (an affidavit asking the court to waive the filing fee due to lack of funds)

B. State Court

We have many trial courts, including Magistrate's Court (matters under $15,000), Probate Court, Juvenile Court, Superior Court, and State Court.

Superior Court has exclusive jurisdiction (i.e.. can only file matters here, as opposed to State Court) over:  Felonies, Title to Land issues, Equity cases (declaratory actions, injunctions, specific performance), and Divorce.  Note that Fulton County has an experimental Family Court - other counties may follow this lead one day.

State Courts were set up in populous counties to handle overflow of the Superior Courts.  It has concurrent jurisdiction with Superior Court for cases in excess of $15,000.  Misdemeanors are also prosecuted here.

An appeal goes to the GA Court of Appeals and then to the GA Supreme Court.  If a case bears on constitutional issues, it can appealed to the US Supreme Court (remember a certain appeal in FL concerning an appeal from the FL Supreme Court to the US Supreme Court? :)

How case #'s are written in Clayton County Superior Court:

Criminal: 1998-CR-01548-4 (note: year is written in 4-digit numbers, e.g., 2002)
Civil: 1998-CV-01221-4

(Domestic Relations cases are abbreviated "DR")
(Child Support cases are abbreviated "CS")

What does the "4" in the above case #'s stand for? Answer: The judge assigned to the case (randomly) by the clerk's office.

In State Court, judges are assigned a letter instead of a number (e.g., a, b, c, etc.)

Form used when a lawsuit is filed - Case Initiation Form
Form used when lawsuit is finished - Case Disposition Form

JURISDICTION

Subject matter Jurisdiction deals with the "topic" of a case - e.g. a case worth $25,000 or a case seeking an injunction

Personal Jurisdiction looks to whether a court can drag a defendant into a state.  For the purposes of jurisdiction, we look to where the defendant, not the plaintiff, is domiciled.  If a defendant is out-of-state, we look to see if the GA long arm statute can be used.

Venue - once it is determined that a defendant is subject to personal jurisdiction, we look to what neighborhood, or county, or venue we can bring that person in to - Fulton?  Clayton?

In the supplemental reading, look at the beginning of the Pepsi Complaint - note how attorneys are required to allege jurisdictional bases therein.

WHAT IS A CAUSE OF ACTION?

A cause of action is a specific civil remedy (containing elements to be proven at trial) sought by a plaintiff in a Complaint.

Some remedies do not seek monetary damages (specific performance, injunction - asking a judge to compel someone to do something, or refrain from doing something, respectively) while others do provide for monetary relief (negligence).

Each cause of action has elements which plaintiff must prove at trial.  For negligence, e.g., a topic we'll discuss at length this semester, plaintiff must prove:

1.  The existence of a duty owed by the defendant to the plaintiff

2.  A breach of that duty

3.  The breach "proximately caused"...

4.  damages (see below)

A cause of action differs from a "legal theory."  For example, fraud is a cause of action, while "piercing the corporate veil" is a legal theory which may lead to the cause of action of fraud.  These concepts will be become clearer as the semester progresses, and as you ask relevant questions.

DAMAGES - over the course of the semester, we'll discuss many types of damages, including:

Punitive damages - OCGA (Official Code of Georgia), Section  51-12-5.1

- must be proven by clear and convincing evidence

- awarded to punish or deter intentional and reckless conduct

- must be specifically prayed for in the Complaint

- the jury awards such damages on its verdict form. if it finds that there should be punitive damages, the trial reconvenes to hear evidence of how much should be awarded

Recovery of Punitive Damages:

1- in a products liability case, there is no limit on how much can be recovered, HOWEVER 75% goes to the state of Georgia

2- if a defendant acted with an intent to harm (other than a products liability case), there is no limitation on recovery

3- all other cases - there is a cap of $250,000

ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION -- a way to resolve civil actions without resorting to the court system.

A. ARBITRATION - is a way for parties to resolve a dispute in an economical way without going to court. Parties can agree to be bound by the arbiter's ruling (or panel of three arbiter's -- usually one party picks one, the other picks one and they must agree on the third). Parties can agree in a contract that in the case of a dispute, they will resolve their differences through binding arbitration.

B. MEDIATION - is not binding - it involves a facilitator who tries to bring parties together to resolve a dispute. In GA, you'll see this all the time in divorce actions -- hopefully certain issues may be resolved before bringing them to the judge.

In GA, attorneys have an ethical obligation to inform clients that these methods are an alternative to the litigation process.

QUESTIONS POSED FOR DISCUSSION BOARD (a/k/a "The Bull")

Remember - you do not need to post an answer to everything.  Pick three or more areas of discussion and post quality thoughts and/or responses to other student postings.  I'll start the thread in VISTA.

Remember, this is the area where I believe the most collaborative learning occurs.  Enjoy.

(I'll load your passwords into VISTA the day prior to Orientation):

1.  Read the punitive damages statute in the web reading.  Discuss tort reform issues in the news - how does GA's statute help/hurt businesses faced with product liability lawsuits?

2.  In the Pepsi case (web reading), give your best legal argument as to who won.  Why is jurisdiction in FL?    FYI - my old law firm filed this Complaint.

3.  Does a "web presence" constitute "transacting business" for the purposes of conferring venue?  Read Cyber Law Brief

Read the Abernathy and Lee cases -- they are in a Word doc in  VISTA, in an icon directly after the Courts I Lecture.
4a.  What is the public policy reason behind the GA rule of law: "no emotional distress damages can be recovered,  unless you suffer an attendant physical injury"?
4b.  If we have the concept of "stare decisis" or binding case precedent in our court system, how do you account for Lee not following the established and longstanding rule followed in Abernathy?  I thought that if a rule of law is established, courts must follow it!  Give this one a lot of thought.
4c.  Judge Carley wrote the majority opinion in Abernathy, while Judge Hines write the majority opinion in Lee.  (case precedent is derived from majority opinions)  But these cases also have a concurring and dissenting opinion.  What are these?  Can these opinions be cited as "law" in future cases?

5.  Look up any GA statute on the web - discuss how you found it and its relevance to this week's materials.

6.  Respond to question 2 on page 128 of the text (Trouver jurisdiction case).

7.  You're the owner of a small business - discuss whether you'd prefer the use of arbitration to litigation in employee disputes.  Can you require employees to arbitrate such matters (rather than resorting to the courts)?

8.  Ethics, morality, and the law -- Respond to question 9 on page 47 of the text.

9.  SKIM the SAMPLE COMPLAINT & ANSWER in the Home Depot/Isuzu case (posted in VISTA) -- post general comments/feelings about the case; in addition, comment on how the Counts (various Causes of Action) are arranged in the Complaint by the Plaintiff, and how the Defendants respond in the Answer.

10. Post Miscellaneous hot, timely items

We'll meet in CHAT ROOM 1 on the date/time posted in the syllabus, to see how the process is going, and to answer any questions.

                                                    Perry

Next up, COURTS II - Litigation Ethics,  the Discovery Process, and the Trial Process

.........................

Overhead on "The Bull" -- Class Bulletin Board:

This is our last bull posting. Too bad I will miss the
fun and my daily routine of reading and posting in the
bull in another 3 weeks. When I signed for the web CT
course, I never thought the discussions would be so
stimulating and informative.  Great idea indeed.

I feel WEB CT format is definitely much superior to the
classroom method of learning especially for law. The
topic and case were very interesting. I find that, if
you first read the TERMS in the word file for the week
and then go for the posting, it will be much easier to
deliberate the concept.

For the coming spring I signed for the [----] course
in Web CT but I signed off after learning that it is
only Chat and does not use discussion forum. Why can’t
we use bull like this?

Bulletin Board Postings...........