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Unfair Competition / Copyright: National Basketball Association v. Motorola, 105 F.3d 841

Memo #2 Description
Your second memo is due at 4pm on October 6, 2014. You must turn in a printed copy AND upload a
copy in .doc or .docx format to Oncourse. Here are the relevant details:
• Choose one of the following cases:
o Unfair Competition / Copyright: National Basketball Association v. Motorola, 105 F.3d 841
o Ownership of Body Tissue / Stem Cells: Moore v. Regents of the Univ. of Cal., 793 P.2d 479
o Warnings / Airline Injury: Andrews v. United Airlines, 24 F.3d 39
o Industry Custom / Medical Malpractice: Lama v. Borras, 16 F.3d 473
o Strict Liability / Escalator Injury: Colmenares Vivas v. Sun Alliance Insurance, 807 F.2d 1102
o Contributory Negligence / RR Injury: Fuller v. Illinois Central Railroad Co., 56 So. 783
o Expert Testimony / Toxic Tort: Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 509 U.S. 579
o Joint Liability / Quail Hunting Injury: Summers v. Tice, 199 P.2d 1
o Products Liability / Lead Poisoning: Skipworth v. Lead Industries Association, 690 A.2d 169
o Manufacturing Defects / Fire: Speller v. Sears Roebuck & Co., 790 N.E.2d 252
o Product Warnings / Buzz Saw Injury: Hood v. Ryobi America Corp., 181 F.3d 608
o Buyer Beware / Haunted House: Stambovsky v. Ackley, 169 A.D.2d 254
o Nuisance Remedy / Air Pollution: Boomer v. Atlantic Cement Co., 257 N.E.2d 87
o Eminent Domain / Economic Development: Kelo v. City of New London, 545 U.S. 469
• Your memo must include three elements:
o First, you must write a case brief. As I noted in class, a case brief is usually written in an
outline format. However, this assignment calls for your to brief your case in the format of a
professional memo like you would write to an employer. Therefore, you must write your brief in
prose rather than as an outline. The brief should include all of the six parts that we discussed
in class: facts, legal issue, decision, holding, rationale, and policy implications (see powerpoint
on briefing a case on Oncourse for more details). The case brief should constitute the vast
majority of your memo.
o Second, you must research one case that cites and discusses* your chosen case. In your
memo, briefly identify this second case and describe the point of law for which it cites the case
you that you briefed. Does this second case follow your original case or not? Note: Do not
provide a case brief for this second case.
o Third, you must research one law review article that cites and discusses* your chosen case. In
your memo, briefly identify the thesis of the article and describe the point of law for which the
author cites the case you chose to brief.
o The descriptions of the citing case and citing law review article should only be a few sentences
each. The focus of the assignment is on the case brief. The purpose of researching these
additional sources is for you to (1) gain experience doing research on the Lexis Nexis
database, (2) see how precedent operates—how courts and legal scholars evaluate past
decisions.
o *The citing case and law review article must mention your case. They do not have to discuss
your case at length, but it is not sufficient to find a case or law review article that cites that your
case as one in a long list without mentioning it in the text.
• You may work alone or with a partner of your choosing.
 SPEA-V 220: Law & Public Affairs Spring 2014
2
• Format: Each memo should be about 1,000 to 1,500 words (about three pages, Times New Roman,
12 point font, 1 inch margins, double spaced).
• Citations & References
o Include a references section at the end of your memo listing the citations for your two cases
(the one you briefed and the one that cites it), and the law review article.
o Case briefs are intended to be summaries that put the sometimes difficult-to-understand legal
jargon of the case into terms that are easier to understand. What’s more, your descriptions of
the citing law review article and citing case are meant to be brief. I want you to get practice
paraphrasing hard-to-understand language. Therefore, for this assignment, you are not
allowed to quote anything.
o Additionally, parenthetical citations are not necessary. After all, I will know that your case brief
is a summary of your case. You should provide the citation to your citing case in the text of
your memo, and you should also identify the source of the law review article. I.e., you would
write something like “In the Oregon Law Review, Abelkop argues …”
• You may use online case briefs and notes in Lexis Nexis as you would use Wikipedia: You may not
quote or cite them. But they can be used to give you some guidance.
• Be prepared to discuss your memo with the class.

• As always, punctuation, grammar, spelling, logical flow, and writing style will factor into your grade.

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