Multistate Bar Flashcards

A contractor emailed a client: 'I will not perform our May 1 contract under any circumstances.' It is now March 1. The client may:

Answer: Treat the statement as an anticipatory repudiation and sue immediately

An unequivocal statement of intent not to perform before performance is due is an anticipatory repudiation allowing immediate suit.

A newspaper published a false story that a famous senator took bribes, based on a single anonymous tip it made no effort to verify despite doubts. The senator's defamation claim will likely:

Answer: Succeed, because publishing with reckless disregard for truth satisfies actual malice

A public official proves actual malice by showing the publisher acted with knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard, such as purposeful avoidance of the truth despite serious doubts.

In a battery prosecution, the defendant called a witness to testify to the defendant's reputation for peacefulness. The prosecution may now:

Answer: Offer evidence of the defendant's violent character to rebut

Once a criminal defendant opens the door with good-character evidence, the prosecution may rebut with evidence of the defendant's bad character for the same trait.

A city ordinance bans all signs criticizing foreign governments but permits other political signs. The ordinance is:

Answer: Presumptively invalid, because content-based speech restrictions receive strict scrutiny

A regulation that restricts speech based on its subject matter is content-based and must survive strict scrutiny, which it almost certainly cannot.

A defendant, intending to kill his rival, fired into what he believed was the rival's occupied bedroom, but the room was empty. The defendant is most likely guilty of:

Answer: Attempted murder, because he acted with specific intent and took a substantial step

Factual impossibility is no defense to attempt where the defendant had specific intent to kill and took a substantial step toward the killing.

A trespasser occupied land openly for 12 years, then sold his interest to a friend who occupied it for 6 more years. The statutory adverse possession period is 15 years. The friend's claim:

Answer: Succeeds, because privity between successive possessors permits tacking

Successive adverse possessors in privity, such as through a voluntary transfer, may tack their periods of possession to satisfy the statute.

A Florida retailer with no offices, employees, or advertising in Michigan sold one item to a Michigan buyer who found it while traveling in Florida. The buyer sued in Michigan. Personal jurisdiction is most likely:

Answer: Lacking, because the retailer has no minimum contacts with Michigan

Due process requires that the defendant purposefully avail itself of the forum state, and a single out-of-state sale initiated by the buyer creates no such contacts.