UT Bar Multistate Essay 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In an MEE civil procedure essay, a defendant is served in a state solely because their connecting flight landed there. What is the strongest basis to uphold personal jurisdiction?
- Transient (tag) jurisdiction, because in-state personal service supports general jurisdiction under Burnham (Correct answer)
- Specific jurisdiction based on the flight itinerary
- Quasi in rem jurisdiction over the defendant's luggage
- There is no valid basis; physical presence never suffices
Correct answer: Transient (tag) jurisdiction, because in-state personal service supports general jurisdiction under Burnham
Under Burnham v. Superior Court, personal service on a defendant physically present in the forum state supports jurisdiction even for unrelated claims.
Question 2: An MEE evidence-style essay asks about a hearsay statement offered under the excited utterance exception. Which fact most strengthens admissibility?
- The declarant made the statement while still under the stress of a startling event (Correct answer)
- The declarant is available to testify at trial
- The statement was written in a business record
- The statement was made two weeks after the event during a deposition
Correct answer: The declarant made the statement while still under the stress of a startling event
An excited utterance requires a startling event and a statement made while the declarant remained under the stress of excitement it caused.
Question 3: In an MEE corporations essay, minority shareholders challenge a board's rejection of a merger offer. What standard of review typically applies if the directors were disinterested and informed?
- Strict scrutiny
- The business judgment rule, presuming good-faith informed decisions serve the corporation (Correct answer)
- Entire fairness with the burden on plaintiffs
- Per se invalidity of merger rejections
Correct answer: The business judgment rule, presuming good-faith informed decisions serve the corporation
Decisions by disinterested, informed directors acting in good faith are protected by the business judgment rule, and courts will not second-guess them.
Question 4: An MEE decedents' estates question involves a child born after the testator executed a will that leaves everything to a sibling. Which doctrine gives the child a potential share?
- The pretermitted (omitted) child statute (Correct answer)
- The slayer rule
- The doctrine of ademption
- The rule against perpetuities
Correct answer: The pretermitted (omitted) child statute
Pretermitted child statutes give an after-born child omitted from a will an intestate share unless the omission was intentional or the child was otherwise provided for.
Question 5: In an MEE secured transactions fact pattern, a buyer purchases inventory from a dealer in the ordinary course of business. The inventory is subject to a perfected security interest. Does the buyer take free of it?
- No, perfected interests always follow the collateral
- Yes, a buyer in ordinary course takes free of a security interest created by the seller even if perfected and known (Correct answer)
- Yes, but only if the buyer pays cash
- No, unless the secured party consents in writing
Correct answer: Yes, a buyer in ordinary course takes free of a security interest created by the seller even if perfected and known
Under UCC 9-320(a), a buyer in ordinary course of business takes free of a security interest created by its seller even if the interest is perfected and the buyer knows of it.
Question 6: An MEE family law essay involves a parent seeking to relocate with a child over the other parent's objection. What is the court's controlling standard?
- The relocating parent's employment needs control
- The best interests of the child, weighing factors such as the reasons for the move and the impact on the child's relationships (Correct answer)
- The parent with physical custody may always relocate
- Relocation is prohibited absent both parents' consent
Correct answer: The best interests of the child, weighing factors such as the reasons for the move and the impact on the child's relationships
Relocation disputes are resolved under the best-interests-of-the-child standard, balancing the move's purpose against its effect on the child's relationship with the other parent.
Question 7: In an MEE contracts essay governed by common law, an offeree mails an acceptance, then sends a faster rejection that arrives first. The offeror relies on the rejection. What is the likely result?
- A contract formed on dispatch, but the offeree is estopped from enforcing it due to the offeror's reliance on the overtaking rejection (Correct answer)
- No contract, because rejection always defeats acceptance
- A contract that the offeror may enforce but the offeree may not, regardless of reliance
- The mailbox rule is void whenever two communications are sent
Correct answer: A contract formed on dispatch, but the offeree is estopped from enforcing it due to the offeror's reliance on the overtaking rejection
Under the mailbox rule the contract formed when the acceptance was dispatched, but the offeree who causes reliance on an overtaking rejection is estopped from enforcing the contract.
UT Bar Multistate Essay 3
In an MEE civil procedure essay, a defendant is served in a state solely because their connecting flight landed there.
What is the strongest basis to uphold personal jurisdiction?