QUESTION I. 30%
 

The following events took place in the State of Mitchell. Mitchell has a statute which reads as follows:
 

Every lease of residential property shall contain, by operation of law, the following covenant: That the landlord shall keep the premises in compliance with all health and safety, and housing maintenance codes of the State of Mitchell, unless the non-compliance is due to the willful misconduct of the tenant.
 

A landlord is liable to a tenant for damages for breach of this covenant if--

    (i) a violation of the covenant exists;

    (ii) the landlord knew or had reason to know of the violation; and,

    (iii) the landlord fails to correct the violation within a reasonable period of time after he/she knew or had reason to know of the violation.
 

No action for a violation of this covenant may be commenced more than one year after the violation.
 

T is a 19-year-old who has moved to Mitchell to attend College. She does not know where she will work after college. She maintains a mailing address at her parents' home in a neighboring state. T commenced renting an apartment from L on January 1, 1987. Throughout the months of January, February, March and April, 1988, the heat in the apartment was insufficient to maintain the apartment at 67 degrees Fahrenheit. The Mitchell Housing Maintenance Code provides, in pertinent part:
 

Each landlord of residential property shall furnish heat during the months of October through April sufficient to maintain the premises at least at 67 degrees Fahrenheit.
 

On April 1, 1989, T filed with the Clerk of District Court for the State of Mitchell a Complaint which read as follows:
 

FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT

DISTRICT OF MITCHELL
 

T,

Plaintiff,

v. Complaint

Defendant.

T, for her complaint against L, states as follows:
 

    1. From the time she moved into the premises in January, 1987, through and including March, 1988, the heat in the premises never got above 65 degrees.
 

    2. Plaintiff was damaged thereby in the amount of $200 per month.
 

    3. The defendant's conduct was fraudulent.

    4. Plaintiff was damaged thereby in the additional amount of $600 per month.
 

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff demands judgment against defendant in the amount of $800 per month.
 

    A. When was the action against L commenced? Explain briefly.

    B. L's attorney wishes to make a motion to dismiss T's Complaint under Rule 12(b)(6). When must she make the motion? Explain briefly.

    C. You are law clerk for L's attorney. Write a short memorandum to her evaluating the grounds for bringing a 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss T's Complaint. Briefly discuss each Claim for Relief. In your memorandum, address the question whether the Complaint is adequately pleaded under the Rules of Civil Procedure. Do NOT discuss whether, if adequately pleaded, the Complaint would state a claim as a matter of substantive law.

    D. Discuss whether the Complaint would state a claim as a matter of substantive law. Describe any additional information you might want to fully answer this question.

    E. Assume the L's Motion to dismiss is denied as to the First Claim for Relief, and granted as to the Second Claim for Relief.
 

        1. When is L's answer due? What must it contain to survive a motion for summary judgment by plaintiff?

        2. Which party has the burden of pleading with respect to "willful misconduct"? Why?

        3. For purposes of this subquestion only, assume that L's attorney does not serve the answer when it is due. If T's attorney wishes to move for a default judgment, must he give notice of that motion to L's attorney? Explain briefly, citing any relevant rule provision(s).
 

Following the filing of the Complaint, L invoked a clause in the lease between L and T that limited occupancy of the apartment to senior citizens and served an eviction notice on plaintiff. On April 1, 1989, the Supreme Court of the United States outlawed age discrimination in housing under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Assume that L answers the Complaint in a timely manner. One month later, T moves to amend her Complaint by adding the following paragraph:
 

Defendant failed to provide sufficient heat during the month of April, 1988, to maintain the premises at 67 degrees.
 

Defendant discriminated against plaintiff in violation of the Constitution by seeking to enforce the age limitations in the lease.
 

    F. As clerk for the judge who will hear this motion, write a succinct memorandum to the judge which:
 

        1. Sets out the standard the judge should use in deciding this motion; and,

        2. Suggest areas in which the judge should make further inquiry of the attorneys at oral argument to assist his determination of the motion.

        3. Assume T's motion to amend is granted. What is the effect on the subject matter jurisdiction of the court? Explain.
 

QUESTION II. 30%
 

Edifice is an architectural firm that is headquartered and incorporated in Delaware with its design department offices in Mitchell. Mitchell has adopted Minnesota's long arm statute. Edifice designed a building for Smith 20 years ago. The building was built in Bangladesh, a foreign country. The building collapsed last year causing great damage. Builder Corp., who constructed the building is located in Bangladesh but has placed advertising offering "third world" building projects in an international construction publication that has 20% of its circulation distributed in the U.S.
 

Smith has filed an action in Mitchell for negligent design of the Bangladesh building. A Bengali consultant, who Edifice had employed to inspect the damage, was served with a copy of a complaint when she arrived at the site of the disaster.
 

Edifice has learned that Bengali courts have never imposed punitive damages for this type of claim and therefore the corporation seeks to avoid the jurisdiction of the Court in Mitchell. The Mitchell statute of limitations is two years from the date of the occurrence.
 

    A. What issues might Edifice reasonably raise in pre-answer motions regarding the exercise of personal jurisdiction of the Mitchell Court? Explain.

    B. What issues might Edifice reasonably raise in pre-answer motions regarding service of process? Explain.
 

The Court denied the pre-answer motions and the defendant filed an answer denying liability.
 

At the time the building was constructed, Joe Jones, an attorney in general practice and a member of Edifice's board of directors, who occasionally handled legal matters for Edifice, prepared and sent the following memorandum to the president of Edifice:
 

I have been informed by Tom Withers, an architect who used to work for Edifice, that there is a serious question about the Smith building's design and that perhaps certain revisions should be made, lest we get into legal trouble. He also said the materials being used by the contractor, Builder Corp., in constructing the building are substandard and are not in conformity with our specifications.
 

    C. Smith filed a timely motion for the pretrial production of the Jones memorandum. The motion was denied.
 

        1. Was the Court correct or incorrect? Explain.

        2. Assuming the motion was granted, what options does Smith have if the defendant does not comply?
 

    D. Smith thereafter deposed Withers who testified that the Smith building had design and structural defects. Edifice produced no contradictory evidence and Smith filed a timely motion for summary judgment relying on an affidavit setting forth the Withers deposition. Edifice also filed a motion for summary judgment, accompanied by an affidavit that the building had been constructed twenty years ago. Thus the action was barred by the statute of limitations. The motion was denied.
 

        1. Was the Court ruling correct or not? Explain.

        2. Can the Court's rulings in the two motions above be appealed? Why or why not?

        3. Would your answer be the same if one or both the motions had been granted?
 

    E. After getting a copy of the memorandum, Edifice has taken the position that the building collapsed because of Builder's substandard materials rather than design flaws. Edifice filed a motion to dismiss because Builder was not joined as a defendant. The Court denied the motion.
 

        1. Was the Court correct or incorrect? Why?

        2. Edifice seeks to file a third party claim against Builder. How is the Court likely to rule? Why?

        3. Smith never paid all of Edifice's bill. Edifice seeks to amend its answer to include a claim for the 20-year old balance. Should the Court grant leave to amend? Why or why not?
 

QUESTION III. 40%
 

Oliver Smith, a stockbroker, filed a class action against 3N Corporation requesting an injunction and alleging that some 2,000 persons were fraudulently induced to purchase worthless securities and that each suffered a loss of at least $50 and as much as $10,000. Total damages exceeded $1,000,000. Plaintiff also asked for an injunction to prevent further sales by defendant. The complaint did not mention that the defendant corporation's actions also violated federal securities regulations. The Corporation is incorporated in Minnesota and does all of its business within that state. Oliver South is the only stockbroker located in X. The action was filed in the State X Trial Court which exercised long arm jurisdiction under a statute that allows corporations to be sued by stockbrokers of record who reside in X.
 

Plaintiff's motion for a preliminary injunction was granted. The defendant's motion for removal was granted by the State X Trial Court. The Federal District Court for the District of X denied the defendant's motion to dismiss the fraud claim for want of subject matter jurisdiction. The defendant's motion for a change of venue to Minnesota was denied and the case remained in Federal Court in X. The Federal Court continued the original injunction.
 

    A. 1. Briefly explain whether the Court was correct or not in granting the removal petition.

        2. Was the Federal Court correct in retaining jurisdiction? Why or why not?

        3. Was the Court correct in its ruling on the change of venue? Explain.

        4. What burden of pleading and proof did the plaintiff have to meet to get the injunction?
 

The case was certified as a class over the strenuous objections of the defendant who immediately requested that the class certification question be certified for interlocutory appeal. The Court denied defendant's request. The defendant then filed for bankruptcy, put all of its assets in a trust and moved to amend its answer to include a Bill of Interpleader in which another 2,000 claimants were named. The Court denied the motion to amend the complaint. Class members were notified, pursuant to State X statute by ads run in the Wall Street Journal.
 

    B. 1. Was the Court correct in ruling that the class should be certified? Explain.

        2. Was the Court correct in refusing to allow the appeal? Why?

        3. Did the Court rule properly on the Bill of Interpleader? Explain.
 

Defendant's motion for a jury trial was granted over plaintiff's objection that State X specifically prohibits jury trials in cases in which injunction have been granted. Just prior to trial, the Securities and Exchange Commission, in an administrative hearing before an Administrative Law Judge found 3N in violation of securities regulations. Plaintiff sought to have defendant collaterally estopped from denying liability. The Court denied plaintiff's collateral estoppel motion on grounds of a lack of mutuality of estoppel. The jury found for the defendant corporation.
 

    C. 1. Was the motion jury trial properly granted? Why or why not?

        2. Did the Court properly invoke the rule on mutuality of estoppel? Explain.
 

The plaintiff did not make a motion for a directed verdict at the close of the defendant's case, but did file motions for a new trial and for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict. The trial court heard evidence that jurors had failed to reveal that members of their family worked for 3N. The judge denied plaintiff's motions, and plaintiff appealed.
 

    D. 1. Was the Court correct in denying the plaintiff's motion for a J.N.O.V.? Explain.

        2. What standard of review will the Court of Appeals apply to the trial court's finding that a new trial should not be granted because of juror misconduct? Explain.

        3. What standard of review would apply to the collateral estoppel issue?

        4. What standard of review applies to the jury trial question? Explain.
 

During the pendency of the appeal, Jones, a resident of Minnesota, filed an action in Minnesota based on misrepresentation and fraud in the sale of the same securities. Defendant corporation filed a motion to dismiss on the ground that the Jones action was barred. The motion was denied. Jones sought to have the defendant collaterally estopped from denying liability. The motion was granted.
 

    E. 1. Was the Court correct in barring the Jones claim?

        2. Will the Court's ruling on collateral estoppel be overturned on appeal? Why or why not?