Deck 3: Courts and the Legal Process

Question 1

In most state courts, the judge is elected, and the jury may be familiar with or sympathetic to the "local" party rather than an out of state party.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Appellate courts do not retry the evidence; instead, they determine whether the trial was conducted in a procedurally correct and fair manner.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Identify the correct statement about general jurisdiction courts.

A) Civil cases for amounts between $1,000 and $5,000 can be brought to general jurisdiction courts.
B) The general jurisdiction court is known as the district court in New York.
C) These are the courts in which people seek redress for incidents such as petty assaults, traffic offenses, and breach of peace, among others.
D) Any party dissatisfied with the outcome of general jurisdiction court may be able to get a new trial in a specialized court.
E) The fact finder in general jurisdiction courts is not a judge, but a jury of citizens.

Answer 3

E

Question 4

Article III of the U.S. Constitution provides unlimited power to the federal judiciary.

Question 5

Which of the following is true about diversity of citizenship jurisdiction?

A) The plaintiff's attorney is entitled to ask for removal to a federal court where there is diversity.
B) Diversity of citizenship jurisdiction means that many lawyers enjoy the higher status that comes in practicing before the federal bench.
C) Defendant' attorneys know that removal is common and that it will move the case along faster by filing in federal court to begin with.
D) Defense lawyers believe that there is sometimes a "home-court advantage" for a nonresident plaintiff who brings a lawsuit against an in-state in his local state court.
E) The Constitution established diversity jurisdiction because it feared that local courts would be generous toward people from other states.

Question 6

If you agree to arbitration, and the arbitrator rules against you, bringing a challenge to the arbitral award in court will usually be pointless unless you can show fraud or manifest disregard of the law.

Question 7

A claim for breach of contract, in which the amount at stake is $10,000, can be brought in a local county small claims court with jurisdiction to hear cases involving sums of up to only $3,000.

Question 8

Federal courts will consider state-law-based claims when plaintiffs bring a case involving claims using both state and federal law.

Question 9

A choice-of-law clause in a contract will also require the contracting parties to litigate in a forum whose specialty is the law of that jurisdiction.

Question 10

A directed verdict is a verdict decided by the jury without advice from the judge.

Question 11

State and local courts must honor both federal law and the laws of the other states. Which of the following is true?

A) State courts must honor federal law all the time.
B) Claims arising under federal statutes cannot be tried in the state courts.
C) A contract dispute resolved by an Arkansas court can be re-litigated in North Dakota when the plaintiff wants to collect on the Arkansas judgment in North Dakota.
D) State courts do not have to consider the laws of other states in deciding cases involving issues when drivers from two different states collide in a third state.
E) Under the full faith and credit clause, each state court is obligated to respect the final judgments of courts in other states.

Question 12

The trial courts in the federal system are called a federal district courts. Appeals from district courts generally go to one of the Circuit Courts of Appeal.

Question 13

Someone who files a lawsuit must have "standing to sue," or the case will likely be dismissed.

Question 14

Federal district courts are bound by the decisions of the court of appeals in their circuit, but decisions by one circuit court are not binding precedents for courts in other circuits.

Question 15

A court that hears appeals from the trial court is said to have "original jurisdiction."

Question 16

Which of the following is true about limited jurisdiction courts?

A) These are usually county or municipal courts with original jurisdiction to hear major criminal cases.
B) Criminal cases involving monetary amounts not more than $25,000 in most states can be brought to limited jurisdiction courts.
C) The procedures for small claims court are informal.
D) Lawyers are necessary to present the case in some states, but in most states are not allowed to appear in court.
E) One familiar limited jurisdiction court is the small claims court, with jurisdiction to hear civil cases involving claims for amounts ranging between $10,000 and $50,000.

Question 17

A small claims court is a court of general jurisdiction, also known as a circuit court.

Question 18

Federal district courts have original and exclusive jurisdiction over claims in "admiralty."

Question 19

Contingent fee arrangements motivate trial lawyers to screen cases for those most likely to succeed on the merits and allow substantial recovery against defendants.

Question 20

Identify the correct statement about appellate jurisdiction.

A) A court exercising a trial function has appellate jurisdiction.
B) Jurisdiction to determine the facts of the case and apply the law to them is known as appellate jurisdiction.
C) A court exercising appellate jurisdiction can limit its review to the lower court's theory of the applicable law.
D) A court that hears appeals from the intermediate court is said to have appellate jurisdiction.
E) A court exercising appellate jurisdiction may reject the facts as determined by the trial court.

Question 21

Which of the following principles implies that the same parties can not take up the same dispute in another court at another time?

A) Subject matter jurisdiction
B) Ultra vires
C) Directed verdict
D) Judgment n.o.v.
E) Res judicata

Question 22

Which of the following about the federal court system is true?

A) The federal judicial system consists of four levels.
B) The federal district courts are the trial courts in the federal system.
C) The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has 54 district judges.
D) The U.S. District Court in Manhattan has 15 magistrates.
E) The district judges throughout the United States can preside over criminal cases only.

Question 23

Intermediate appellate courts:

A) retry the evidence and determine whether the trial was conducted in a procedurally correct manner.
B) have been established in 40 states.
C) are usually known as state supreme courts.
D) are usually composed of panels of three judges and are situated in various locations around the state.
E) almost always allows the losing party in a limited jurisdiction court to appeal.

Question 24

Why is it important for a plaintiff to file a case in the right court?

Question 25

Which of the following statements about subject matter jurisdiction is true?

A) A state court will have subject matter jurisdiction over any case that is based on state law and where the parties are from the same state.
B) The state court will have subject matter jurisdiction over any case where the amount in controversy is at least $1 million.
C) The state court provides a neutral forum, with an appointed, life-tenured judge and a wider pool of potential jurors.
D) In diversity cases, state law will be used as the basis for a determination of legal rights and responsibilities.
E) If a defendant wants to be in state court and there is diversity, he has to make a motion for removal to the federal court.

Question 26

Which of the following is true about alternative methods of resolving disputes?

A) Adjudication gives the neutral party no power to impose a decision.
B) Mediation is a type of adjudication.
C) In case of mediation, the parties to the case cannot ignore the recommendations of the mediator entirely.
D) Saying that arbitration is favored means that if you have agreed to arbitration, you cannot go to court if the other party wants you to arbitrate.
E) Litigation is preferred over arbitration, because arbitration has a backlog of cases.

Question 27

In an adjudication:

A) the judge is not free to say that the case is unimportant and that he therefore will ignore it.
B) an important feature is that the judge's decision may not be reasoned..
C) evidence that is presented, but legal arguments that are not made, can be the basis for what the judge decides.
D) the burden of proof in a civil case is generally "beyond a reasonable doubt."
E) judges can ignore cases like other branches of government that are free to ignore problems pressing upon them..

Question 28

Explain the basic principles and practices of discovery before a trial.

Question 29

Identify the correct statement about the choice-of-law and the choice-of-forum clauses.

A) Even if the contract says that a particular state's law will be applied if there is a dispute, the judge has discretion in whether to apply that state's law as a rule of decision in the case or not.
B) Ordinarily, a choice-of-law clause is independent of a choice-of-forum clause.
C) In a choice-of-forum clause, the parties in the contract specify which court they will go to in the event of a dispute arising under the terms of contract.
D) In a choice-of-forum clause, the court applies a particular state's law as a rule, as mentioned in the contract between two parties to a case.
E) If the plaintiff fails to answer the complaint, the court can enter a default judgment, awarding the defendant what he seeks.

Question 30

Which of the following is true about concurrent jurisdiction?

A) If the plaintiff's main cause of action comes from a certain state's constitution, statutes, or court decisions, the federal courts have subject matter jurisdiction over the case.
B) State courts can have subject matter jurisdiction over certain cases that have only a federal-based cause of action.
C) If the plaintiff's main cause of action is based on a law such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the state courts have subject matter jurisdiction over the case.
D) State courts have subject matter jurisdiction over certain cases in which the plaintiff and the defendant are from different states.
E) State courts have subject matter jurisdiction over certain cases in which the amount in controversy is more than $75,000.

Question 31

Identify the correct statement about the Federal-State balance.

A) Socialism was the system devised by the nation's founders, in which power is shared between states and the federal government.
B) Article III makes clear that federal courts are courts of unlimited power or jurisdiction.
C) The only kinds of cases federal courts are authorized to deal with have strong federal connections.
D) Federal courts have full jurisdiction over matters that are historically exclusively within the domain of state law.
E) Citizens can go to a federal building or courthouse to get a marriage license, ask for a divorce, or probate a will.