CA Bar flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Complete diversity

For federal diversity jurisdiction, no plaintiff may share state citizenship with any defendant; citizenship is measured at the time the action is filed and minimal diversity is insufficient.

Amount in controversy

Diversity jurisdiction requires that the amount in controversy exceed $75,000, measured by the plaintiff's good-faith claim rather than the eventual recovery and exclusive of interest and costs.

Erie doctrine

A federal court sitting in diversity applies state substantive law and federal procedural law; where a valid Federal Rule directly conflicts with state practice, the Rule governs under Hanna.

Claim preclusion elements

A final judgment on the merits bars a later action when the same parties or their privies assert the same claim, including claims that could have been raised in the first suit.

Strict scrutiny

A law survives only if it serves a compelling government interest and is narrowly tailored as the least restrictive means; it applies to suspect classifications and infringements of fundamental rights.

Intermediate scrutiny

The classification must serve an important government interest and be substantially related to achieving that interest; the standard applies to sex-based classifications and to illegitimacy.

Dormant Commerce Clause

States may not discriminate against interstate commerce absent a legitimate local purpose that cannot be served by nondiscriminatory means, and nondiscriminatory burdens face Pike balancing.

Standing requirements

A plaintiff must show an injury in fact that is concrete and particularized, fairly traceable to the defendant's conduct, and likely to be redressed by a favorable decision.

Content-neutral time, place, manner

Regulation of speech in a public forum must be content-neutral, narrowly tailored to serve a significant government interest, and must leave open ample alternative channels of communication.

UCC 2-207

A definite and seasonable expression of acceptance operates as acceptance even with additional terms; between merchants those terms join the contract unless material, objected to, or already refused.

Statute of Frauds categories

A signed writing is required for promises involving marriage, performance over one year, land, executor liability, goods of $500 or more, and suretyship obligations.

Promissory estoppel

A promise that the promisor reasonably expects to induce reliance, and on which the promisee actually and justifiably relies, is binding to the extent justice requires despite the absence of consideration.

Perfect tender rule

Under UCC Article 2 the buyer may reject goods that fail in any respect to conform, subject to the seller's right to cure and to limitations on installment contracts.

Anticipatory repudiation

A clear and unequivocal indication, before performance is due, that a party will not perform discharges the other party's duties and permits immediate suit for breach.

Miranda trigger

Warnings are required for custodial interrogation: custody exists when a reasonable person would not feel free to leave, and interrogation means words likely to elicit an incriminating response.

Terry stop

Police may briefly detain a person on reasonable suspicion of criminal activity and may frisk for weapons when they reasonably suspect the person is armed and presently dangerous.

Felony murder limits

The underlying felony must be inherently dangerous and independent of the killing under the merger doctrine, and agency jurisdictions require the killing to be committed by a felon.

M'Naghten test

A defendant is not guilty if, because of a mental disease or defect, he did not know the nature and quality of the act or did not know that it was wrong.

Double jeopardy attachment

Jeopardy attaches when the jury is sworn or, in a bench trial, when the first witness is sworn; an acquittal bars retrial for the same offense.

Hearsay definition

An out-of-court statement offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted; a statement offered only to show its effect on the listener is not hearsay.

Excited utterance

A statement describing or explaining a startling event, made while the declarant was under the stress of excitement it caused; the declarant's availability is immaterial.

MIMIC exceptions

Evidence of prior bad acts is admissible to prove motive, intent, absence of mistake, identity, or a common plan, but not to show propensity, and remains subject to Rule 403.

Confrontation Clause

Testimonial hearsay is inadmissible unless the declarant is unavailable and the defendant had a prior opportunity to cross-examine, even when a hearsay exception otherwise applies.

Best evidence rule

To prove the contents of a writing, recording, or photograph, the original must be produced unless an exception such as loss, collateral matter, or an official record applies.

Joint tenancy unities

Joint tenancy requires the unities of time, title, interest, and possession and gives the surviving joint tenant the entire estate by right of survivorship.

Real covenant requirements

Enforcement by damages requires a writing, intent to bind successors, touch and concern, horizontal and vertical privity, and notice to the burdened party.

Adverse possession elements

Possession must be actual, exclusive, open and notorious, continuous for the statutory period, and hostile under the objective standard; color of title may extend constructive possession.

Race-notice recording

A later purchaser prevails by recording first without actual, inquiry, or record notice of a prior unrecorded interest; the shelter rule protects grantees of a protected purchaser.

Res ipsa loquitur

Negligence may be inferred when the injuring instrumentality was in the defendant's exclusive control and the accident is of a kind that would not ordinarily occur absent negligence.

Negligence per se

An unexcused statutory violation establishes breach when the statute sets a standard of conduct, the plaintiff is within the protected class, and the harm is the type the statute prevents.

Strict products liability

A commercial seller is liable for harm caused by a product defect in manufacture, design, or warnings existing at the time of sale, without proof of negligence, if the use was foreseeable.

Public figure actual malice

A public official or public figure suing for defamation about public conduct must prove knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for the truth by clear and convincing evidence.