MEE cheat sheet

Agency requires a principal's manifestation of consent that the agent act on the principal's behalf and subject to the principal's control, plus the agent's consent.

Actual authority is created by the principal's manifestation to the agent; apparent authority is created by the principal's manifestation to a third party that reasonably induces reliance.

An agent owes the principal duties of loyalty, care, and obedience; a principal owes compensation, reimbursement, indemnification, and cooperation.

A general partnership is an entity distinct from its partners; each partner is jointly and severally liable for partnership obligations, but a newly admitted partner is not personally liable for pre-existing obligations.

An LLC member's liability is limited to the member's contribution; a charging order is the exclusive remedy against a member's distributional interest.

Courts pierce the corporate veil on alter-ego or undercapitalization grounds when the corporation is used to perpetrate fraud or injustice.

Directors owe duties of care and loyalty; the business judgment rule presumes informed, good-faith decisions absent conflict or waste.

A derivative action requires contemporaneous stock ownership, demand on the board or demand futility, and recovery belongs to the corporation.

Federal question jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 requires a claim arising under federal law; diversity under § 1332 requires complete diversity and more than $75,000 in controversy.

Supplemental jurisdiction under § 1367 covers claims sharing a common nucleus of operative fact, but it cannot override complete diversity for claims by plaintiffs against nondiverse defendants.

Personal jurisdiction requires purposeful contact with the forum, relatedness of the claim, and fairness; general jurisdiction exists where the defendant is essentially at home.

Venue is proper where any defendant resides if all reside in the same state, where substantial events occurred, or where property is located; § 1404 transfers for convenience.

A complaint must satisfy Rule 8 plausibility; fraud and mistake must be pleaded with particularity under Rule 9(b).

Discovery reaches relevant, nonprivileged matter proportional to the needs of the case; work product is protected absent substantial need.

Summary judgment is granted when no genuine dispute of material fact exists and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

Erie requires federal courts in diversity to apply state substantive law and federal procedural law, unless the federal rule is outcome-determinative and no federal rule governs.

Claim preclusion bars the same claim after final judgment on the merits; issue preclusion bars relitigation of an actually litigated issue necessary to judgment.

Standing requires an injury in fact that is concrete and particularized, causation traceable to the defendant, and redressability by a favorable decision.

The state action doctrine limits constitutional claims to governmental conduct, except where private action is entangled with government or performs a public function.

Procedural due process requires notice and a meaningful hearing before deprivation of life, liberty, or property, balanced under Mathews.

Substantive due process protects fundamental rights under strict scrutiny; economic and social legislation receives rational basis review.

Equal protection strict scrutiny applies to race and national origin; intermediate scrutiny applies to sex and illegitimacy; other classifications get rational basis.

Content-based speech restrictions face strict scrutiny; content-neutral time, place, and manner rules must be narrowly tailored and leave open alternatives.

The Dormant Commerce Clause bars state discrimination against interstate commerce unless a legitimate local purpose is served and no nondiscriminatory alternative exists.

A regulatory taking requires just compensation when regulation deprives all economically beneficial use or fails Penn Central balancing.

The Supremacy Clause makes federal law supreme; preemption may be express, field, or conflict.

UCC Article 2 governs transactions in goods; common law governs services, real estate, and intangible rights.

A contract requires offer, acceptance, and consideration; UCC § 2-204 allows formation even with open terms if a reasonable basis for remedy exists.

UCC § 2-205 makes a merchant's signed written firm offer irrevocable for the stated time, up to three months, without consideration.

The Statute of Frauds requires writings for marriage, year, land, executor, surety, and goods over $500; UCC merchant confirmation and part performance are exceptions.

The parol evidence rule bars contradictory prior or contemporaneous statements when the writing is integrated; ambiguity, fraud, and conditions precedent remain admissible.

A material breach excuses the nonbreaching party's performance; substantial performance permits damages but not rescission.

UCC perfect tender allows rejection of nonconforming goods, but the seller may cure within the contract time or a reasonable time if the buyer rejects.

Expectation damages place the plaintiff in the position of performance; Hadley limits consequential damages to those foreseeable at contracting.

Impracticability excuses performance when an unforeseen event makes performance commercially impracticable without fault; risk of loss follows shipment or destination terms.

Mens rea levels under the MPC are purpose, knowledge, recklessness, and negligence; specific intent crimes require intent to achieve a result beyond the act.

Murder is unlawful killing with malice aforethought, shown by intent to kill, intent to inflict serious bodily harm, depraved heart, or felony murder.

Felony murder applies to deaths during inherently dangerous felonies; accomplices are liable for foreseeable deaths, subject to jurisdictional limits.

Voluntary manslaughter requires adequate provocation and heat of passion; involuntary manslaughter requires criminal negligence or misdemeanor manslaughter.

Larceny is trespassory taking and carrying away of personal property with intent to permanently deprive; embezzlement requires lawful possession.

Attempt requires specific intent plus a substantial step; conspiracy requires agreement plus intent, and most jurisdictions require an overt act.

Self-defense permits reasonable force against imminent unlawful force; deadly force requires reasonable belief in imminent death or serious bodily harm.

Fourth Amendment searches require warrants supported by probable cause, subject to exceptions like consent, search incident, automobile, plain view, and exigency.

Miranda warnings are required before custodial interrogation; waiver must be knowing, voluntary, and intelligent.

Double jeopardy bars reprosecution after acquittal or conviction, but not mistrials for manifest necessity or separate sovereign prosecutions.

Relevant evidence tends to make a fact more or less probable; Rule 403 excludes it if probative value is substantially outweighed by unfair prejudice, confusion, or delay.

Character evidence is inadmissible to prove propensity, except for character in issue, a criminal defendant's or victim's character, and impeachment.

Impeachment includes prior inconsistent statements, bias, sensory deficiency, felony convictions, crimes involving dishonesty, and reputation for truthfulness.

Hearsay is an out-of-court statement offered for its truth; it is inadmissible unless an exception or exclusion applies.

Nonhearsay uses include effect on the listener, operative words, verbal acts, and statements offered to show the declarant's state of mind.

Firm hearsay exceptions include present sense impression, excited utterance, then-existing condition, business records, public records, and ancient documents.

The Confrontation Clause bars testimonial hearsay unless the declarant is unavailable and the defendant had a prior opportunity to cross-examine.

Expert testimony under Rule 702 requires qualified expertise, reliable methodology, and helpfulness; Daubert governs federal reliability.

The best evidence rule requires the original writing, recording, or photograph to prove its contents, with exceptions for duplicates and lost originals.

Fee simple absolute is alienable and inheritable; defeasible fees include fee simple determinable (automatic ending) and fee simple subject to condition subsequent (right of entry).

A life estate lasts for a measuring life; the holder owes waste duties, and remaindermen hold future interests.

Joint tenancy requires four unities-time, title, interest, possession-and carries survivorship; tenancy in common lacks survivorship.

A lease transfers a possessory estate; the covenant of quiet enjoyment is breached by actual or constructive eviction.

Easements may be express, implied, by necessity, or by prescription; they terminate by release, merger, abandonment, or prescription.

A covenant runs with land if it touches and concerns land, privity exists, and notice is given; equitable servitudes require notice and intent to bind successors.

Recording acts protect subsequent purchasers: race requires recording first, notice requires no notice, race-notice requires both.

A mortgage is a lien; foreclosure extinguishes junior liens, and priority follows recording order or the race-notice statute.

Zoning ordinances must serve the public welfare; variances require undue hardship, and nonconforming uses may continue.

Battery is intentional harmful or offensive contact; assault is intentional creation of apprehension of imminent battery.

Negligence requires duty, breach, actual cause, proximate cause, and damages.

Duty is owed to foreseeable plaintiffs; premises possessors owe different duties to invitees, licensees, and trespassers.

Res ipsa loquitur permits negligence inference when the accident is of a type that ordinarily does not occur without negligence and the instrumentality was controlled by defendant.

Proximate cause limits liability to harms within the scope of the risk; unforeseeable intervening causes supersede.

Comparative negligence reduces recovery; contributory negligence bars recovery in pure jurisdictions; assumption of risk is a complete defense.

Strict liability applies to abnormally dangerous activities, wild animals, and defective products.

Products liability requires a defect in manufacture, design, or warning, causation, and damages; privity is generally not required.

Defamation requires a false statement of fact, publication, fault, and damages; public figures must prove actual malice.