Posting

I will be sharing my stress with you only sparingly for the next couple of weeks. One week from tonight is my first final. My new home contains many volumes of literacy works. I've found that the library on the main campus (for the non-law school majors) is open 24 hours during the final weeks of the semester. It's also nice and quiet. I forgot...undergraduates don't study, especially in the liberal arts. One of my friends clued me in on this new place. He said, "I found a quiet place on the main campus. The library. We don't have permission to park over there since we're not part of that campus, but it's worth the $10 ticket. I've accumulated one for each of the last 7 or 8 days." I'll just walk. The only problem is that part of campus is where all the students get mugged. Maybe if I walk with a gangster limp and Louisville slugger they'll leave me be.

Shhhh...

I'm studying.

Another fun hypo

For your enjoyment, here is a proximate cause hypothetical that we discussed in class (with some added humor on my part).

It's a bartender's duty to cut off someone before he gets too drunk. Suppose our bartender, Bob, keeps serving Julio beer well after Julio reaches the point of severe intoxication. Julio finally leaves the bar, jumps in his Yugo, and drives down the road side-swiping every parked car in his path (Let's call this drunkard Pong). Eventually Julio nails a light pole. The light pole falls on George's house injuring his daughter Peaches who sleeps in the den. Peaches is taken to the hospital and due to her severe injuries becomes a paralyzed vegetable. Her mother, Veronica, was working at the Watering Hole that evening and is now upset that she wasn't there to protect her only daughter. Subsequently, Veronica commits suicide because she can no longer handle the stress.

At what point is Bob, the bartender, no longer liable for negligence?

One link, Two links, Three links, Four

I have come to the conclusion that 96 hours is really a rather short period of time. Just a few minutes ago, it was Thanksgiving. Now it's 9 days prior to my first law school exam. Am I ready? Not yet. I still need another month or two to digest all of this nonsense. I'm getting closer though. I re-read all the Property and Contracts cases that we've covered in class. I have about 300 pages to go on Torts. Once that's complete, I'll review my outlines a few more times and start taking practice exams. I know all of the general concepts, but I still need to hack away at some old exams to perfect my skills of spotting legal issues. A lot of issues slap you in the face. Others aren't so obvious. It's the additional not-so-obvious issues that we'll need to catch in order to achieve that "A."

One of the topics we covered over the last couple of weeks in Torts was proximate cause. This is causing me headaches. Basically, proximate (or legal) cause is an element of negligence to determine whether or not the law will provide a remedy. The key is to determine when to break the chain of causation. For instance, say I pour gas into my cooler scooter and then light a cigar. After taking a few puffs, the scooter explodes and catches the house on fire. Due to my superhero-like capabilities I avoid harm, grab the beer from the cooler, call the authorities, and run to the street to view the fireworks. It's easy to see that I negligently caused the house fire, but could I foresee the neighbor's house burning as well? Most likely I'll be liable for negligence to the neighbor. Now, what if the next house caught on fire, and the next, and the next, etc.? Where does the causal chain get severed? Should I be responsible for all of the houses? Depending on the facts, the courts will likely break the chain of causation at some point. Some jurisdictions will break the chain after the first house. Some may go further. It also depends on whether people had insurance, etc. Hypotheticals like these will definitely be on the test (minus my creativity of course). Sometimes it's a pain in the neck determining proximate cause.

Electronic Disclaimer

This just serves as a notice and somewhat of a warning to not mess with me. I'm burrowing myself in a hole for the remaining days before finals. I will be avoiding the library like the plague when others are around. It's just a bunch of stress floating in the air. I don't want that hovering over my head. Instead I lock my doors, turn off all of the lights (except for a desk lamp and computer screen), and put the phones on silent. My only method of contact with others is self initiated. I do keep my email up at all times though. You never know when friends are going to send some absurd fat lady porn. It's a must that I keep messages like these flowing so others can enjoy. It's my duty to society and society's duty to me. Something has got to keep me moving during finals.

No cheese, just turkey

Other than a couple blurbs here and there, I was debating on writing anything during my final weeks of studying this semester. You're in luck though. Someone needs to hear me whine just so we all know that I'm still around. I heard that Coca-Cola was opening a new bottling plant down the road to help support my caffeine addiction during finals. I'm drinking more caffeine than beer. Now that's amazing.

In preparation for finals, I've finished re-reading all of the cases we've covered in Property and my outline seems pretty solid. Now I'm working on Contracts which is a heckuva lot more pages to read. The outline for Contracts is coming along well, but I can tell it's going to be rather large. Once my Contracts outline is polished to a degree that even a hooker would be proud, then I'll move onto Torts(the easy class). Torts is last but not because it's easier to understand. I'm using this method suggested by some of my professors. It's called 3-2-1.

Basically, you arrange your classes based on reverse order of when you take finals. Start with the last final and study for 3 straight days, then the previous final for 3 days, and then (for me at least) your first final for 3 days. Then do 2 for each class. Then 1 for each class. At the end, your last study session (which will wind up being for your first final) should fall on the day before your first exam. Rocket Science! Hence you should be prepared if you start well in advance...and I have.

I never used any special study techniques before in my college experience. Instead, I just worked on problem sets until I felt ready. I actually feel organized doing things this new way.

I'm going to study my balls off over Turkey weekend while everyone else gets fat and lazy. Back to studying for me...Maybe I'll provide a weekend update sometime.

And I thought law school was exciting

I traveled north this weekend to visit a place less infested with violent crime. On my way back through sticks of Mississippi, I was traveling on the interstate around 1:30 a.m. I seemed to be the only vehicle on the highway. Then, I noticed a car way in front of me. At the time it seemed as if I was getting closer. Then, pooooffff!!! He magically disappeared. It was in an area where the distance between exits can be as far as 10 miles so I was pretty sure he never exited. Shortly thereafter, I noticed a car approaching me from behind at a high rate of speed. He used his signals while changing lanes to go around me. I noticed his back window had some sort of sticker containing a thuggish phrase. He exited the interstate at the next exit but I didn't see him turn when he came to a stop. Then I noticed a car with flashing lights at the end of the upcoming on ramp. Several teens were waving lights trying to flag me down. One was even reaching out into my lane jumping up and down with what looked like a light from a cell phone in his hand. The hood of the car was up and several thuggish looking males were standing outside the car. I moved over to the left lane and flew on by. The car with flashing lights looked similar to the one that passed me and exited the interstate moments before. I kept looking in my rear view mirror to make sure these punks weren't going to chase me down. I laid on the gas and that was the end of it.

Now, here's my theory. I think the car with flashing lights was the same car that I noticed way ahead of me several miles back. I'm assuming the car that came hauling tail from behind me was friends with these fools. I think I was a target for a highway robbery. It just seemed awfully suspicious. First, why wave open cell phones in the air in an attempt to flag me down? If you have a cell phone, use it for its intended purpose. Second, why did the car behind me use signals to go around but fail to use a signal at the end of the off-ramp? Finally, what in the hell am I going to do that three or four other males can't?

How can I relate this to law school? Was I negligent? Well, I have no duty to assist others, so the answer is no. I only have a duty to act reasonably if I decide to do so. I've read too many cases in which people sued for damages when another person was simply trying to help. Plus, I'm not nice enough to help.