Exam 3: Trials and Resolving Disputes

If a party refuses to comply with a court order to produce documents or answer written interrogatories:

Failure by the trial judge to admit or exclude certain evidence, improper instructions being given to the jury, and the granting or denying of motions to dismiss the case are all:

Mediators may be required, in some states, to be trained professionals.

Many international contracts involving the sale of cotton require that disputes be taken to the

A court order for a certain amount of a debtor's paycheck to be paid on a regular basis to the winner of a court judgment is called:

SBD Kitchens and a client, Jefferson, got into a dispute about work done for the Jeffersons, who sued. The contract contained an arbitration clause, so the court ordered the parties to go to arbitration. The arbitrator found that SBD breached its contract. He also found that the Jeffersons defamed SBD by spreading negative information about the company. The Jeffersons were ordered to pay damages of almost $200,000. They appealed to the court of appeals. It held that:​

The screening process used in selecting the jury members from the jury pool is called voir dire.

In Barabin v. AstenJohnson, where Barabin sued for injury from asbestos, the appeals court held that AstenJohnson could not use its employees as expert witnesses since there was an obvious conflict of interest.

Written interrogatories are useful for obtaining information:

A judicial system that requires parties to represent themselves and argue their positions before a neutral court is referred to as:

Arbitrators may award punitive damages as part of a judgment.

Plaintiffs can choose between suing for monetary damages or equitable remedies in each case.

When expert testimony is critical to a case, but is excluded as unreliable, there is a right to a new trial with a new, credible witness.

Without the discovery state in the trial process, evidence presented in the trial could:

Which of the following is an example of an affirmative defense:

Fact Pattern 3-1 Amanda is a twenty-four year old student. For two years Amanda has been going to gym and using weight equipment, stationary bicycles, and step machines to improve muscle tone. One spring afternoon Amanda was using a weight machines in the usual way (and the way she was showed how to use it), when the machine malfunctioned causing her serious injury. The company that made the machine, Musclematic, has known for the past year that this problem existed, but the company took no steps to warn people who owned or used these machines of the problem. -Refer to Fact Pattern 3-1. If Amanda sues Musclematic she will probably file a products liability claim. If she does, if she wins the case, and if she receives an average award from a jury, Amanda will receive:

Remedies involving specific performance are unlikely in cases involving:

After a jury verdict has been presented, the losing party may ask the judge to overturn the verdict by requesting a:

Negotiations has been rising in popularity in recent years as a method of dispute resolution.

Fact Pattern 3-2 Ellen contracts with James to be her stockbroker, making stock trades for Ellen's account. Ellen need not pre-approve the trades that James makes, only trades for more than $20,000. Ellen and James include a clause stating "that in case of any disputes arising out of this contract; the dispute shall be arbitrated using the rules of the New York Stock Exchange." Ellen learns that since signing her contract with James, he has routinely been making trades worth more than $20,000 without her permission, and losing money. -Refer to Fact Pattern 3-2. Assume that James appeals the decision of the arbitrators to a state court. He wants to argue that using the New York Stock Exchange rules was unfair to him. Most likely, James will: