Palsgraf v. The Long Island Railroad Company

Purpose: To be able to identify jurisdictional issue in legal cases and conduct an analysis of case fact patterns by preparing a case brief.

When briefing a case, your goal is to reduce the information from the case into a format that will provide you with a helpful reference in class and for review. Most importantly, by “briefing” a case, you will grasp the problem the court faced (the issue); the relevant law the court used to solve it (the rule); how the court applied the rule to the facts (the application or “analysis/reason”); and the outcome (the conclusion/decision). You will then be ready to not only discuss the case, but to compare and contrast it to other cases involving a similar issue.

Before attempting to “brief” a case, read the case at least once.

Instructions: Read the extended version of this case (M33_Homework Brief 3_Case_Palsgraf v. Long Island R. Co._Chapter 8-1.pdf). Prepare a case outline with the following components.

1. Citation: Give the full citation for the case, including the name of the case, the date it was decided, and the court that decided it.
2. Facts: Briefly indicate(a) reasons for the lawsuit; (b) the identity and arguments of the plaintiff(s) and defendant(s), respectively (c); and the lower court’s decision (if appropriate).
3. Issue: Concisely phrase, the essential issues before the court. It is possible to find more than one issues involved. There may have two or even more issues to include.
4. Decision: Indicate the courts answers to the issue. You may be able to use “yes” or “no,” in indicating the courts answer to the issue.

Tip: There are several Latin terms used in this legal case. The link below may be helpful in defining any Latin legal terms found in this case.

Video:Short Video on Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
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Link: http://www.uscourts.gov/Common/Glossary.aspx (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Guidelines:

• Expected Length (Minimum): 1-2 paragraphs per section, 12 – Times New Roman Format

• Use grammatically correct business writing that is “audience centered, purposeful, persuasive, and economical” (M.E. Guffy & D. Loewy, 2010, p. 50).

• Do not plagiarize.