ABOUT CIV PRO ASSIGNMENTS (FALL 2023)
Tentative assignments.
Tentative assignments are shown below and may be revised as we work through the materials. Sometimes I will add post-assignment materials to an assignment, such as a new handout I use in class, or explanations for completed problems.
Optional study materials.
Materials listed below are required reading unless they are expressly labeled “optional.” In fact, many optional supplementary study materials are included in the listings below. This is because over the years, I have created a large set of study materials, such as problem sets, handouts, practice essays, CALI lessons I wrote, and YouTube videos. I therefore have a number of those linked below. Generally, they are listed as optional study materials. Sometimes I will refer to them in class and I may bump some up to required materials. Some of the optional materials may also take a deeper dive into the subjects that we discuss in class. In any case, time will prevent me from addressing all optional materials during class, but I am always happy to discuss them in office hours.
Abbreviations.
Here’s a guide to the main abbreviations used in the assignments below:
- CB or “Glannon”: the Glannon casebook. You must use the Fourth Edition.
- “Statutes”: The rules & statutes supplement to the Glannon casebook. You must use the 2022-2023 supplement.
- Canvas site – this refers to the Canvas site for this course for your section. We may use this site from time to time for class-related matters, although the main source for course materials will be this website.
What to bring to class.
Your casebook, your statutes book, your briefs, your notes, and your preparation. Also bring patience and a healthy dose of intellectual humility — law school is hard, and learning civil procedure is similar to learning a new language. You understand some things quickly, and other things will be initially confusing. Even when you learn procedural law in bits and pieces, you’ll quickly appreciate that there is an additional challenge in figuring out how those bits and pieces fit together. Have confidence that before long, you and I should be talking in a procedural shorthand and you’ll start to see how the pieces fit together.
What to do before and after class.
Read the materials carefully and critically. The ABA estimates that you should spend at least twice as much time preparing before class as you spend in class. In other words, for a two-hour class, you should prepare a minimum of four hours. Difficult or longer assignments will take longer.
As important (and perhaps more important) is the time you spend after class, typing up your notes, working on outlines, doing practice questions, seeking me for office hours, etc. Think of this as your full-time job.
The syllabus contains basic information to help you in doing your assignments. Other helpful materials include:
Important dates.
- Aug. 7 to Aug. 10: Orientation
- Aug. 15: first day 1L classes
- Aug. 16: first day Civ Pro class for Section One
- Oct. 2 to Oct. 6: tentative 1L midterm week
- Nov. 27 to Dec. 8: Final exams
Further important dates can be found on the Academic Calendar at Academic Calendars – College of Law – St. Thomas University (stu.edu).
WEEK 1 – AUG. 15 & 17
TUESDAY, AUG. 15 (class 1): SMJ – Intro to Civ Pro; Diversity jurisdiction
Syllabus: Read the syllabus. This sets down your expectations of me and mine of you. You should in particular carefully read the guidelines regarding which version of the casebook you choose and use.
Statutory/rule/Constitutional provisions:
Casebook readings:
-
- CB pp. 3-42. We will discuss this only in passing, so read it for the general ideas. You will be responsible for all this information (in fact, this chapter, along with the Table of Contents/syllabus, may help you to outline later); however, at this point this part of the reading is a bit of a necessary infodump given to provide a context for your studies this semester. Regardless of chapters 1 and 2, we will focus today on the first part of chapter 3.
- CB pp. 43 – 61. As noted, this is what we will discuss in detail. Be well prepared.
Problem set: Prepare answers to Diversity Jurisdiction problem set questions 1-9. I will do some, but not all of these, in class. Be prepared to explain your answers if called on.
Optional but recommended: these and other videos can be helpful, but if and only if (or “iff” in logic terms), you’ve first done the rest of the assignment. Going straight to the spoilers deprives yourself of the opportunity to learn how to learn law.
- Screencast, Diversity basics: “Citizen of a State”
- Screencast, Diversity basics: 1332(a)(1) and 1332(a)(2)
THURSDAY, AUG. 17 (class 2): SMJ – Diversity jurisdiction; Skills-in-Context # 1 (reading cases)
Note: Due to a conflict with a campus event, today’s regularly scheduled online office hours of 7-9PM will instead be on campus 430-630PM.
Skills development:
- Read handout on IFRAC
- Use this case-briefing template to prepare your case briefs
- Read Tips for Reciting in Class
- Tip: Use the IFRAC method (actually FIRAC for briefs) to brief the assigned cases. you should always brief main cases and create blurbs of note cases. Use the unlocked template supplied here (DOCX download). Always bring your briefs with you to class.
Readings:
- 28 U.S.C. § 1332(b), (c): Cornell
- CB pp. 61-89.
Problem set: Prepare answers to Diversity Jurisdiction problem set questions 10-15.
Optional but recommended:
- Guide to business organizations
- Screencast, Diversity advanced: 1332(a)(2) and 1332(a)(3)
- Screencast, Diversity advanced: amount in controversy
- Screencast, Diversity advanced: aggregation
WEEK 2 – AUG. 22 & 24
TUESDAY, AUG. 22 (class 3): SMJ – Federal question jurisdiction
- We will first wrap up our discussion of diversity.
- Handout on Rules vs. Standards
- 28 U.S.C. § 1331, 28 U.S.C. § 1338
- CB pp. 91-108, 123-125
- Prepare answers to questions from Federal question problem set. To answer the questions, you’ll need to use the cases and the statutes. Also, be aware that one of the questions cannot be answered by the assigned readings. Which one? For that question, come up with the best answer you can and be prepared to defend it in class. Think critically. Or take a deeper dive and read pp. 108-123.
- Study materials (optional):
Note to students (posted Aug. 23) – as we move into the post-pandemic era it is becoming clearer to me that flexibility in office hours is crucial to making sure that professors can be available for their students. Accordingly, I am posting a new page at https://www.nathenson.org/office-hours/ that will contain my specific hours for each week, along with a QR code and relevant links.
THURSDAY, AUG. 24 (class 4): SMJ – Removal jurisdiction; skills-in-context # 2 (reading statutory materials)
Note: Due to a conflict with Professor Gary Kravitz’s memorial service, today’s regularly scheduled online office hours of 7-9PM will instead be on campus 330-530PM. Also, in lieu of on-campus Wednesday office hours, I will conduct an SMJ review session on Zoom for this coming Saturday at 3PM.
- 28 U.S.C. § 1441(a)-(c), (f), 28 U.S.C. § 1446(a)-(d), 28 U.S.C. § 1447, 28 U.S.C. § 1454 (get via hyperlinks)
- CB pp. 127-144
- Handouts:
- Top 10 Things You Need To Know About Removal
- Handout on Reading Statutes & Rules. Use it in marking up the removal statutes. We’ll discuss mark-up skills in class.
- Prepare answers to the Removal jurisdiction problem set.
WEEK 3 – AUG. 29 & 31
TUESDAY, AUG. 29 (class 5): Personal jurisdiction: Territorial framework; modern approach
- Announcements: (8/28)
- We will wrap up removal jurisdiction before moving into PJ.
- Regarding new materials, today’s readings are not being expanded to include the portions of the casebook regarding Pennoyer; I had instead assigned the Pennoyer handout in lieu of a much longer assignment. I am happy to discuss the case as time permits but I selected the already-assigned readings with a reasonable workload in mind and do not want to change course.
- This past Saturday, we went over the diversity problem set online (recording available here for STU students) and did a fairly deep dive into most questions. I will schedule additional optional sessions for Thursday (7-9PM) and Saturday (1-230-ish) to finish the other SMJ problem sets and to take any questions you may have so far on PJ.
- U.S. Const. am. XIV, section 1
- Handout on Pennoyer v. Neff
- CB: pp. 147-148, 161-178
- SMJ, PJ, and venue compared
- Prepare answers to International Shoe study questions
- Look at the Personal Jurisdiction Coggle flowchart. You won’t understand it yet but we’ll refer to it as it represents a conceptual version of PJ.
THURSDAY, AUG. 31 (class 6): Personal jurisdiction—Refining the Shoe standard
- CB: pp. 184-216
- Prepare answers to WWVW study questions
- Prepare answers to Burger King study questions
- From 7-9PM today, I’ll host a zoom session to further discuss SMJ problem sets. Normal link.
SATURDAY, SEPT. 2 (optional online review session): Voluntary zoom session to recap SMJ
- 1PM today on Zoom, I will go over any remaining SMJ problems and take any questions you have on PJ so far. If we get through remainder quickly, then open questions.
- Normal Zoom link that we use.
WEEK 4 – SEPT. 5 & 7
TUESDAY, SEPT. 5 (class 7): Personal jurisdiction—Stream of commerce, more
- CB pp. 216-239
- Prepare answers to Asahi study questions
- The recording of the federal question review session is available at this link (STU students only). I’ve also opened up the explanations for the FQ and removal questions.
THURSDAY, SEPT. 7 (class 8): Personal jurisdiction—general jurisdiction; in-rem/quasi-in-rem
- CB pp. 251-288
- Handouts on general jurisdiction, the steps in analyzing specific/general jurisdiction, and then the current status of Pennoyer‘s traditional bases.
- At 7-9PM tonight, I will go over the remaining SMJ problem set on my Zoom link; I will also take any other questions on SMJ or PJ that you might have. In listings above you can also find links to the videos of my reviews of the diversity and FQ problem sets.
WEEK 5 – SEPT. 12 & 14
TUESDAY, SEPT. 12 (class 9): Transient presence (tag); state and federal “long arm” statutes
- RS: U.S. Const’n, Am. V
- RS: FRCP 4(k)
- Prepare answers to study questions on long-arms
- CB pp. 288-304, 306-308, 309-317, 323-327
- Prepare answers to the Personal Jurisdiction problem set.
THURSDAY, SEPT. 14 (class 10): Notice
- RS: FRCP 4, 5, 6 (in Statutes book). Read the rules carefully: we will discuss them in class.
- CB pp. 329-350, 363-365
- Study questions on notice and FRCP 4, 5, and 6
- Examples:
- Complaint, summons, cover sheet: http://www.lawmall.com/gordonramsay/
- Read about Ciara being served at a concert
- Example of a federal court that authorized service of process via Twitter.
WEEK 6 – SEPT. 19 & 21
TUESDAY, SEPT. 19 (class 11): Venue, transfer, forum non conveniens
- 28 U.S.C. §§ 1390, 1391(a) through (d)
- 28 U.S.C. §§ 1404, 1406
- Casebook pp. 369-385, 387-399
- Handouts:
- Prepare answers to the Venue, Transfer, FNC study questions
- Prepare answers to the Venue, Transfer, FNC problem set
THURSDAY, SEPT. 21 (class 12): Introduction to pleading; notice versus plausibility pleading
- FRCP 7; FRCP 8(a), 8(d), 8(e); FRCP 9; FRCP 10; FRCP 12(b)(6)
- CB pp. 421-423, 449-476
- Be prepared to discuss Iqbal hypos
- Optional study materials:
THURSDAY, SEPT. 21 (optional): PJ problem set discussion
- Zoom, 7-9 PM, normal link
Adjustment to schedules due to my absence from COVID.
As you know, I was out sick on Thurs., Sept. 21 with COVID. Assuming I am sufficiently recovered, I will teach online on Tues., Sept. 26 and hope to be back in the classroom on Thurs., Sept. 28. I will email the link for the online class (it will be the same one I use for my personal room). The online class is a regularly scheduled class and attendance is mandatory; your cameras must also be on so that we have real interaction.
The missed assignment will be bumped forward one class and I will adjust the remaining schedule below once all the pieces are in place. That means we will do the registration and search training on Sept. 26, and so on. A makeup may be scheduled.
See the listing of assignments below for further updates and announcements.
WEEK 7 – SEPT. 26 & 28
TUESDAY, SEPT. 26 (class 12): Introduction to pleading; notice versus plausibility pleading
- This assignment is bumped from last week due to illness.
- FRCP 7; FRCP 8(a), 8(d), 8(e); FRCP 9; FRCP 10; FRCP 12(b)(6)
- CB pp. 421-423, 449-476
- Be prepared to discuss Iqbal hypos
- Optional study materials:
TUESDAY, SEPT. 26 (optional): PJ problem set discussion
- This is the Zoom that was delayed due to COVID.
- Zoom, 7-9 PM, normal link
- I’ve already posted the explanations and believe that you’ll find this session/review more helpful if you review the explanations first.
THURSDAY, SEPT. 28 (class 13): Defendant’s options (default, pre-answer motion, answer)
- FRCP 12 and FRCP 55
- CB pp. 477-504
THURSDAY, SEPT. 28: Skills-in-Context # 3 (essay organization, optional)
- Zoom 7PM: we’re going to do an essay-organization workshop. Do the following in advance.
WEEK 8 – OCT. 3 & 5: MIDTERMS WEEK & IMPORTANT NOTICES REGARDED ADJUSTED SCHEDULE
Exam info.
- As of 8/21, the Registrar has tentatively slated your Civ Pro, section 1 midterm for Monday, Oct. 2 at 1PM. This date and time are subject to revision, so pay close attention to any revisions by the Registrar.
- The exam will be a closed-book two-hour exam with one essay question and 10 multiple-choice questions. I will provide a statutory supplement.
- Computers are permitted so long as they are locked pursuant to standard exam procedures, using whatever locking software is required by the College of Law. Tablets are not compatible with Exam4 software so they cannot be used.
- As noted in class, the essay question has a 1500 word limit.
Midterm review materials.
Below are the links to the Zoom sessions where we discussed various problem sets
- See all problem sets; each set contains a link to the publicly accessible explanations
- Video discussing diversity problems here (STU students only).
- Video discussing federal question problems Part 1 Part 2 (STU students only).
- Video discussing PJ problems here (STU students only).
- NEW: Video of essay exam writing workshop here (STU students only).
Remaining assignments.
As we missed the Sept. 21 class due to me being out with COVID, I’ve rearranged the remaining assignments below. We will have our full slate of classes and I have added a makeup session on a date TBD for a review of the midterm. I am hoping to arrange the midterm review session for Fri., Oct. 20. (Changed to Oct. 27.)
Please stay tuned for details.
WEEK 9 – OCT. 10 & 12
TUESDAY, OCT. 10 (class 14): Defendant’s options (answer)
- FRCP 8
- CB pp. 505-527
- Prepare answers to Answer Drafting exercise. Be prepared to share your answers when called on.
THURSDAY, OCT. 12 (class 15): Care & Candor in Pleading, Sanctions
- FRCP 11
- CB pp. 529-52
WEEK 10 – OCT. 17 & 19
TUESDAY, OCT. 17 (class 16): Amendments & Relation-Back
- FRCP 15
- CB pp. 553-57, 574-98
- Prepare answers to the four relation-back scenarios found here. What are the correct answers? Draw timelines for each and be prepared to discuss.
THURSDAY, OCT. 19 (class 17): Joinder
- FRCP 13, 14, 18, 20, 21, 42
- CB pp. 601-639 (read text and notes; skim cases)
NOTE: midterm review changed to Friday, Oct. 27.
WEEK 11 – OCT. 24 & 26
TUESDAY, OCT. 24 (Class 18): Supplemental jurisdiction
- 28 U.S.C. 1367
- CB pp. 711-723, 733-745
- Handouts:
- Problem set: prepare answers to 1367 problem set
- Optional: CALI lesson on basics of supplemental jurisdiction
THURSDAY, OCT. 26 (class 19): Voluntary dismissal; summary judgment
- Readings:
- FRCP 16, 41, and 56
- CB pp.
980-1017, 980-994, 1002-1017
- Handouts:
- Rule 41 dismissal compared to Rule 15 amendments
- Hypos on voluntary dismissal and the “two shot” rule
- Why Rule 56 is the “put up or shut up” rule.
- Types of summary judgment. Ask yourself: what type of SJ case is Slaven? Celotex? Why is the “Proof of all my own elements” type of SJ potentially more difficult to obtain than the other types? Why can’t a plaintiff obtain SJ on her own claim using the Celotex method?
- Differences between dispositive motions: R12(b)(6), 12(c), 56, 50(a), 50(b)
WEEK 12 – OCT. 31 & NOV. 2
TUESDAY, OCT. 31 (class 20): Discovery I (standard; privileges, work product, and proportionality)
- Read FRCP 26(b)
- CB pp. 749-751, 760-773, 796-797
- Skim CB pp. 773-796
- Handouts:
- Study questions set 1: scope of discovery
- Optional: Set of YouTube discovery videos (watch videos pertinent to readings assigned for that day)
THURSDAY, NOV. 2 (class 21): Discovery II (devices)
- CB pp. 799-839 (stop before case)
- CB pp. 845-46
- Read all discovery rules noted in reading.
- Study question set 2: discovery devices
- Prepare answers for:
WEEK 13 – NOV. 7 & 9
TUESDAY, NOV. 7 (class 22): Discovery III (enforcement & sanctions)
- FRCP 26(c), (g)
- FRCP 37
- CB 849-68
- Prepare answers to study questions on chapter 23: discovery controls.
THURSDAY, NOV. 9 (class 23): Choice of Law (Erie/REA)
- 28 USC 1652
- 28 USC 2072
- Casebook pp. 871-873, 881-895, 911-912, 922-935
- Optional study materials:
WEEK 14 and beyond – NOV. 14 & 16, NOV. 21
TUESDAY, NOV. 14 (class 24): Trial & post-trial motions
- U.S. Constn., Seventh Am.
- FRCP 50, 59, 60, 61
- CB 1053-1082
- Handouts & study materials:
- Problem set: Prepare answers to questions 1-6 of the JMOL/MNT problem set
THURSDAY, NOV. 16 (class 25): Appeals & preclusion
- Appeals
- Required:
- Appealability problem set – Professor Nathenson
- Read all rules and statutes referred to in the problem set.
- Suggested: CB Chapter 32 (not cases)
- Required:
- Preclusion:
- Handouts at this link
- CB 1189-1191, 1224-1225
TUESDAY, NOV. 21: REVIEW SESSION (class 26)
- On Zoom, normal link, 1PM
SATURDAY, NOV. 25: REVIEW SESSION (optional)
- On Zoom, normal link, 1PM
OTHER AVAILABILITY
- On Zoom, please make appointment; times sent via email.
- Registration link sent to you via email.
- If you have an essay answer you’d like to discuss, please email it to me for discussion during your signed-up meeting time.
FINAL EXAM
- Tentatively scheduled for Wed., Nov. 9, 9AM
- It will be a closed-book 3-hour exam with multiple-choice and essay questions. I will provide a statutory supplement.
- Computers are permitted so long as they are locked pursuant to standard exam procedures.
Revised July 26, 2023; 8/14/23 (re office hours 8/17 and 8/24); 8/21 (adding tentative midterm date); 8/23 (adding link to OH and adding 8/26 review), 9/4 (adding links); 9/8 (clarifying assignment); 9/15/23 (zoom sessions); temporarily moved Oct.+ assignments to admin scratchpad page;9/27 (adding video link); 9/29 (same and setting out midterm info in a notification box); 9/29 (reposted rearranged assignments); 10/12 (re post-exam review); 10/19 (changing date of midterm recap session), 10/23 (changing contours of R56 assignment); 10/27 (re review session dates); Nov. 12, 2023 (adding review session); 11/24/23 (final availability).