Purposes. The reasons for doing this exercise are (1) to learn how to read, interpret, and summarize judicial decisions; and (2) to gain experience in the proper use of legal terminology and legal citations.
Process.
1. Read Jaffe v. City and County of Denver, 15 P.3d 806 (Colo. Ct. App. 2000), which may be found under Readings at the course website. Following the instructions in the legal research handout, you can also copy the citation from this document and paste it into the caselaw search window in either Lexis- Nexis or Westlaw.
2. Brief the Decision. The word “brief” has two general meanings in legal parlance. As a noun it can be the written argument a lawyer files with a court in support of his or her client’s case. As a verb (as used here), “briefing the decision” means to prepare a short summary of the court’s written decision in a case. There are several formats for doing this, which vary in complexity depending on one’s reasons for briefing the case. For our purposes, we will use a simplified four-part outline as follows:
a. Facts and Judicial History. Who were the parties (i.e., plaintiff and defendant) in the original trial? What were the facts in the dispute, and what law was the court called upon to interpret? What court(s) originally heard the case, and what were the lower courts’ decisions (including citations)?
b. Issue(s) of Law (or Question(s) of Law). How did the court whose decision you are briefing define the question or questions of legal interpretation it felt called upon to answer? The issue or issues of law should be stated in the form of a question susceptible to a “Yes” or “No” answer.
c. Answer (or Holding). This can usually be stated in the form of a simple declarative sentence answering the questions of law the court asked itself above (i.e., restating the question as a declarative statement).
Process.
1. Read Jaffe v. City and County of Denver, 15 P.3d 806 (Colo. Ct. App. 2000), which may be found under Readings at the course website. Following the instructions in the legal research handout, you can also copy the citation from this document and paste it into the caselaw search window in either Lexis- Nexis or Westlaw.
2. Brief the Decision. The word “brief” has two general meanings in legal parlance. As a noun it can be the written argument a lawyer files with a court in support of his or her client’s case. As a verb (as used here), “briefing the decision” means to prepare a short summary of the court’s written decision in a case. There are several formats for doing this, which vary in complexity depending on one’s reasons for briefing the case. For our purposes, we will use a simplified four-part outline as follows:
a. Facts and Judicial History. Who were the parties (i.e., plaintiff and defendant) in the original trial? What were the facts in the dispute, and what law was the court called upon to interpret? What court(s) originally heard the case, and what were the lower courts’ decisions (including citations)?
b. Issue(s) of Law (or Question(s) of Law). How did the court whose decision you are briefing define the question or questions of legal interpretation it felt called upon to answer? The issue or issues of law should be stated in the form of a question susceptible to a “Yes” or “No” answer.
c. Answer (or Holding). This can usually be stated in the form of a simple declarative sentence answering the questions of law the court asked itself above (i.e., restating the question as a declarative statement).
d. Reasoning. This is that section of the decision in which the court explains why it decided the case in the way it did. After identifying the issue(s) of law, the court then states somewhere in the decision the rule or principle it considers generally applicable to deciding such issues, how it has applied that rule in the past in similar cases (precedent), and then why it applied the rule or principle the way it did in the instant case.
In appellate decisions (such as those issued by the U.S. Supreme Court) in which more than one jurist is hearing the case, there is also sometimes a dissenting opinion, in which one or more jurists disagreeing with the majority’s ruling explain why they did so. There may also be a concurring opinion, in which a jurist agrees with the majority’s holding, but for different reasons (which are explained in the concurrence).
3. After reading the case carefully and making notes for each section of the outline given above, prepare a summary of the case according to the outline. If you write concisely, you should be able to fit it on two double- spaced, typewritten pages; please do so. Learning to summarize the contents of court decisions accurately, plainly, and concisely is one of the central purposes of this exercise, so points will be taken off for exceeding the page limit.
To save space, you can prepare a title page with your name, course number, date, and the name and full citation to the case. Otherwise, this information has to appear at the top of the first page of the brief. Email your brief to me as a text file no later than noon Tuesday, September 11. We’ll discuss the case in class that day, and I’ll return your graded brief sometime the following week.
After our discussion of Jaffe v. Denver in class, if you didn’t get as many points on your brief as you hoped for, you will understand why. You will then have the option of rewriting and resubmitting your brief if you wish to do so, to earn more points on this assignment. If you do submit a rewrite, I will erase your earlier score, and your final grade for the assignment will be on the re-write.
Hints on Jaffe. The facts are pretty well spelled out. You will learn that causes of action (reasons for the plaintiff’s complaint) are being brought under a state law and a federal law, both of which deal with liabilities and immunities of government agencies, the interpretation of which gives rise to the issues in this case. Of the issues of law you will discover in the case, for the purposes of this exercise you do not need to address the issue of assignment of court costs and attorney fees.
In appellate decisions (such as those issued by the U.S. Supreme Court) in which more than one jurist is hearing the case, there is also sometimes a dissenting opinion, in which one or more jurists disagreeing with the majority’s ruling explain why they did so. There may also be a concurring opinion, in which a jurist agrees with the majority’s holding, but for different reasons (which are explained in the concurrence).
3. After reading the case carefully and making notes for each section of the outline given above, prepare a summary of the case according to the outline. If you write concisely, you should be able to fit it on two double- spaced, typewritten pages; please do so. Learning to summarize the contents of court decisions accurately, plainly, and concisely is one of the central purposes of this exercise, so points will be taken off for exceeding the page limit.
To save space, you can prepare a title page with your name, course number, date, and the name and full citation to the case. Otherwise, this information has to appear at the top of the first page of the brief. Email your brief to me as a text file no later than noon Tuesday, September 11. We’ll discuss the case in class that day, and I’ll return your graded brief sometime the following week.
After our discussion of Jaffe v. Denver in class, if you didn’t get as many points on your brief as you hoped for, you will understand why. You will then have the option of rewriting and resubmitting your brief if you wish to do so, to earn more points on this assignment. If you do submit a rewrite, I will erase your earlier score, and your final grade for the assignment will be on the re-write.
Hints on Jaffe. The facts are pretty well spelled out. You will learn that causes of action (reasons for the plaintiff’s complaint) are being brought under a state law and a federal law, both of which deal with liabilities and immunities of government agencies, the interpretation of which gives rise to the issues in this case. Of the issues of law you will discover in the case, for the purposes of this exercise you do not need to address the issue of assignment of court costs and attorney fees.
