Clarifications: 2001-02 Case

Clarification Number

Document being clarified

Clarification

Clarification Issue Date

1.

Case

Complaint (pp. 9-11): The complaint is brought under the ADA. Since there is no mention of the Independence Human Rights Act in the Complaint, please disregard the information provided about the Independence Human Rights Act (pp. 6-8). In order to avoid complicating this year’s problem by requiring students to consider the doctrine of preemption, no reference to the Independence Statutes should be made during the course of the trial presentation.

12/07/01

2.

Case

Allegations (p. 10):

    1. In #11, the date June 2, 1999 should be changed to June 4, 1999.
    2. In #12, the date June 4, 1999 should be changed to June 7, 1999.
    3. Also in #12, it states that ". . . the defendant suspended ALEX WATSON without pay and unreasonably refused to permit him/her to return to work until s/he made arrangements for accommodations." This s/he refers to the principal (Pat Maddox).

12/07/01

3.

Case

Pat Maddox witness statement (p. 23):

    1. In #8, the second to last sentence should read "After Dr. Cantor Sanders was introduced, Alex abruptly left the office . . ."
    2. In #9, the date June 2, 1999 should be changed to June 4, 1999 (i.e., "This occurred on a Friday morning, June 4, 1999.")

12/07/01

4.

Case

You may assume that as of the time of trial, Frank Taylor is 36 years old and Charlie Reynolds is 28 years old.

12/07/01

5.

Competition Rules

Rule 2.3 (p. 39) Unfair Extrapolation: The last sentences should be amended to read: "The decision of the presiding judge regarding extrapolations or evidentiary matters is final. Judges should use their scores to reflect whether they believe an unfair extrapolation has occurred, but scoring judges may not do so if the presiding judge has ruled in open court that no such extrapolation has occurred."

12/07/01

6.

Competition Rules

Rule 3.4 (p. 41) Team Duties: The last sentence of the first paragraph should read: ". . .one will present the opening statement and another will present the closing argument and rebuttal."

12/07/01

7.

Competition Rules

Rule 4.1 3(A) (p. 41) Courtroom Setting: Remove the words "occupation or" from the following sentence: A student playing the part of a witness may wear clothing consistent with that witness’ occupation or character." [Note: this makes the rule consistent with Rule 4.11.]

12/07/01

8.

Competition Rules

Rule 4.5 (p. 43) Trial sequence and Time Limits: #4 should read as follows: "Closing Argument and Rebuttal (5 minutes per side). [An attorney may reserve a portion of his/her time for rebuttal. The attorney must advise the court at the beginning of his/her argument what portion of the allotted 5 minutes s/he wishes to set aside for rebuttal."

12/07/01

9.

Competition Rules

Rule 4.5: Change the sentence that says "Opening Statements must be given by both sides at the beginning of the trial." to "The Plaintiff’s Opening Statement must be given at the beginning of the trial. The Defense may choose to postpone its Opening Statement until after the conclusion of the Plaintiff’s case-in-chief."

12/07/01

10.

Competition Rules

Rule 6.1 (p. 50) Reporting a Rules Violation/Inside the Bar: This rule is applicable to the National Competition only and should be disregarded for Minnesota competitions.

12/07/01

11.

Rules of Evidence

Rule 6.11(b) (p. 56) Mode and Order of Interrogation and Presentation:

The scope of cross-examination is not limited to the scope of the direct examination, but the scopes of both redirect and recross are limited to the scope of cross-examination and redirect respectively.

12/07/01

12.

Case

Status of the Case (p.1):

Stipulations

For purposes of this mock trial the following stipulations are in effect:

  1. The trial will address only the issue of whether the defendants’ actions violated the ADA . The issue of the amount of damages, if any, is not under consideration at this time.
  2. Liberty School Board is considered a "covered entity" under Sect.12112.(a.) of the excerpt from Chapter 42 U.S. Code (p.4).

12/14/01

13.

Clarification
2(b)

Clarification 2(b) should read:

(b.) In #12, the date June 5, 1999 should be changed to June 7, 1999.

12/21/01

14.

Case

Alex Watson witness statement (p. 14):

  1. Any reference to Bruce should be changed to Charles/Charlene Reynolds.
15.

Case

The following documents should be pre-marked as exhibits prior to Round 1 of the Minnesota High School Mock Trial Competition:

  1. The letter from Pat Maddox to Alex Watson, dated November 15, 1998 (p.25) should be pre-marked as Exhibit A.
  2. The Petition to the Principal of Liberty High School dated May 12, 1999 (p.28) should be pre-marked as Exhibit B.
  3. The Explanation/Definition of Bulimia is from the Medical Desk Reference, Liberty Park Printing, 1998 (p.33) and should be pre-marked as Exhibit C.
16.
Clarification

Clarification 14 should read:

Any reference in the case materials to Bruce should be changed to Charles/Charlene Reynolds.

 
17.
Competition Rules
 Delete the sentences:

"Teams must be identified only by the side they are arguing (.e.g. prosecution or defense). No information identifying team origin should appear on the roster."
1/29/02**
18.
Competition Rules

The trial sequence in Rule 4.5 should read:

1. Opening Statement (5 minutes per side)
2. Direct and Redirect (optional) Exmn. (25 minutes per side)
3. Cross and Recross (optional) Exmn. (20 minutes per side)

4. Closing Preparation (3 minutes)


5. Closing Argument (5 minutes per side)
6. Team Conference (2 minutes)
2/1/02**

**Judges do not have this information. It is the team's responsibility to have a copy available for the judges' reference.