2. The total time you have to complete the exam is 3 hours.
Also loving the area were harbor seals, known locally as "Burr" harbor seals. One of the problems with all the
seals was they drew lots of white sharks, great lovers themselves of the "Burr" harbor seals, and every once
in a while, attacks would occur, usually just accidents, on a surfer or, more infrequently, upon a swimmer.
Indeed, the town had been the model for a movie about a fictitious attack by an unnaturally large shark which
resulted in the people of the town being highly sensitive about safety at beaches and for the surfers.
Some of the townspeople had suggested an electronic shark repellant system outside the reef, and had
proposed a bond issue to pay for the system. Environmentalists countered that the sharks were natural, close
to being endangered, and had more right to the area than did the surfers and the swimmers. Others felt the
bond issue would lower land values, and opposed for that reason. Still others felt the system might
electrocute boaters who happened upon it although the system had been tested and there was no absolute
proof that this might happen. The commercial people, hotelkeepers, restaurant owners and shopkeepers,
supported what had become known as the "wired wire" since they felt it would counter all the bad publicity,
and stop shark attacks. The bond measure was to come to a vote on the first Tuesday in April, 2000,
sufficiently early, if the measure passed, to fund and install it before early .tune, when the first surfers and
tourist appeared.
The result of the "wired" wire bond measure excitement was that lots of different people were in Burr Harbor
on April 1, 2000, when the accident occurred. Environmentalists, surfers, lobbyists, media, demonstrators,
and, of course, interested people of all sorts, were in the town, and the local police were hard pressed to
control the traffic. Burr Harbor, being a summer resort town, had only a skeletal police force during the
off-season of October through May, so it wasn't prepared for the crowds showing up for the great "wired" wire
bond measure debate. As well, since it depended on the summer police hirees, who were usually officers from
big cities who took long vacations in Burr Harbor as summer police, Burr Harbor had little in the way of electronic
traffic controls, not needing them during the winter when there were few people, nor during the summer when the
summer police hirees controlled traffic at the main intersections.
Unfortunately, the accident happened at an uncontrolled intersection, close to City Hall, where all the
available police were trying to keep demonstrating anti-bond environmentalists away from angry local
pro-bond people, many of whom were teenagers, out of school on Saturday, and prone to be a little wild. The
accident involved a car, driven by Paula Poundrock, a partnership partially owned by Poundrock, a local
shopkeeper, and a truck, owned by one of the surfers, from Canada and driven by Humphrey Gocart, also
from Canada. What happened was that both Poundrock and Gocart were distracted by the demonstration and
neither stopped at the intersection, but instead collided. As a result of the accident, Plaintiff Poundrock
suffered a broken leg which required hospitalization, treatment and therapy, costing $7,808.00, as well as lost
earnings of $5,102.02. Also, the Poundrock car was damaged requiring $4,800.00 in repairs.
As a result of the accident, Paula Poundrock sued the city of Burr Harbor, claiming her significant injuries, as
well as damage to the car. Part of the claim against the city of Burr Harbor was that it was negligent in
permitting an unsafe condition to exist at the intersection. In addition, Poundrock claimed that since the
intersection was unsafe, and, given that there were insufficient police during the
off-season, there was a need
for some sort of traffic control there, such as simple stop signs. Poundrock thus sought a judgment declaring
that the intersection was unsafe, and an injunction mandating that there be some sort of traffic control such
as stop signs at the intersection. Plaintiff sought, in its complaint, a jury trial on all issues, but, in a motion to
the Court, the city of Burr Harbor claimed that there was no right to trial by jury. The trial court agreed with
the Plaintiff, and granted trial by jury on all questions presented.
City of Burr Harbor also made a motion to dismiss the action because Plaintiff hadn't brought in her partner,
Bob Bedstone, co-owner of the car. Bedstone, at the time of the suit, was in Los Angeles, trying to get
a job as
a stand-up comedian. The court denied the motion.
At trial, the jury found that City of Burr Harbor had been negligent, and awarded $4,801. Plaintiff objected to
the award, and the court, in its judgment, gave her another $31,200, and as well an injunction ordering the
stop signs installed. Defendant objected to that.
Thereafter, and within the proper time, defendant appealed.
In the meantime, during the second week of April, 2000, and before the order of the trial court in Ms.
Poundrock's case another accident happened at the same intersection where a car driven by Peter Pen was hit
by a car driven by Owen Outsider, a surfer. Peter sued, not Owen, but the city of Burr Harbor, claiming it was
negligent as to not having any traffic controls at the intersection. By the time Peter's case came to trial, Paula's case
had been concluded, and Peter sought to bar Burr Harbor from denying it was negligent.
The trial court agreed and Burr Harbor sought a writ to reverse the decision of the trial
court.
1. the trial court's decision regarding the jury trial
2. the trial court's decision as to the motion to dismiss
3. the trial court's decision as to Plaintiff's objections to the award
4. the second trial court's decision as to Burr Harbor's negligence