10-23

Case Brief

The Piper case

Your supervising attorney tells you that she read about a case that was discussed in a law journal article which is relevant to the Piper case. The name of the case she saw is Noreastco Door & Millwork, Inc. v. Vajradhatu of Massachusetts, Inc., 1999 Mass.App.Ct.Div. 239 (1999). She asks you to prepare a case brief of Noreastco Door & Millwork, Inc. v. Vajradhatu of Mass., Inc.

The facts of the Piper case are as follows:

The client, Michael Piper, is a subcontractor that was hired by a contractor, John Millway, to do plumbing work at the home of Dr. Wendy Warren. Dr. Warren had hired Millway to do some renovations in her basement. She did not have a written contract with Millway. She did, however, pay him $16,000 in two installments. Millway had a partner, Steven Sillman. Millway and Sillman terminated their partnership when the renovation work in Dr. Warren’s basement was half done. Dr. Warren continued working with Sillman and never paid Millway another dime. Millway did not pay Piper from the money that Dr. Warren paid him. The client, Piper, tells you that he was never paid and is demanding payment from Dr. Warren. He wants to put a lien on her home. Dr. Warren never had a written contract with Piper.

Instructions: Run your timer in Clio as you complete the following assignment:

Locate the Noreastco case on WestlawNext and drop a copy of it into the Piper case file in Clio. Then prepare a case brief that includes the following components: Case name, citation, parties, procedural history, key facts, issue(s), discussion/analysis, holding, and disposition. Please use the case brief format located on theLegal Writing Resources page as a template.

Your case brief should be 2 or more pages in length, double spaced. You should be sure that your legal citations are in correct Bluebook format. Be sure to implement the writing strategies you have learned from The Elements of Style when writing your case brief.

Before submitting, you will need to ensure that your assignment is “law office ready” by having it reviewed and signed off by a Writing Workshop instructor. Please see the weekly announcements for more information.  You will also need to password protect your document with your student ID number before dropping it into the Clio matter file.

Check the rubric to see how you will be assessed on this assignment before you begin. Drop your completed, password protected brief into the matter file in Clio.  Take a screenshot of the brief in Clio and submit it along with your brief to the dropbox by Sunday, 11:59PM.