CL727 LEGAL ANALYSIS AND WRITING

Module 9 Assignment: Introductory Paragraph, Question Presented, and Facts

Your assignment is to write the Introductory Paragraph, Question Presented, and Facts section of an
interoffice legal memorandum. At the end of your document, you should attach case briefs for each of
the three cases provided below, including the full case names at the beginning of each brief in correct
Bluebook citation format. The case briefs will not count toward the two-page limit.

Make sure to follow the format instructions. Use the grading rubric checklist, found at the end of this
document, when proofreading and editing your work.

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To: Associate

From: Senior Partner

Date: [Most Recent August]

Re: Ms. Barbara Cortillo’s Potential Trespass Claim

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Ms. Barbara Cortillo has retained our law firm to determine whether she has a claim against Debra
Gaston. Ms. Cortillo believes that Gaston trespassed onto Ms. Cortillo’s land. I met with Ms.
Cortillo last week and she decided that she is only interested in a trespass claim and only if success
is likely.

Ms. Cortillo’s property is located in the Second District, California Court of Appeal. After my
interview with her, I did some research and found that the following three cases apply: Miller v.
National Broadcasting Company (a California case), Baugh v. CBS, Inc. (a federal case), and
Mangini v. Aerojet-General Corporation (a California case). I did not make a note of the citations.
Please access these cases on Westlaw. There are two Mangini case decisions that come up in a
Westlaw search: one from 1991 (from the California Court of Appeal) and one from 1996 (from the
California Supreme Court). Please use the 1991 Mangini decision. Use only these three cases to
analyze Ms. Cortillo’s potential claim. Do not conduct any other research or address any other
potential claims or damages.

Ms. Cortillo stated the following facts during my interview with her.

Two large mansions known as Casa Cortillo and Paradiso sit in the foothills east of Santa Barbara. Casa
Cortillo’s fourteen acres are adjacent to the public road, which marks that estate’s north boundary.
Paradiso’s seventeen acres lie to the south of Casa Cortillo. The only access to Paradiso is by way of a
gated road on a private easement along the east boundary of Casa Cortillo. Barbara Cortillo owns and
lives at Casa Cortillo, but the ownership and occupancy of Paradiso are uncertain.
 Debra Gaston is a successful photojournalist who specializes in taking unauthorized pictures of well-
known persons. Three weeks ago, Gaston’s key contact at the nation’s largest tabloid gave her a tip that
a prominent senator, Alexis Madison, was engaged in an extramarital relationship with a 26-year-old
man, nicknamed “Cowboy.”

After researching the story for some time, Gaston learned on the last day of June that the senator and
Cowboy would be together at Paradiso for the Fourth of July holiday. On July 1, Gaston rented a piloted
helicopter to fly her over Paradiso and the surrounding area to get a good look at the property. She saw
that the only vantage point for good photographs was a cleared knoll on the south edge of Casa Cortillo.

On July 3, Gaston visited Cortillo, carrying a forged letter of introduction from an editor of Nature
magazine. Gaston then explained what was stated in the letter: that she was seeking to photograph an
endangered bird that nests in the Santa Barbara foothills. She asked permission to enter Casa Cortillo the
next day with her photography equipment for that purpose. Cortillo gave Gaston permission.

The next day, July 4, Gaston arrived at 9:00 a.m., paid a courtesy visit to Cortillo, and then hiked with
her gear to the knoll. She began surveillance of Paradiso at 9:50 a.m. and at various times of the day
took pictures of the senator. She took a few pictures of the front door of the mansion, about a dozen
pictures of Cowboy walking in the rose garden and by the pool, and several pictures of the senator and
Cowboy in the pool, on the deck, and engaged in sexual activity. Gaston thanked Ms. Cortillo for her
authorization to photograph as she left Casa Cortillo that evening.

A few weeks later, at the time of a major political convention, the nation’s largest tabloid published
several of the more intimate pictures of the senator and Cowboy. Ms. Cortillo’s neighbor saw the
pictures and asked Ms. Cortillo about them. Ms. Cortillo is extremely upset about the situation.

Module 9 Assignment Grading Rubric

This assignment is worth 130 points.

Assignment Not
Level III Level II Level I
Criteria Present
Not
Level III Max Points Level II Max Points Level I Max Points
Criteria 1 Present
Points: 10 Points: 7 Points: 3
0 Points
Follows Meets all of the following: Meets some of the following: Meets few of the
Directions ● Completes the correct ● Completes the correct following:
task task ● Completes the
● Stays within scope ● Stays within scope correct task
● Includes the three ● Includes the three ● Stays within scope
required case briefs required case briefs ● Includes the three
required case briefs
Not
Level III Max Points Level II Max Points Level I Max Points
Criteria 2 Present
Points: 10 Points: 7 Points: 3
0 Points
Assignment Not
Level III Level II Level I
Criteria Present
Uses Correct Follows all assignment Follows some assignment Follows few
Format format instructions format instructions assignment format
instructions
Not
Level III Max Points Level II Max Points Level I Max Points
Criteria 3 Present
Points: 10 Points: 7 Points: 3
0 Points
Mechanics Meets all of the following: Meets some of the following: Meets few of the
● Uses correct: ● Uses correct: following:
● Spelling ● Spelling ● Uses correct:
● Punctuation ● Punctuation ● Spelling
● Grammar ● Grammar ● Punctuation
● Parties are correctly ● Parties are correctly ● Grammar
“tagged” “tagged” ● Parties are correctly
● Quotations are ● Quotations are “tagged”
appropriately and appropriately and ● Quotations are
correctly included without correctly included without appropriately and
overuse overuse correctly included
without overuse
Not
Level III Max Points Level II Max Points Level I Max Points
Criteria 4 Present
Points: 20 Points: 14 Points: 7
0 Points
Citation Meets all of the following: Meets some of the following: Meets few of the
Use and ● Places full case citation ● Places full case citation at following:
Format at top of each case brief top of each case brief ● Places full case
● Uses correct Bluebook ● Uses correct Bluebook citation at top of
citation format citation format each case brief
● Uses correct
Bluebook citation
format

Not
Level III Max Points Level II Max Points Level I Max Points
Criteria 5 Present
Points: 10 Points: 7 Points: 3
0 Points
Tone and Meets all of the following: Meets some of the following: Meets few of the
Writing Style ● Professional tone ● Professional tone following:
● Not too casual ● Not too casual ● Professional tone
● Not too stuffy; no legalese ● Not too stuffy; no legalese ● Not too casual
● Correct and effective use ● Correct and effective use ● Not too stuffy; no
of words of words legalese
● Sentences are not too ● Sentences are not too ● Correct and
“choppy” or long “choppy” or long effective use of
● Sentences are clear and ● Sentences are clear and words
understandable understandable ● Sentences are not
● Information is not ● Information is not too “choppy” or long
redundant redundant ● Sentences are clear
● Avoids “throat clearing” ● Avoids “throat clearing” and understandable
Assignment Not
Level III Level II Level I
Criteria Present
● Does not personalize ● Does not personalize ● Information is not
writing writing redundant
● Avoids “throat
clearing”
● Does not
personalize writing
Not
Level III Max Points Level II Max Points Level I Max Points
Criteria 6 Present
Points: 20 Points: 14 Points: 7
0 Points
Introductory Meets all of the following: Meets some of the following: Meets few of the
Paragraph ● Clearly states the task ● Clearly states the task following:
● Identifies the parties ● Identifies the parties ● Clearly states the
task
● Identifies the parties
Not
Level III Max Points Level II Max Points Level I Max Points
Criteria 7 Present
Points: 20 Points: 14 Points: 7
0 Points
Question Meets all of the following: Meets some of the following: Meets few of the
Presented ● States the question ● States the question following:
immediately following the immediately following the ● States the question
introductory paragraph introductory paragraph immediately
● Identifies the legal ● Identifies the legal following the
question(s) question(s) introductory
● Is clear, concise, and ● Is clear, concise, and paragraph
precise precise ● Identifies the legal
● Enumerates questions if ● Enumerates questions if question(s)
more than one more than one ● Is clear, concise,
and precise
● Enumerates
questions if more
than one
Not
Level III Max Points Level II Max Points Level I Max Points
Criteria 8 Present
Points: 30 Points: 20 Points: 10
0 Points
Facts Meets all of the following: Meets some of the following: Meets few of the
Recitation ● Introduces the parties ● Introduces the parties following:
● States facts in ● States facts in ● Introduces the
chronological order chronological order parties
● States facts in narrative ● States facts in narrative ● States facts in
form form chronological order
● States facts in drafter’s ● States facts in drafter’s ● States facts in
own words own words narrative form
Assignment Not
Level III Level II Level I
Criteria Present
● Includes all necessary ● Includes all necessary ● States facts in
facts facts drafter’s own words
● States facts clearly and ● States facts clearly and ● Includes all
concisely concisely necessary facts
● Abbreviates only as ● Abbreviates only as ● States facts clearly
appropriate appropriate and concisely
● Does not conclude, ● Does not conclude, ● Abbreviates only as
characterize, editorialize, characterize, editorialize, appropriate
opine, or argue opine, or argue ● Does not conclude,
characterize,
editorialize, opine,
or argue
Max Points 130 90 39 0

Min Points 91 40 1