Plain English Exercises 8-9

Exercise 8

1. The stock exchange suspended trading in the defendant corporation's stock at 10:17 the next morning.
2. Neither the depositor nor anyone else notified the bank that the ATM card had been stolen.
3. You must fill in the Dept. of Agriculture Form 9-2018 and bring it in to any USDA branch office before you can plant genetically modified sugar beet seed in an open field.
4. After 180 days, either party can terminate this agreement.
   
5. The officer found two kilograms of an unidentified white powder in the spare tire well of Defendant's Volvo sedan.
6. When you donate appreciated assets, you can deduct their fair market value at the time of the gift, thus avoiding the capital gains tax.

Exercise 9

1. In a tort case, an actor is not liable for harm that is different from the harms whose risks made the actors conduct tortious. An actor is also not liable for harm when the tortious aspect of the actor's conduct did not increase the risk of harm. However, an actor is liable when his tortious conduct causes an unusual amount or type of damage to a person due to the person's preexisting physical or mental condition.
2. In sentencing, the purpose of the law ought to be to punish within a range of severity sufficient to the gravity of the offense and the blameworthiness of the offenders. Where there is a realistic prospect of success, the law should try to serve the goals of offender rehabilitation, general deterrence, incapacitation of dangerous offenders, and restoration of crime victims and communities. However, the law should not impose sentences more severe than necessary to achieve these goals.
3. For class-gift purposes, a child produced by in vitro fertilization is treated as the child of the husband and wife, regardless of whether the child was genetically formed by both of the spouses or one of the spouses and a third party.
   

Plain English Exercises 4-6

Exercise 4

1. Three interrelated reasons could motivate a person to make a significant give to a charity.
2. First, the person may simply desire to aid the charity.
3. Second, the person may wish to avoid the capital gains tax by donating an asset that has sharply increased in value since they acquired it.
4. Finally, an exceedingly wealthy person might donate to reduce the amount of estate taxes to be paid upon their death.
5. Tax lawyers and estate planners should show their clients the many ways that giving to charity can also reduce their taxes.

Exercise 5

One of the primary obligations an agent owes their principal is to act with the normal degree of care, competence, and diligence exercised by similar professionals in similar situations. If the agent has special skills and/or knowledge, that must be taken into account when determining whether the agent has acted with due diligence. Also, the agent can only act within the authority granted to them by their principal. An agent must comply with all lawful instructions from the principal (or persons designated by the the principal) about their behavior on the principal's behalf.

Exercise 6

1. An insurance claims agent should not lightly reject a policy holder's facially valid claim.
2. Rather, the claims agent should carefully consider the possible consequences.
3. Every contract contains an implied term that the parties have a duty of good faith and fair dealing, and insurance contracts are no exception.
4. When a claims agent bluntly refuses to provide a reasoned explanation for failing to pay on a facially valid claim, it leads us to question that agent's good faith.
5. The insurance company must provide a coherent response to a facially valid claim to fulfill one of its good faith requirements.
6. The claim's agent continued use of the "stonewall" tactic for 10 months leads us to infer that the agent intended to stall until the policy holder capitulated or hired a lawyer.

Plain English Exercises, 2-3

Exercise 2

1. The doctor created a restrictive trust to control how his art collection could be displayed after his death, hoping to keep everything exactly as it was during his lifetime.
2. Concerning the enormous charitable gift deduction claimed by the taxpayer: since she failed to submit an appraiser's report of the donated bronze sculpture, we propose to disallow the deduction under the Revenue Department's standard operating procedure.
3. The plaintiff is seeking relief similar to a mandatory injunction; before the merger of law and equity, such relief could only be granted by Chancery.
4. No legal remedy is available now because the statute of limitations has run.
5. From the affidavits filed by plaintiff and defendants about the cross-motions for summary judgement, we have concluded that there are contested issues of fact. Therefore, no summary judgement can be issued at present.
6. To promote judicial economy, we submit to the court that it should consolidate all nine civil actions, both for discovery now and for trial later.

Exercise 3

1. Under the terms of the copyright license...
2. When the escrow closes...
3. Mandatory injunctive relief is inappropriate here...
4. After her release from prison, she was confined at home for at least six months.
5. Undoubtedly His Honor is required to recuse himself.
6. The action was barred because the statue of limitations' period had expired.
7. The Court of Appeal must consider whether...
8. Until the plans are approved by the design review committee, the homeowner association rules prohibit construction.
9. Most of the time, the insurance adjuster will deny the claim at first.
10. An attorney can be professionally disciplined for suing without a good faith belief in the legal and factual basis of the claim. Both the client and attorney can be subject to litigation sanctions as well.

Plain English Exercise 1

Textbook: Plain English for Lawyers, Fifth Edition by Richard C. Wydick

Chapter 2, Exercise 1:

1. The majority opinion gives three reasons for rejecting the Supreme Court's approach in it's earlier decisions on the Sixth Amendment's Confrontation Clause.
2. Erickson has moved to sever his case from those against Orrick and Sims and try it seperately.
3. When settling a client's claim, a lawyer must not offer or agree to restrict their own right to practice law. This includes the right to represent or act on behalf of other persons.
4. In Brown v. Board of Educuation of Topeka, the United States Supreme Court concluded that the system of "separate but equal" violated the Fourteenth Amendment.