NY Bar Feb Exam: Support Group Forum

[Ineedhelpplease]

I ran out of Adaptibar questions.. I have barbri (have not used at all) but I don't know if I should use their questions.

Anybody run into this issue.

[iwantmybar]

I ran out of adaptibar questions as well and basically answered them again (2400 questions answered)...

I'd kill to get some barbri questions to do

[Ineedhelpplease]

I ran out of adaptibar questions as well and basically answered them again (2400 questions answered)...

I'd kill to get some barbri questions to do

My rational is that I have only been doing adaptibar questions (at about 74% - not great, not horrible) and I have heard that the Barbri questions are different then "real" questions. I don't want to screw up the little confidence I have 10 days out ,I have essays to do that.

[NY_Sea]

I ran out of adaptibar questions as well and basically answered them again (2400 questions answered)...

I'd kill to get some barbri questions to do

My rational is that I have only been doing adaptibar questions (at about 74% - not great, not horrible) and I have heard that the Barbri questions are different then "real" questions. I don't want to screw up the little confidence I have 10 days out ,I have essays to do that.

Smart plan man... Confidence is the biggest variable of this whole thing. Keep a good mindset, and I believe that you'll end up way better. And 74% is good! That's like a 140!

Idk about everyone else, but my plan for this last week is to follow BARBRI, but add a little to it... Every subject they tell me to review, I'm going to at least read/issue spot every essay on that topic in the book, if not outline and then read the answer/rubric.

[iwantmybar]

Hey

I have a bit of trouble regarding that question on Adaptibar (civ pro )

A cyclist, a citizen of State A, sued a State B corporation with its principal place of business in State C that builds and sells bicycles in federal district court in State C. The complaint asserted a single claim under State C products liability law, alleging that the cyclist suffered in excess of $85,000 in damage to person and property when the wheel on his bicycle detached in transit due to a defect in the bicycle's rear axle. The corporation purchased its rear axles from a State A manufacturer. Concerned that any defects in the rear axle may have been the fault of the manufacturer, the corporation wants the manufacturer to be part of the lawsuit.

What is the best course for the corporation's attorneys to follow?

A. Move the court to order that the manufacturer be joined as a required party.
B. Serve a summons and complaint on the manufacturer as a third party defendant.
C. Join the manufacturer as a defendant under the federal interpleader statute.
D. Nothing. The manufacturer cannot be joined in this lawsuit because doing so would destroy the court's diversity jurisdiction.

Correct answer is B. I chose C. Supplemental jurisdiction only apply if diversity is not destroyed right?

Thanks !

[Ineedhelpplease]

Hey

I have a bit of trouble regarding that question on Adaptibar (civ pro )

A cyclist, a citizen of State A, sued a State B corporation with its principal place of business in State C that builds and sells bicycles in federal district court in State C. The complaint asserted a single claim under State C products liability law, alleging that the cyclist suffered in excess of $85,000 in damage to person and property when the wheel on his bicycle detached in transit due to a defect in the bicycle's rear axle. The corporation purchased its rear axles from a State A manufacturer. Concerned that any defects in the rear axle may have been the fault of the manufacturer, the corporation wants the manufacturer to be part of the lawsuit.

What is the best course for the corporation's attorneys to follow?

A. Move the court to order that the manufacturer be joined as a required party.
B. Serve a summons and complaint on the manufacturer as a third party defendant.
C. Join the manufacturer as a defendant under the federal interpleader statute.
D. Nothing. The manufacturer cannot be joined in this lawsuit because doing so would destroy the court's diversity jurisdiction.

Correct answer is B. I chose C. Supplemental jurisdiction only apply if diversity is not destroyed right?

Thanks !

Supplemental Jurisdiction applies only after seeing if the additional claim has its own SMJ (diversity or Fed ?). If not then you apply SJ, and the only limitation I can remember is that it does not apply to plaintiffs in diversity cases if they are trying to assert against a claim against co-citizen (overcome lack of diversity).

Here, State C corp is bringing claim against State A manufacturer (impleader). Theres no diversity issue but even if no SMJ then can bring it in with Supp Jurisdiction bc State C corp is a D (TPP in impleader claim).

[UnfrozenCaveman]

Hey

I have a bit of trouble regarding that question on Adaptibar (civ pro )

A cyclist, a citizen of State A, sued a State B corporation with its principal place of business in State C that builds and sells bicycles in federal district court in State C. The complaint asserted a single claim under State C products liability law, alleging that the cyclist suffered in excess of $85,000 in damage to person and property when the wheel on his bicycle detached in transit due to a defect in the bicycle's rear axle. The corporation purchased its rear axles from a State A manufacturer. Concerned that any defects in the rear axle may have been the fault of the manufacturer, the corporation wants the manufacturer to be part of the lawsuit.

What is the best course for the corporation's attorneys to follow?

A. Move the court to order that the manufacturer be joined as a required party.
B. Serve a summons and complaint on the manufacturer as a third party defendant.
C. Join the manufacturer as a defendant under the federal interpleader statute.
D. Nothing. The manufacturer cannot be joined in this lawsuit because doing so would destroy the court's diversity jurisdiction.

Correct answer is B. I chose C. Supplemental jurisdiction only apply if diversity is not destroyed right?

Thanks !

Supplemental Jurisdiction applies only after seeing if the additional claim has its own SMJ (diversity or Fed ?). If not then you apply SJ, and the only limitation I can remember is that it does not apply to plaintiffs in diversity cases if they are trying to assert against a claim against co-citizen (overcome lack of diversity).

Here, State C corp is bringing claim against State A manufacturer (impleader). Theres no diversity issue but even if no SMJ then can bring it in with Supp Jurisdiction bc State C corp is a D (TPP in impleader claim).

And beyond that, interpleader is for a stakeholder to initiate a lawsuit against 2 or more parties requiring them to litigate a dispute between those parties usually over property rights, e.g. Insurance beneficiaries. You may recall this is the one with a rule based and stature based version. That is not the case here so you can eliminate C.

[NY_Sea]

Hey

I have a bit of trouble regarding that question on Adaptibar (civ pro )

A cyclist, a citizen of State A, sued a State B corporation with its principal place of business in State C that builds and sells bicycles in federal district court in State C. The complaint asserted a single claim under State C products liability law, alleging that the cyclist suffered in excess of $85,000 in damage to person and property when the wheel on his bicycle detached in transit due to a defect in the bicycle's rear axle. The corporation purchased its rear axles from a State A manufacturer. Concerned that any defects in the rear axle may have been the fault of the manufacturer, the corporation wants the manufacturer to be part of the lawsuit.

What is the best course for the corporation's attorneys to follow?

A. Move the court to order that the manufacturer be joined as a required party.
B. Serve a summons and complaint on the manufacturer as a third party defendant.
C. Join the manufacturer as a defendant under the federal interpleader statute.
D. Nothing. The manufacturer cannot be joined in this lawsuit because doing so would destroy the court's diversity jurisdiction.

Correct answer is B. I chose C. Supplemental jurisdiction only apply if diversity is not destroyed right?

Thanks !

Supplemental Jurisdiction applies only after seeing if the additional claim has its own SMJ (diversity or Fed ?). If not then you apply SJ, and the only limitation I can remember is that it does not apply to plaintiffs in diversity cases if they are trying to assert against a claim against co-citizen (overcome lack of diversity).

Here, State C corp is bringing claim against State A manufacturer (impleader). Theres no diversity issue but even if no SMJ then can bring it in with Supp Jurisdiction bc State C corp is a D (TPP in impleader claim).

And beyond that, interpleader is for a stakeholder to initiate a lawsuit against 2 or more parties requiring them to litigate a dispute between those parties usually over property rights, e.g. Insurance beneficiaries. You may recall this is the one with a rule based and stature based version. That is not the case here so you can eliminate C.

Right. It's definitely not an interpleader because the case has already started. A defendant can pretty much always add a TPD they think is going to "share" in the liability.

[iwantmybar]

Thanks you Ineedhelppplease, unfroze caveman and NY_Sea for the insight

[JimmyConway]

I ran out of adaptibar questions as well and basically answered them again (2400 questions answered)...

I'd kill to get some barbri questions to do

My rational is that I have only been doing adaptibar questions (at about 74% - not great, not horrible) and I have heard that the Barbri questions are different then "real" questions. I don't want to screw up the little confidence I have 10 days out ,I have essays to do that.

I was under the impression that a 75% was extremely good on the MBE...

[Ineedhelpplease]

I ran out of adaptibar questions as well and basically answered them again (2400 questions answered)...

I'd kill to get some barbri questions to do

My rational is that I have only been doing adaptibar questions (at about 74% - not great, not horrible) and I have heard that the Barbri questions are different then "real" questions. I don't want to screw up the little confidence I have 10 days out ,I have essays to do that.

I was under the impression that a 75% was extremely good on the MBE...

I honestly don't know.. I have only been able to compare it to other people using Adaptibar (and the 75% only takes into account 90 civil procedure questions that I am at about 48% for) . I hope I can score high enough to be able to get away with not so great essays.

If anybody else is using seperac.. how are you guys using it? I am just using the high priority stuff and am going to try and memorize the rules for those issues.

Stresssinggggggggggggggggg

[UnfrozenCaveman]

Wow, I just now am focusing hard on essays and distinctions and I was freaking out. Like never going to figure out remember these minute points. And then I read some model answers and it feels like they are pulling stuff out of their butt.

[JimmyConway]

I ran out of adaptibar questions as well and basically answered them again (2400 questions answered)...

I'd kill to get some barbri questions to do

My rational is that I have only been doing adaptibar questions (at about 74% - not great, not horrible) and I have heard that the Barbri questions are different then "real" questions. I don't want to screw up the little confidence I have 10 days out ,I have essays to do that.

I was under the impression that a 75% was extremely good on the MBE...

I honestly don't know.. I have only been able to compare it to other people using Adaptibar (and the 75% only takes into account 90 civil procedure questions that I am at about 48% for) . I hope I can score high enough to be able to get away with not so great essays.

If anybody else is using seperac.. how are you guys using it? I am just using the high priority stuff and am going to try and memorize the rules for those issues.

Stresssinggggggggggggggggg

If you're scoring above 75%, you have absolutely no reason to stress. An 80% MBE is auto-pass as long as you write SOMETHING coherent on the essays.

[jbarl1]

So I took the simulated practice exam in the Kaplan New York workbook only to realize that they don't provide answers. That's not a problem for the essays because I can look up the answers on the NY bar site, but there are also no answers for the multiple choice questions. Am I crazy and just not finding them in my materials. I bought the materials second hand, so am I missing a book? Does anyone using Kaplan know where I can find the NY MC answers? The essays are from the 2010 exam if that helps you know which MC question set I took. Thanks.

[northwood]

Wow, I just now am focusing hard on essays and distinctions and I was freaking out. Like never going to figure out remember these minute points. And then I read some model answers and it feels like they are pulling stuff out of their butt.

I took and passed the July '14 Bar Exam and I can tell you that there were a few essay response questions (i.e essay 2, question 1) where I could figure out the big idea of what was going on, made up my own rule (or variation thereof) using the pertinent facts and what I thought made the most sense( i.e. yeah, it seemed it should go that way, so lets make it so it should go that way), then applied the facts to the rule.


Now, I was able to conclude what the general area of law was, but not so much the minute rule that they were asking.

My point is this: when in doubt use the facts as clues as to what is going on, and whatever you do apply the facts to your response.

Every sentence in the fact pattern is there for a reason, so you should be using all of the facts to answer the sub question.

I must also add: I passed the exam.(AND my MBE was not "autopass", either)

[Carly12]

Hi guys, I have a silly question about wills. Do the spouse elective share rules also apply if the deceased died intestate?

[NM7]

Carly12 - I was just thinking about this yesterday.

Since the elective share is well, basically, elective, then the surviving spouse could elect to use it if necessary (i.e., when he or she has been royally screwed with respect to their inheritance). BUT, if the decedent spouse dies intestate, there won't be any need to go for the elective share, because the surviving spouse is already the first to receive under the intestate succession. They get all of the estate if there's no children and if there are children, they get 50K outright PLUS half of the remaining balance. Also, if the entire state is less than 50K, they take it all regardless if there's children.

EDIT: I haven't read anything that said they couldn't go for the elective share if the decedent dies intestate (barbri materials didn't even go there - please correct me if I'm wrong guys!) but the elective share in this case seems unnecessary given that they are the first priority when the decedent dies intestate.

The whole point of the elective share is to protest how the decedent chose to provide (or not provide) for the surviving spouse under the will. If the decedent spouse dies without a will, the surviving spouse would actually be in a better position than any other distributee. So, no need for the elective share.

[Ineedhelpplease]

Hi guys, I have a silly question about wills. Do the spouse elective share rules also apply if the deceased died intestate?

Hope this helps,

Under the intestacy statute, for decedents dying partially or totally intestate,
• if the decedent is survived by a spouse and children, the surviving spouse receives $50,000 and one-half of the residue after nettng out debts, administration expenses, and funeral expenses.
• If the decedent is survived by a spouse and no children, the entire residue passes to the surviving spouse.
• If there is no surviving spouse, the children inherit the entire estate.

[starryski]

Hi guys, I have a silly question about wills. Do the spouse elective share rules also apply if the deceased died intestate?

Hope this helps,

Under the intestacy statute, for decedents dying partially or totally intestate,
• if the decedent is survived by a spouse and children, the surviving spouse receives $50,000 and one-half of the residue after nettng out debts, administration expenses, and funeral expenses.
• If the decedent is survived by a spouse and no children, the entire residue passes to the surviving spouse.
• If there is no surviving spouse, the children inherit the entire estate.

it applies only when a spouse dies with a will. it protects the living spouse from disinheritance. if the spouse died without a will then the living one isn't disinherited.

[flashforward2]

Best of luck to everyone in our last week. It's been rough--there's so much to know--but I'm just going to trust that my preparation has been sufficient and I can pull out a W. Let's do this!

[starryski]

Hi guys, I have a silly question about wills. Do the spouse elective share rules also apply if the deceased died intestate?

Hope this helps,

Under the intestacy statute, for decedents dying partially or totally intestate,
• if the decedent is survived by a spouse and children, the surviving spouse receives $50,000 and one-half of the residue after nettng out debts, administration expenses, and funeral expenses.
• If the decedent is survived by a spouse and no children, the entire residue passes to the surviving spouse.
• If there is no surviving spouse, the children inherit the entire estate.

it applies only when a spouse dies with a will. it protects the living spouse from disinheritance. if the spouse died without a will then the living one isn't disinherited.

just looked at my notes
the right of election can be exercised by a surviving spouse regardless of whether the decdentd left a will

to determine it, the intestate estate is increased by the value of any non-probate assets passing upon the decedent's death; meaning any "testamentary substitutes" passing to anyone including those passing to the surviving spouse upon the testator's death.

[z0rk]

Hi guys, I have a silly question about wills. Do the spouse elective share rules also apply if the deceased died intestate?

Hope this helps,

Under the intestacy statute, for decedents dying partially or totally intestate,
• if the decedent is survived by a spouse and children, the surviving spouse receives $50,000 and one-half of the residue after nettng out debts, administration expenses, and funeral expenses.
• If the decedent is survived by a spouse and no children, the entire residue passes to the surviving spouse.
• If there is no surviving spouse, the children inherit the entire estate.

it applies only when a spouse dies with a will. it protects the living spouse from disinheritance. if the spouse died without a will then the living one isn't disinherited.

just looked at my notes
the right of election can be exercised by a surviving spouse regardless of whether the decdentd left a will

to determine it, the intestate estate is increased by the value of any non-probate assets passing upon the decedent's death; meaning any "testamentary substitutes" passing to anyone including those passing to the surviving spouse upon the testator's death.

If you guys are taking BarBri please look at § VII(A)(1)(a) in the Wills outline in the New York green book. It says in part "a surviving spouse's intestate share is always going to be larger than the elective share--unless the augmented estate includes substantial testamentary substitutes." <-- based upon that, it sounds like a spouse could opt for an elective share intestate but its an unlikely scenario. I can definitely imagine getting that scenario on a law school exam, but have a harder time seeing it on the bar based upon the essays we have written so far.

EDIT: Also look at pg 54 "The surviving spouse has a right of election even if the decedent left no will."

[iwantmybar]

I got the occasion to do a couple of questions on the kaplan Q bank MBE, holy shit they are way harder than the ones on Adaptibar

[jbarl1]

I got the occasion to do a couple of questions on the kaplan Q bank MBE, holy shit they are way harder than the ones on Adaptibar

Has anyone else been able to make this comparison? It would make me feel a lot more confident if the Kaplan questions were harder than what I might see on the actual exam

[iwantmybar]

I got the occasion to do a couple of questions on the kaplan Q bank MBE, holy shit they are way harder than the ones on Adaptibar

Has anyone else been able to make this comparison? It would make me feel a lot more confident if the Kaplan questions were harder than what I might see on the actual exam

Well, to be very precise about what I feel, I answered 2700 questions on Adaptibar and my average is like 73'ish.

Now i'm training with the Kaplan Q bank and holy shit it is hard as hell, facts patterns are very longs, 3 answers out of 4 look good etc etc. I just did a 50 questions set and scored 48%, god.

I think i'm going back to adaptibar, this shit is not good for the confidence.