California Bar Examination

1 California Bar Examination Essay Questions and Selected Answers July 2018 . The State Bar Of California Committee of Bar Examiners/Office of Admissions 180 Howard Street San Francisco, CA 94105-1639 (415) 538-2300. 845 S. Figueroa Street Los Angeles, CA 90017-2515 (213) 765-1500. ESSAY QUESTIONS AND SELECTED ANSWERS. JULY 2018 . California BAR Examination . This publication contains the five essay questions from the July 2018 California Bar Examination and two selected answers for each question. The answers were assigned high grades and were written by applicants who passed the Examination after one read.

2 The answers were produced as submitted by the applicant, except that minor corrections in spelling and punctuation were made for ease in reading. They are reproduced here with the consent of the authors. Question Number Subject 1. Contracts 2. Evidence 3. Professional Responsibility 4. Community Property 5. Constitutional Law ESSAY Examination INSTRUCTIONS. Your answer should demonstrate your ability to analyze the facts in the question, to tell the difference between material facts and immaterial facts, and to discern the points of law and fact upon which the case turns.

3 Your answer should show that you know and understand the pertinent principles and theories of law, their qualifications and limitations, and their relationships to each other. Your answer should evidence your ability to apply the law to the given facts and to reason in a logical, lawyer-like manner from the premises you adopt to a sound conclusion. Do not merely show that you remember legal principles. Instead, try to demonstrate your proficiency in using and applying them. If your answer contains only a statement of your conclusions, you will receive little or no credit.

4 State fully the reasons that support your conclusions, and discuss all points thoroughly. Your answer should be complete, but you should not volunteer information or discuss legal doctrines that are not pertinent to the solution of the problem. Unless a question expressly asks you to use California law, you should answer according to legal theories and principles of general application. QUESTION 1. In January, Stan, a farmer, agreed in a valid written contract to sell to Best Sauce- Maker Company (Best), 5,000 bushels of tomatoes on July 1, at $100 per bushel, payable upon delivery.

5 On May 15, Stan sent Best the following e-mail: Heavy rains in March-May slowed tomato ripening. Delivery will be two weeks late.. Best replied: Okay.. On May 22, an employee of Delta Bank (Delta), where Best and Stan banked, told Best that rains had damaged Stan's tomato crops and that Stan would be unable to fulfill all his contracts. Best called Stan and asked about the banker's comment. Stan said: Won't know until June 10 whether I'll have enough tomatoes for all my contracts.. Best replied: We need a firm commitment by May 27, or we'll buy the tomatoes elsewhere.

6 Stan did not contact Best by May 27. On June 3, Best contracted to buy the 5,000. bushels it needed from Agro-Farm for $110 per bushel. On June 6, Stan told Best: Worry was for nothing. I'll be able to deliver all 5,000 bushels.. Best replied: Too late. We made other arrangements. You owe us $50,000.. Concerned about quickly finding another buyer, Stan sold the 5,000 bushels to a vegetable wholesaler for $95 per bushel. Stan sued Best for breach of contract. Best countersued Stan for breach of contract. Has Stan and/or Best breached the contract? If so, what damages might be recovered, if any, by each of them?

7 Discuss. QUESTION 1: SELECTED ANSWER A. Applicable Law Contracts for goods are governed by Title 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code. All other contracts are governed by common law. Goods Goods are qualified as movable, tangible objects. As this contract is for bushels of tomatoes, which are movable, tangible objects, this contract will be governed by the UCC. Merchants The UCC additionally has special rules for merchants. A merchant is someone who regularly deals with the types of goods that are the subject matter of the contract, someone who has special knowledge of such subject matter, or a business person involved in the transaction.

8 This contract is a contract between Best, a sauce making corporation, and Stan, a farmer, who appears to be a commercial farmer, but even if he is not, he would have special knowledge of the goods involved, and therefore both parties qualify as merchants, and the UCC rules for Merchants will apply. Possible Breaches of Contract Valid Contract In order to have a valid contract there must be an offer with clear and definite terms, acceptance, consideration, and no defenses to contract. Here, the facts indicate, that Stan and Best have entered into a valid contract.

9 There appears to have clearly been an offer and acceptance. The only essential terms under the UCC are parties, subject matter, and quantity, but this contract also included price and timing. Both have exchanged valuable consideration, tomatoes for money, and as it's a valid contract, there should be no defenses to formation. Anticipatory Repudiation Anticipatory Repudiation is when one party to a contract clearly and unambiguously informs the other that they will not or cannot perform the performance required by the contract. Upon an anticipatory repudiation, the non-repudiating party may either (i) treat the repudiation as a breach and sue immediately, (ii) treat the contract as rescinded, (iii).

10 Suspend performance until the repudiating party indeed performs, (iii) or wait and sue when a breach occurs. Best will argue that Stan repudiated his contract when he sent Best the May 15th email saying Delivery will be two weeks late. While under the common law, a time is of the essence clause is not typically enforced as a material breach of contract unless this has been specified when the contract was formed, the UCC requires Perfect Tender, which applies to goods, quantity and time of delivery. The UCC does not allow for substantial performance unless under an installment contract, which this is not.