Set out in Section III of this handout is a fact pattern dealing with personal jurisdiction issues. The problem is designed to be analyzed by your group as a collaborative effort. Your work on the project and my assessment of that work both be on the group level.

I have several goals for this project. First, it should allow you to review and use the personal jurisdiction materials that we have been studying for the past several weeks. Second, the project lets you practice working together in a group to solve a problem. My experience in practice is that much of the analysis that goes on is done in group settings. Third, the exercise will let you practice problem-solving and analytical skills that should be useful to you both in practice and in terms of exam taking.

Each group will receive a grade for the project, a + (plus), ?+ (check plus), ? (check), ?- (check minus), or a - (minus). The grade will be used as part of the end of the semester evaluation for class participation and group projects. As you will recall, participation and projects have the potential to raise or lower your grade for the semester by .25 of a point.

You should assume that your group are members of a small law firm. You are located in Kent, a fictional fifty-first state that has been created along the east coast of the United States. Your group's job is to take the information supplied to you by a fictional client and develop a presentation setting forth your pitch to the client concerning personal jurisdiction. You should not worry about whether the client has a viable claim under Kent tort law. Your analysis and client presentation should be limited solely to whether the client can sue the defendant she wants to sue in Kent.

Your presentation will take two forms. First, your group must submit a written response to the client setting forth the sum and substance of your position. The written response should be no more than 3-5 pages (double spaced) in length. It should summarize your group's conclusions as to whether the potential defendant is subject to jurisdiction in Kent and the bases for your opinion. This written report must be submitted at the beginning of class on Monday, September 16, 2002.

The second portion of the project is for your group to meet with me (playing the role of the client) to discuss your recommendation. After looking at the class schedule most you follow, I set up a number of one-half hour blocks of time from September 17, 2002 through September 20, 2002 for these group meetings. The times I set aside will be listed on a schedule I will make available in class and post outside my office door. Meeting times will be selected by your group on a first come, first served basis. If your group has a conflict and cannot make any of the scheduled times, please let me know and we can work out some alternate time.

If you have any questions concerning logistics after reviewing this handout, please let me know.

When working on this project, you should assume the following to be true:

1. Your fictional state Kent is located on the east coast of the United States.

2. You need not do any additional research. All the law that you need is in your class materials. You can do extra research if you want. But, I stress again, you DO NOT NEED TO DO SO.

3. You can assume that everything your potential client tells you is true. In other words, despite ethical and pleading rules that may be to the contrary, you need not do any independent factual investigation in order to advise the potential client.

4. You do not need to worry about anything with respect to substantive tort law.

5. Kent's legislature has enacted the following long arm statute, which the Kent Supreme Court has not yet interpreted:
   A Court may exercise personal jurisdiction over a person, who acts directly or through an agent, as to a cause of action in law or equity arising from the person's
   1. transacting any business in this state;

   2. contracting to supply services or things in this state;

   3. causing tortious injury by an act or omission in this state;

   4. causing tortious injury in this state by an act or omission outside this state if he or she regularly does or solicits business, or engages in any other persistent course of conduct, or derives substantial revenue from goods used or consumed or services rendered, in this state;

   5. having an interest in, using or possessing real property in this state;

   6. contracting to insure any person, property or risk located within this state at the time of contracting;

   7. maintaining a domicile in this state while a party to a personal or marital relationship out of which arises a claim for divorce, alimony, property settlement, parentage of a child, child support or child custody; or the commission of any act giving rise to such a claim; or

   8. having been subject to the exercise of personal jurisdiction of a court of the state which has resulted in an order of alimony, custody, child support or property settlement, notwithstanding the subsequent departure of one of the original parties from the state, if the action involves modification of such order or orders and the moving party resides in the state, or if the action involves enforcement of such order notwithstanding the domicile of the moving party.

Your law firm received the following letter in the mail:

Dear Lawyers:

My name is Mike Allen and I am a lifelong resident of Kent. I am a certified hypnotist. Several weeks ago, I fell while getting into a shower at a hotel in California. I was at the hotel to attend the national conference of the American Counsel of Hypnotists, of which I am a member. The hotel is called the Manor. I write to seek your advice as to whether I can sue Manor in Kent.

I will tell you what I know about the hotel and how I came to be there. I have learned that Manor is a corporation organized under the laws of Delaware. Its principal place of business is in Anaheim, California, only a few miles away from Disneyland. Trying to capitalize on its proximity to Mickey Mouse and the gang, Manor regularly solicits conferences to use its facilities. For example, it has hosted conferences of such national groups as the American Lung Association, the National Rifle Association and the American Association of Orthodontists.

I also have learned that the Manor does not have any place of business in Kent and does not have any business agents in this state. In addition, the Manor does not advertise in Kent, and never has as far as I know. However, I have discovered that the Manor has certain direct billing arrangements with several Kent companies whereby these companies' employees can direct bill their rooms to the corporation. I think that the Manor has two or three such relationships with Kent based corporations.

The American Counsel of Hypnotists, or the Counsel as we hypnotists refer to it, first held a conference at the Manor in 2001. I did not attend that conference. However, I know for a fact that two residents of Kent went to the conference and stayed at the hotel. The 2001 conference went well. Shortly thereafter, the manager of the Manor called the Counsel's Executive Director at the Counsel's offices in Washington, D.C. and asked it the Counsel would be interested in holding the 2002 conference at the Manor. After some negotiations, the Counsel agreed to hold the conference at the Manor. As part of the deal, the Manor agreed to make a block of rooms available for Counsel members during the conference. Attendees would pay for their own rooms with personal credit cards.

The Counsel made two mailing to its members, including me, concerning the 2002 conference. In the first mailing, the Counsel included a Manor pre-registration form that the hotel had provided. I could have used that form to register for a room at the hotel. However, I didn't use the form because I wasn't sure if I was going to go. I decided to go when I got the second mailing from the Counsel. The second mailing was closer to the date of the conference and did not contain a card to mail to the hotel. Instead, this time the Counsel gave the Manor's telephone number. I never did receive anything in the mail directly from the Manor.

In any event, after I got the Counsel's second mailing I called the Manor and registered for a room during the conference. I spoke with someone at the Manor who took my reservation, my credit card number and my address and phone number. This all led me to my stay at the hotel when I fell in the shower.

I really hope you can help me.

Mike Allen