Submit a case brief for the statute of limitations issue involving Doe v. Roman Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles (2016) 247 Cal.App.4th 953 [202 Cal.Rptr.3d 414]. You should be able locate the case using Westlaw, Lexis, or findlaw.com
Case brief should be written using the IRAC method,
Briefing Cases–The FIRAC (or IRAC) Method
When briefing a case, your goal is to boil the court’s holding down to the essence of the decision. Briefs are used to help prepare counsel for oral argument before a court or in preparation of preparing written Points and Authorities that will be submitted in conjunction with a motion.
When “briefing” a case, you summarize KEY facts; the problem the court faced (the issue); the relevant law the court used to solve it (the rule); how the court applied the rule to the facts (the application or “analysis”); and the outcome (the conclusion). You will then be ready to not only discuss the case, but to compare and contrast it to other cases involving a similar issue. Before attempting to “brief” a case, read the case at least once.
Briefs are broken down into several parts, including facts, issue, rule, analysis, and conclusion. Hence, the acronym “FIRAC”. Some use the acronym IRAC, but I prefer FIRAC as it demonstrates the need to start out with key facts. Each part of the brief should begin with a highlighted header, as demonstrated below.
FACTS: Start with a CAPTION THAT STATES THE CASE NAME, CITATION, AND ISSUING COURT. You should then write a brief synopsis of the facts as the court found them to be. Include only facts that are essential to the court’s decision, not minutiae. Eliminate facts that are not relevant to the court’s analysis. For example, a business’s street address is probably not relevant to the court’s decision of the issue of whether the business that sold a defective product is liable for the resulting injuries to the plaintiff. It should also include a brief procedural history, including what court authored the opinion. The United States Supreme Court? The California Court of Appeal? The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals? (Hint: Check under the title of the case: The Court and year of the decision will be given). What was the decision(s) below? Did the lower court issue the decision following a court trial, jury trial, or motion for summary judgment?
ISSUE(S): What is the question presented to the court? Usually, only one issue will be discussed, but sometimes there will be more. What are the parties fighting about, and what are they asking the court to decide? For example, in the case of the assaulted customer, the issue for a trial court to decide might be whether the business had a duty to the customer to provide security patrols. The issue should be stated in the form of a question.
RULE(S):
Determine what the relevant rules of law are that the court uses to make its decision. These rules will be identified and discussed by the court. For example, in the case of the assaulted customer, the relevant rule of law is that a property owner’s duty to prevent harm to invitees is determined by balancing the foreseeability of the harm against the burden of preventive measures. There may be more than one relevant rule of law to a case: for example, in a negligence case in which the defendant argues that the plaintiff assumed the risk of harm, the relevant rules of law could be the elements of negligence, and the definition of “assumption of risk” as a defense. Don’t just simply list the cause of action, such as “negligence” as a rule of law: What rule must the court apply to the facts to determine the outcome?
ANALYSIS: This may be the most important portion of the brief. The court will have examined the facts in light of the rule, and probably considered all “sides” and arguments presented to it. How courts apply the rule to the facts and analyze the case must be understood in order to properly predict outcomes in future cases involving the same issue. What does the court consider to be a relevant fact given the rule of law? How does the court interpret the rule: for example, does the court consider monetary costs of providing security patrols in weighing the burden of preventive measures? Does the court imply that if a business is in a dangerous area, then it should be willing to bear a higher cost for security? Resist the temptation to merely repeat what the court said in analyzing the facts: what does it mean to you? Summarize the court’s rationale in your own words. If you encounter a word that you do not know, use a dictionary to find its meaning.
CONCLUSION: What was the final outcome of the case? In one or two sentences, state the court’s ultimate finding. For example, the court held that the business did not owe the assaulted customer a duty to provide security patrols.
Source: http://www.csun.edu/~kkd61657/brief.pdf
