Evidence: Law 6330—Sec. 4805

Evidence Quicklinks

LAW 6330 (4 credits)
Professor Pedro A. Malavet
Fall 2012
Mondays and Wednesdays
3:00-4:50 p.m.
Room 285B

Course Description

A general course on Evidence focusing on admissibility at trial under the Federal Rules of Evidence. Four Credits.

 

Feedback Memo Is Posted

Exam Review Starts February 7

  • As I indicated in the examination, exam review will start after I post the feedback memorandum on the course website on Thursday, February 7, 2013.
  • Instructions for the review process will be included in the memorandum.

Practical Project is Here

  • The practical project for the Fall of 2012 is here.
  • It requires you to draft a Motion in Limine using last year's exam fact-pattern as the basis.
  • The project is due on or before Thursday, November 15, 2012,
  • Motions in MS Word or PDF file format must be uploaded to the appropriate assignment in the eLearning system.
  • NEW: A short video tutorial on how to use WestlawNext to get forms and other materials on Motions In Limine: http://vimeo.com/uflic/evidence by Research Librarian Jennifer Wondracek

Power Point PDFs

I will post PDF files with the Power Point slides that I use in class in the eLEARNING/SAKAI course page. Click the eLearning link on the banner at the top of this page to login and download the files. The files are in the “Resources” section of the course page.

I will save handouts with six slides to a page to make the files more manageable. The files are text-searchable and you may also cut and paste from them to your outlines and notes.

The text is already posted in the notes pages, but one student asked if I could post the slides and I have no problem with that.

“The Forest”

My general outline to deconstruct evidence problems in class —and in the exam.

Placeholder

  • From your left to your right, you start with the Preliminary Question:
    regular (FRE 104(a)) vs. conditional admissibility (FRE 104(b)).
  • You then move on to Part I:
    basic relevance question under FRE 401, which makes the evidence potentially admissible under FRE 402.
  • Then you move on to Part II:
    Is there a more specific admissibility or exclusion rule (e.g., FRE 801, FRE 404).
  • If you get past that, then you reach Part III:
    the FRE 403 balance (unless the rule in part II expressly states otherwise).
  • After Admission:
    If you admit, you also might still have to consider possible Limiting Instructions under FRE 105 or completeness admissibility under FRE 106, just to name two post admission rules.

Put Another Way

  • THE FOREST IN THE FIELD OF EVIDENCE
    ---> Preliminarily:
    Who Decides?
    Judge (FRE 104(a)) or Jury (FRE 104(b))
  • I. Is the evidence relevant?
    [FRE 401] [FRE 402]
  • II. More specific questions regarding admissibility
    e.g. [FRE 404] [FRE 801] [FRE 609]
  • III. FRE 403
    (a) What is the relevant evidence's probative value? [FRE 403]
    (b) Is the probative value substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice (or any of the other five reasons)? [FRE 403]
  • --->Post-admission:
    For what purpose is the evidence admitted?
    [FRE 105] This may also affect the 403 balance. (In other words, the limiting instruction may affect the balance.)
  • [FRE 106] The admission of a document may then allow the admission of the rest or parts of it.

Strength of the Evidence

The Summary Judgment or Judgment as Matter Law Standard

Placeholder

  • Note that the extreme left (from your perspective, looking towards the board) always represents 0%, meaning that no evidence at all exists to support the pertinent fact.
  • The start of the blackboard represents the start of the level of proof at which “Reasonable Minds” can find the fact to exist or not, and the strength of the evidence increases as you move from left to right, reaching the 50% mark in the middle of the two blackboards, and reaching preponderance at the start of the second blackboard.
  • The evidence becomes increasingly strong as you move along this continuum towards the mythical 100% or absolute truth of the fact alleged, which is represented by the extreme right corner of the classroom.

Exams

Examination Feedback Memoranda

Practical Projects

Practical Project Feedback Memoranda

Handouts & Resources