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Business Associations Keyed to Hamilton
Litwin v. Allen
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*Case Brief Anatomy includes: Brief Prologue, Complete Case Brief, Brief Epilogue
- The Brief Prologue provides necessary case brief introductory information and includes:
- Topic: Identifies the topic of law and where this case fits within your course outline.
- Parties: Identifies the cast of characters involved in the case.
- Procedural Posture & History: Shares the case history with how lower courts have ruled on the matter.
- Case Key Terms, Acts, Doctrines, etc.: A case specific Legal Term Dictionary.
- Case Doctrines, Acts, Statutes, Amendments and Treatises: Identifies and Defines Legal Authority used in this case.
- The Case Brief is the complete case summarized and authored in the traditional Law School I.R.A.C. format. The Pro case brief includes:
- Brief Facts: A Synopsis of the Facts of the case.
- Rule of Law: Identifies the Legal Principle the Court used in deciding the case.
- Facts: What are the factual circumstances that gave rise to the civil or criminal case? What is the relationship of the Parties that are involved in the case. Review the Facts of this case here:
On October 16, 1930, Trust Company (Defendant) and its subsidiary, Guaranty Company (Defendant), agreed to participate in the purchase of $3,000,000 in Missouri Pacific Convertible Debentures, through the firm of J.P. Morgan & Co. (Defendant), at par, with an option to the seller, Alleghany Corporation, to repurchase them at the same price at any time within six months. The purpose of the purchase was to enable Alleghany to raise money to pay for particular properties without going over its borrowing limit. The only purpose served by the option therefore, was to make the transaction conform as closely as possible to a loan without the usual incidents of a loan transaction. The decision to purchase was made after the October 1929 stock market crash when the market was in a slight upswing that started in April 1930. After October 1930, there was another sharp and unexpected drop in the market. Guaranty (Defendant) and Trust (Defendant) could not sell any of the bonds until October 8, 1931, and the last were not sold until December 28, 1937, which resulted in a loss of $2,250,000. Stockholders (Plaintiff) brought a derivative action to hold the directors liable for the loss.
- Issue(s): Lists the Questions of Law that are raised by the Facts of the case.
- Holding: Shares the Court's answer to the legal questions raised in the issue.
- Concurring / Dissenting Opinions: Includes valuable concurring or dissenting opinions and their key points.
- Reasoning and Analysis: Identifies the chain of argument(s) which led the judges to rule as they did.
- The Brief Prologue closes the case brief with important forward-looking discussion and includes:
- Policy: Identifies the Policy if any that has been established by the case.
- Court Direction: Shares where the Court went from here for this case.