Business law case study

Step 1: Read Fitzgerald v. Racing Association of Central Iowa located on pages 3-28 and 3-29.)

*If you have not received your textbook, you can view the case at:

https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/02-695 (Links to an external site.)

Step 2: Download and fill out the

Case Study Template

. See pages 3 and 4 of the template for helpful tips. Click here: Case Study Template

Student’s Name:
Case Name:
1. The Parties
Trial Court level: Who is the plaintiff?
Trial Court level: Who is the defendant?
Appeals Court level: Who is the appellant?
Appeals Court level: Who is the appellee?
*U.S. Supreme Court level: Who is the petitioner?
*U.S. Supreme Court level: Who is the respondent?
*Note: If your case was not heard before the U.S. Supreme Court, you will leave this section
blank.
2. The History of the case
Who won at the trial court level?
Who won at the lower appellate level?
Who won at the U.S. Supreme Court level (if the case made it to the U.S. Supreme Court)?
3. The Facts (What happened that caused the plaintiff to sue?)
4. The Plaintiff’s Theory (Why he thinks he is right.)
5. The Defendant’s Theory (Why he thinks he is right.)
6. The Legal Issue (a yes or no question)
7. The Holding of the Court (Yes or no–answers the legal issue).
8. The Reasoning of the Court (i.e.: what facts and laws did the court rely on to decide the case;
why the case was decided in the winner’s favor; why did the other side lose)
9. What do you think? Was this case decided correctly? Why or why not?
10. Include an APA formatted citation for your textbook or online source:
CASE STUDY TIPS
1. Helpful tips for identifying the plaintiff, defendant, appellant, appellee, petitioner, and
respondent in your case.
Plaintiff: One who brings a lawsuit at the trial court level.
Defendant: The person or entity against whom a lawsuit is filed at the trial court level.
Appellant: One who files an appeal at the state court of appeals level or federal court of appeals
level.
Appellee: One against whom an appeal is brought.
*Petitioner: One who appeals a case to the United States Supreme Court.
*Respondent: One against whom an appeal is brought before the United States Supreme Court.
*Note that you will only identify the petitioner and respondent if your case was heard before the
United States Supreme Court.
2. Helpful tips when writing the Legal Issue, Holding, and Reasoning sections of the Case
Brief:
The legal issue section of your case brief should be written in a “yes” or “no” question format.
Here’s the example of how the Legal Issue, Holding, and Reasoning of the Court sections should
be formatted:
Legal Issue: Does statute abc violate the U.S. Constitution?
Holding: Yes.
Reasoning of the Court: The U.S. Supreme Court determined that statute abc violated the U.S.
Constitution because it did not meet the xyz requirements.
3. Source Citation Tips:
At the end of your Case Study assignment, include an APA formatted citation for the source you
used to complete the assignment. A list of APA citation examples for online sources can be found at
this Web link: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/10/
Examples of APA Citations
Textbook Citation:
Langvardt, A.W., Barnes, A.J., Prenkert, J.D., McCrory, M.A., & Perry, J.E. (2019). Business
Law: The ethical, global, and e-commerce environment (17th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
Education.
Online Source Examples:
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. 558 U.S. 310 (U.S. Sup. Ct. 2010). Retrieved
https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/08-205.ZS.html
Gonzales v. Raich. 545 U.S. 1. (U.S. Sup. Ct. 2005). Retrieved from
https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-1454.ZS.html/