UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA COURSE EXAMINATION

SCHOOL OF LAW FALL 2017

Student Exam No. _______

Law 203, sec. 1

Instructor: Professor Doremus

CLOSED BOOK

YOU MAY NOT CONSULT ANY MATERIALS DURING THIS EXAM

Total Time Allowed: 4 Hours

This exam consists of 6 questions, some of which have sub-questions. The suggested time is
given for each question or set of questions. If you follow the time recommendations you will
have 15 minutes left to review your answers.
Think through each essay question before you begin writing. A well-organized and well-written
answer is likely to receive a higher grade than a poorly organized or written one making the
same points. Please also remember that less can be more. An answer that makes its points
concisely will likely produce a higher grade than one that unnecessarily wanders.
All of the events in this exam occur in the hypothetical American state of Fantasia. Unless the
question specifically states otherwise, you should assume that Fantasia applies traditional
common law rules and that there are no relevant statutes.
If you believe you need more information to answer any of the questions, briefly explain in your
answer what additional information you need and how that information would affect your
response.
Formatting your answers. If you are word-processing your exam, please start each question on
a new page and double-space the text. Create a header in a new Word document that includes
your exam number, course name, instructor name, and semester. Title the document with the
course name, instructor name, semester, and your exam number (e.g.:
property_doremus_fall_exam #) and save it to your hard drive. Be sure to format your
document with page numbers and double spacing, and to use an easy-to-read 12 point font.
Begin your answer to each question on a new page.
If you are handwriting, please start each question in a new blue book (clearly labeled with the
course, instructor, and your exam number) and skip lines.

All copies of this exam must be turned in to the person in charge.

GOOD LUCK!

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Question 1 (30 minutes)
Pleasantville is a city of 25,000 on the lightly populated west coast of Fantasia. The Port of
Pleasantville (Port) is constructing a facility that will export natural gas by ship to Asia. The
Keyhole Pipeline Company (Company) seeks to build a pipeline to bring natural gas from
Wyoming across the width of Fantasia to the Port. An existing gas pipeline originating in Canada
already passes through Pleasantville. That pipeline connects to the Port and to the local gas
utility, providing natural gas for home use to the residents of Pleasantville. Port authorities
believe the proposed Keyhole Pipeline will increase the economic viability of the export facility.
They also contend that it will increase the reliability of the gas supply to the local community
and decrease the likelihood of price spikes. There have never been service interruptions on the
existing pipeline, and the price of natural gas in Pleasantville has closely tracked the average
price in the state over the last thirty years.
Company has negotiated easements allowing it to construct and maintain the pipeline across
approximately 80% of its proposed route. The remaining landowners refuse to sell easements on
the terms Company is offering. Company has announced that it will use eminent domain to
acquire easements from those landowners. The Coolterra Club, an environmental group, opposes
the Keyhole Pipeline. Club believes the pipeline will increase fossil fuel use in Asia, increasing
carbon emissions and speeding global warming. Its lawyers have just filed a lawsuit against
Company challenging the use of eminent domain for this pipeline.
You are a legal expert who regularly appears on Face the Facts, the flagship news show of the
Trust Us Media empire. Assume Fantasia law gives Company statutory eminent domain
authority for any project approved by the state Public Utilities Commission, and that the PUC
has approved this project. Assume also that there are no issues about Club’s ability to bring its
suit. The only issue Face the Facts has asked you to discuss is whether the US federal
constitution allows the use of eminent domain in this context. Explain to the Face the Facts
audience whether Company can use eminent domain to get the easements it needs.

Question 2 (45 minutes)

The Fantasia legislature recently passed a bill that provides:
A person commits a trespass if, without express permission of the owner of real property,
he or she operates an unmanned aircraft less than 250 feet above ground level within the
airspace overlaying the real property. Nothing in this section is intended to limit the
rights and defenses available at common law under a claim of liability for trespass.
You are an aide to the Governor, who must decide whether to sign or veto the bill. Fantasia is
home to several large technology companies who make drones, as well as to an internet shopping
behemoth which has expressed interest in the use of drones for deliveries. In a recent poll,
however, 64 percent of Fantasians said they “wouldn’t want my next-door neighbor to have a
drone,” while 71 percent thought that drones should not be “allowed to operate over other
people’s private property.” Assume that federal law, which explicitly regulates drone use above
500 feet, allows this sort of state regulation, so that the only issue the Governor need consider is
whether the bill would be good policy. Provide the Governor with your best advice.

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Question 3 (60 minutes)
In June 1997, Michael Flynn (no relation to the former National Security Advisor) purchased a
houseboat moored in Lake Wozette from Ivanka Grump. The boat had been moored in the same
location since 1983, attached by an iron cable to two large trees growing on an island about thirty
acres in size.
Flynn believed that the island was owned by the state of Fantasia, but in fact it was owned by the
Comey Timber Company, which holds a total of close to 400,000 acres scattered around the
state. As its name suggests Comey Timber Company holds most of its land for timber
production. Given the time it takes for timber to grow and the extent of its holdings,
representatives of Comey don’t visit any individual parcel very often. After logging and planting
a new crop of trees, company employees usually return after about 15 years to see if thinning is
needed, and then after another 25 to 30 years to harvest again.
This part of Fantasia often experiences cold and stormy winters, but is generally mild and dry in
the summer months. Flynn, who teaches ethics at a college about an hour away from Lake
Wozette, lives on his houseboat when school is out of session for the summer, typically from
about mid-May to mid-August. He spends one or two weekends a month on the boat during the
fall and spring, and generally does not visit in the coldest months, December through February.
Flynn was away from the boat for the entire academic years of 2002-03 and 2012-2013, when he
was on sabbatical abroad.
The island has a ramshackle woodshed that was there when Flynn bought the houseboat and an
outhouse Flynn constructed in 2004. Flynn enjoys cooking and relaxing by an open fire in the
summer months; he has constructed a stone fire ring, and dragged several downed logs for
seating near it. Other houseboaters sometimes moor nearby and enjoy the fire ring and the hiking
and birdwatching on the island. It is well known in the houseboating community that this island
is a nice place to stop for a few days. Flynn has never objected to short-term use of the island by
houseboaters. He has, however, objected to other visitors. In the summer of 2003, a local non-
profit group, Outdoor Youth Action, arranged a camping trip for a group of local teens. Flynn
encountered the group making s’mores and singing campfire songs at his fire ring. He asked
where their houseboat was moored, and they confessed that they did not have a houseboat, but
would be camping for the next three days on the island. Flynn demanded that they leave, and
after a brief argument they did. Another Outdoor Youth Action group came in 2010, but again
left after an argument with Flynn.
On May 15, 2016, a Comey Timber Company forester traveled to Lake Wozette to visit the
island property. She determined that the timber on the island would not be ready for harvest for
another four or five years. As she was doing her survey, however, she found Flynn fishing from
the deck of his houseboat, and angrily demanded to know who he was and why he was there.
When Flynn responded that he was enjoying the view and the fish, the forester exclaimed
“You’ll hear from our lawyer” and left. The Company’s lawyer, Serena Williams (no relation to
the tennis star) had a bit of a difficult time tracking down Flynn’s name and mailing address, but
eventually did learn them by talking to people living on the shores of Lake Wozette. She sent a
registered letter to Flynn, informing him that Comey Timber owned the island (she enclosed a
copy of the deed to Comey Timber), and demanding that Flynn leave the island immediately.
Flynn signed for the letter, acknowledging his receipt of it, on June 1, 2016, but did not remove
his houseboat or leave the island. Williams, who was busy with a lawsuit alleging that Come’

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Timber’s operations had unlawfully killed spotted owls, did not follow up.
Finally, in August 2017, Williams remembered the issue at Lake Woozette. On behalf of Comey
Timber, she filed a complaint on August 14, 2017, seeking to quiet Company’s title to the island
and to obtain ejectment of Flynn and his houseboat. Flynn responded by asserting that he owns
the island by adverse possession.
You are the judge assigned to the case. The parties do not dispute any of the facts recited above.
The prescriptive period in Fantasia is twenty years. Give them your ruling. Does Flynn own or
have an easement to use all or any part of the island?

Question 4 (30 minutes): Briefly answer each of the questions below on the basis of the facts
presented.
In 1929, Conor Joseph conveyed Big Mountain to the Fantasia Ski Resort Company (Ski Resort)
“to be used as a ski slope.” For many years thereafter, Company operated a ski facility on Big
Mountain. Climate change and drought, however, have hit Big Mountain hard. From 2010 to
2013, temperatures were above freezing most of the winter; the snow that fell quickly turned to
slush and crystals, which led even dedicated clients to look elsewhere. In 2014 and 2015 the
weather was colder, but very little precipitation fell over the winter. Ski Resort had to make all
its snow, at considerable expense. By 2016, Ski Resort management decided it was time to get
into a different business. They put in a wheel luge track, which offers the opportunity for guests
to take an exhilirating ride down the mountain on a wheeled sled year-round. They kept the ski
lift, which works well for getting guests and the heavy sleds to the top of the track. They allow
guests to ski or snowboard if they wish when conditions permit, but require that all guests pay
the price of the luge track, which is higher than the typical cost of a day’s skiing. The luge track
proved very popular, but interest in skiing at Big Mountain has plummeted. Since the luge track
was constructed more than 100,000 people have used it. Less than 7,000 have skiied at Big
Mountain.
The heirs of Conor Joseph object to the new luge track, which they think brings in too many
people in the summer and not the right kind of people in the winter.
a) Are Joseph’s heirs entitled to get Big Mountain back? Why or why not?
b) Assume for purposes of this question that the answer to (a) is no. Can Joseph’s heirs
force Ski Resort to remove the luge track?

Question 5 (25 minutes):

a) Kamala is studying in her favorite Peets coffeehouse one Friday when her foot kicks
something on the floor. She looks down to see a thick envelope; when she picks up
and opens the envelope, she finds $1000 in small bills. She asks her barista, Angelo,
to hold the money behind the counter for several days, in case the owner should come
to claim it. A week later, Kamala comes back to the Peets to ask if the money has
been claimed. Angelo says no, but refuses to turn the money over to Kamala, instead

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 saying he will keep it himself. As between Kamala and Angelo, who has the better
claim to the money and (briefly) why?
b) Terry owns a mixed-use building in Fantasia’s trendiest city. Terry rents apartments
on the upper floors to hipsters and young professionals. He rents the bottom floor to a
restaurant and associated lounge. The lounge holds live music events regularly, on
weekdays as well as weekends. The lounge’s lease requires that its music not disturb
tenants in the building. Nonetheless, music in the lounge is regularly quite loud.
Many of the tenants don’t mind; indeed, they like to hang out in the lounge and enjoy
the show. Heather, a law student who often has early morning classes, is an
exception. The music often keeps her awake until 2 in the morning. She complains
repeatedly to both the landlord and the manager of the lounge, but nothing changes.
Heather moves out and stops paying rent. If Terry sues to collect the rent, who will
win?
c) In 2008, Olivia Landbaron conveyed Wetacre to J.W. Moneybags. Moneybags duly
recorded the deed. In 2010, Moneybags conveyed a right-of-way easement across
Wetacre to Forest Bump, who owned an adjoining parcel on which he hoped someday
to build his dream house. At Moneybags’ request, Bump prepared the deed conveying
the easement, and Moneybags signed it without careful examination. It mistakenly
identified the grantor as A.W. Moneybags. Bump recorded the deed. In 2016,
Moneybags sold Wetacre to Rich Idle. Idle recorded his deed, which did not mention
the easement. A few months after the sale to Idle, Bump showed up at the property
with a bulldozer, ready to construct a road on his right-of-way. Fantasia has a race-
notice recording act. Can Bump enforce his easement against Idle?
d) When Marlene Flower died in 2005, she left the family’s 30-acre farm to her sons
Gianni (5 foot 7 and 140 pounds) and Philip (6 foot 4 and 240 pounds) as tenants in
common. The two worked the farm together amicably for several years, but had a
falling out in 2015 over the outcome of the women’s curling championship (Gianni
pulled for Canada, which lost to Philip’s favorite, Switzerland). They bickered for
weeks, until Gianni finally said, “You’re not welcome here. I don’t want you on this
place anymore.” Philip replied, “Well if that’s the way you feel, I don’t want to be
here.” He left the farm, got a job in the city, and had his lawyer send Gianni a letter
demanding that Gianni pay him half the market rental value of the farm. Is Philip
entitled to rent?

Question 6 (20 minutes): Following each of the events described below, who owns what
property interests?
a) Olivia donates Wetacre, a beautiful seasonal wetland dotted with native wildflowers, to
The Wetlands Conservancy “until the property is developed in any way.”
b) Owen owned Bigacre, a beautiful rural lot in the mountains. In his will, Owen leaves
Bigacre “to my daughter Sheila for life, then to the first of her children to appear on any
reality television show.” (Owen probably would have modified that clause if he had ever
heard of “Dating Naked.”)

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c) Owen instead leaves Bigacre in his will “to A for life, then to A’s oldest surviving child.”
d) Olivia conveys Wetacre, “to the Wetlands Education Foundation, but if it ceases to use
the property for educational purposes, to The Wetlands Conservancy.”
e) Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer (the House Minority Whip) are joint tenants in Wetacre.
Hoyer gives his interest to his good friend Paul Ryan.

END OF EXAM

ENJOY YOUR BREAK!

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