NITA Publications

Vending Operator v. Department of Transportation Advocates Version

NITA's transportation department claims that Vending Operator materially breached a contract to build and maintain vending stations along state highways. This trial case file is suited to train students to try both the liability and damages phases of civil actions. Impeachment issues give students the opportunity to practice examination skills. There are three witnesses for both the plaintiff and the defendant including expert social science and psychology witnesses.

• >> TABLE OF CONTENTS
  Table of Contents
  
  INTRODUCTORY MATERIALS -- Available to All Counsel
  
  Introduction
  Complaint
  Answer and Affirmative Defense
  Proposal and Contract
  Request for Proposal (RFP)
  
  CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION FOR THE ADVOCATES LAW FIRM (A's)
  
  Statement of Tracy August
  Statement of Ryan Black
  
  DISCOVERY MATERIALS -- Available to All Counsel
  
  Depositions
  
  Deposition of Chris Della Valle
  Deposition of Barnes Silver
  
  Memoranda and Correspondence
  
  Memorandum from Department of Revenue to Department of Transportation
  Letter from L.T. Bard to Tracy August, June 8, YR-4
  Letter from L.T. Bard to Tracy August, November 10, YR-4
  Letter from Tracy August to L.T. Bard, November 19, YR-4
  Letter from L.T. Bard to Tracy August, March 11, YR-3
  Letter from Tracy August to L.T. Bard, March 17, YR-3
  Letter from L.T. Bard to Tracy August, June 30, YR-3
  Memorandum from Tracy August to Barnes Silver, June 13, YR-4
  Memorandum from Barnes Silver to Route Drivers, June 16, YR-4
  Letter from Barnes Silver to Chris Della Valle, June 16, YR-4
  Letter from Chris Della Valle to Barnes Silver, June 21, YR-4
  Letter from Chris Della Valle to Barnes Silver, April 18, YR-3
  Memorandum from Chris Della Valle to L.T. Bard, April 18, YR-3
  Memorandum from Chris Della Valle to L.T. Bard, Apri118, YR-3
  
  Information on Vending Sites
  
  Sample comment card
  Map of vending station locations
  Vending station distances from Nita City
  Locations of test site operations
  Palos Corners site plan
  Devil's Gulch site plan
  Vending experiment incident reports
  
  Information on Plaintiff's Damage Model
  
  Letter from Ryan Black to Nathan Isaacs, August 8, YR-l
  Table 1: Plaintiff's Summary of Damages
  Table 2: Plaintiff's Damage Model
  Letter from Ryan Black to Nathan Isaacs, November 29, YR-l
  
  Information on Defendant's Damage Model
  
  Letter from Dana Green to Sarah Lipton, October 16, YR-l
  Schedule 1: Defendant's Summary of Damages
  Schedule 2: Defendant's Damage Model -- Detailed Profit Projections
  Schedule 3: Defendant's Damage Model -- Calculations of Plaintiff's Revenue per Thousand Vehicle Miles
  
  Stipulations Pertaining to Damages
  
  Stipulation 1 -- Facts Regarding Operation of Plaintiff's Test Sites in YR-4 and YR-3
  Stipulation 2 -- Summary of Financial Data for Nita Test Sites
  Stipulation 3 -- Facts Regarding Plaintiff's New Jersey and Massachusetts Projects
  Stipulation 4 -- YR-l Financial Data for New Jersey and Massachusetts Projects
  Stipulation 5 -- Facts Regarding the State of Nita
  Stipulation 6 -- Summary of Industry Statistics: YR-2 E-87
  
  Graphs
  
  Projected Revenue per Vehicle Mile
  Revenue per Station Doesn't Fall as Number of Stations Grow
  Average Revenue per Station
  Projected Nita Cost of Goods Sold, Weighted Average of New Jersey and Massachusetts Projects
  Projected Nita Variable Selling and Operating Expenses
  Differences in Approaches
  Plaintiff's High Damages Due to Three Assumptions (pie graph)
  Plaintiff's High Damages Due to Three Assumptions (bar chart)
  Defendant's Projected COGS Lie
  COGS Fall Gradually as Sales Rise
  Plaintiff's Projected COGS Lie
  Variable Expenses (%) Will Decline

• >> AUTHOR
  
  
  • Steven Lubet
    
    
    • Steven Lubet is the Edna B. and Ednyfed H. Williams Memorial Professor of Law at Northwestern University, where he directs the Bartlit Center on Trial Strategy. He teaches courses on legal ethics, trial advocacy, and narrative structures. A prolific author, Lubet has written more than fifteen books and over a hundred articles on legal issues such as legal and judicial ethics, litigation, legal history, international criminal law, dispute resolution and legal education. His textbook, Modern Trial Advocacy, is used by over ninety U.S. law schools and has been translated or adapted for use in six other countries. In addition to his scholarly and legal writing, Lubet's humor and opinion pieces have appeared on the op-ed pages of newspapers such as the Chicago Tribune, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Baltimore Sun, Philadelphia Inquirer, Newsday, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Dallas Morning News, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Detroit Free Press, and many others. He writes an award-winning column for the American Lawyer Magazine, and his satirical commentaries have been heard on National Public Radio's Morning Edition. Lubet received his B.A. in history from Northwestern University (Phi Beta Kappa) in 1970 and his J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall) in 1973. Prior to joining the faculty at Northwestern in 1975, Lubet was an instructor on legal research and writing at DePaul University School of Law and a staff attorney at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago.