Legal clerk for the firm of Carter, Carter and Drake

Audience: The firm partner, Sean C. Carter, and business owner Sean Combs.

Scenario: Mr. Combs, who has been known to have lavish parties in his dorm room, wants to know under what circumstances he can refuse entry of police to his room. Combs was walking back to his party with a six pack of beer when he was stopped by police. Combs told the police officer that he had left his identification in the dorm room on his desk. The police officer followed Combs to the dorm room. Combs said wait at the door of his packed party. The door was open and the police officer could see inside. When the policeman saw Combs go to the bathroom instead of to his desk, the officer walked into the room and saw a pot plant in the bathroom. He was arrested. Your supervisor Mr. Carter asks you to summarize the Washington v. Chrisman case completely and also answer Mr. Combs' question in a memo. Summarize the selected case using the following guidelines. This is to be in your words, not a cut-and-paste job.

Components of the Case Brief

I. Write the Name of the Case, and the Citation Number.

II. What happened in the case?

III. Trial Court

• How did the case come to the trial court? Who sued whom?

• What was the cause of action?

• Were there any motions filed in the trial court? What were they?

• Did the trial court rule on the motions or the merits of the case itself?

• What did the trial court decide?

• Was the trial court decision appealed to a higher court?

IV. Intermediate Appellate Court

• What was the question for appeal to the intermediate court?

• What did the intermediate court decision say?

V. High Court

• What question for appeal did the High School consider?

• Name the primary precedent the high court used to make its decision?

• What was the reasoning of the high court decision?