Civil Procedure A
Fall 2004
Mid-Term Examination
On a cold winter day in 2004 Alvin Arkansas was injured while splitting wood in the
Ozarks Mountains of Arkansas. He was using a maul manufactured by Moose Manufacturing
Company (of Maine).
Moose is a century old, family run corporation, located only in Maine. It does not
advertise; its employees are only in Maine. Moose sells all its mauls to Empire Distributing
Company, a regional distributor located in New York. Empire sold one truckload of mauls to
Buckeye Woodworking Equipment, an Ohio corporation that supplies stores through the
Midwest. Buckeye sold 25 mauls to Joplin Home Center, in Joplin, Missouri. This particular
maul was purchased by Marcia Missouri (who resides in Missouri). She gave it to her boy friend
Alvin for Christmas 2003. (Joplin, Missouri is 30 miles from the Arkansas border).
He has filed a lawsuit for his personal injuries in the Circuit Court of Washington
County, Arkansas. The only defendant is Moose Manufacturing Company.
The summons and complaint were delivered to Federal Express, which shipped the
packet to Bangor, Maine. Federal Express brought the packet to the home office of Moose. The
president was absent from the plant, but his 16 year old daughter Debbie was in the office doing
her calculus homework. Debbie signed the Federal Express receipt. She gave the packet to her
father, the president, a few hours later.
Moose has filed Rule 12(b)(2) and 12(b)(5) motions in Arkansas state court.
You represent Alvin. You are standing in front of the Arkansas trial judge. Your task is
to persuade the court that Arkansas has jurisdiction over Moose, and that service was properly
accomplished. Make the best argument that you can. Be organized, be logical, be creative,
develop your own arguments, refute the obvious arguments of the defendant Moose.
Notes:
1) See the attached court order.
2) Do not waste time repeating the facts at the beginning of your argument. Work them into
the argument as needed and when appropriate.
3) You may keep this question.
4) This question is based generally on Parry v. Ernst Home Center, page 127 of the
casebook.
