Intro to US Law

5/11/2014

Research Plan Example

Prof. Jennifer Wondracek

Levin College of Law
1

Hypothetical
You are driving your new car in Gainesville, FL
when you see a stop sign in front of you. You
press the brake pedal, but nothing happens. You
continue through the stop sign without stopping
and hit another car. After examining them, a
mechanic later tells you that your brakes were
defective. You want to sue the manufacturer of
your car for the faulty brakes.
Please draft a research plan.

The University of Florida

Levin College of Law

Intro to US Law

5/11/2014

Research Plan
Issue
Jurisdiction
Concepts and Terms (keywords)
Sources
Possible Search String

Issue
TARP Rule:
Thing or Subject Matter
Car accident
Faulty brakes per mechanic

Cause of Action or Ground of Defense

Personal or Property injuries are tort law (common law)
Manufacturer sold an item with a bad or defective part
Does it matter if manufacturer knew or did not know about
bad part?

The University of Florida

Levin College of Law

Intro to US Law

5/11/2014

Relief Sought
Monetary for car damage & possible personal
injury
Money to punish the manufacturer for bad action
(punitive damages)

Parties Involved
You
Car Manufacturer
Potentially, brake manufacturer

Jurisdiction
Jurisdiction:
State:
Yes where the accident took place Florida

Federal:
Probably not

The University of Florida

Levin College of Law

Intro to US Law

5/11/2014

Concepts and terms (keywords)

Car/ vehicle/ automobile/ truck
Accident/ crash
Brakes - Equipment/ part/ product
Failed/ failure/ faulty/ defect/ defective/ bad
Manufacturer
Liable/ liability
Product liability

Sources
Secondary Sources
Encyclopedia - Wex by the Legal Information Institute
Book about products liability check my local library

Primary sources
Case law

Cost factors
Jurisdiction and Issue influences

The University of Florida

Levin College of Law

Intro to US Law

5/11/2014

Possible Search string

Natural language search:
Manufacturer liability for a defective product

Terms & Connectors/Boolean:

Manufacturer AND defect OR faulty OR bad AND
product OR part
You can use parentheses to keep thoughts
together:
Manufacturer AND (defect OR faulty OR bad) AND
(product OR part)

Research Plan In its entirety

Issue
Jurisdiction
Concepts and Terms (keywords)
Sources
Possible Search String

The University of Florida

Levin College of Law

Intro to US Law

The University of Florida

Levin College of Law

5/11/2014