Questions/Issues Options:

1. Whether a local community has housing or landlord/tenant court varies by state. Please investigate your state’s jurisdiction on the Internet. Please discuss one recent case decided by such courts that include breach of lease, vacancy, or tenant’s right of quiet enjoyment. Share with us the facts, the legal issue and the court’s holding, as well as what you think about it.

2. Under common law, the hotelkeeper’s liability for the property of guests was near absolute, but state statutes today limit a hotel’s liability to that of  an ordinary bailee or limit liability to the amount listed in a posted notice in the room. Typically, a hotel will have a sign on the room door stating that the hotel’s liability extends only to property deposited in the hotel safe. Such statutes also allow the hotel to place a dollar limit on the hotel’s liability. Research the issue of hotelkeeper’s liablity in your state and provide us with an example. Make sure you analyze this from a legal perspective.

3. Real property can be taken from an owner by action of government or other public authority for the benefit of the public. Such actions are taken when a governmental body wishes to build a highway or school, for example, and the needed property is privately held. When private property is taken by eminent domain, compensation is made at the fair market value of the property. In recent years, some localities have used the doctrine of eminent domain in a highly controversial manner, so as to justify the taking of private property for use in economic development, such as when a city takes private homes in order to erect a hotel or shopping center. In the event of a dispute, the owner can pursue remedies available through state and federal courts (see Kelo v. City of New London, 545 U.S. 469, (2005). In this case, the challenged ordinance allowed only town residents access to beach-park areas. The Connecticut Supreme Court determined that a Greenwich ordinance restricting access to a municipally owned park was unenforceable under the First Amendment. You  should address whether this was a fair decision and what reactions your state has had to this.

4. Locate web sites for any of the six typical reasons for creating a bailment: sale, transportation, repair or service, rental, storage, and security for a loan and describe the nature of the bailment and the legal rights and obligations of the parties. An example of cases regarding transportation is located at the following Web site: http://www.cybertelecom.org/notes/cc_bailment.htm (Links to an external site.).