The Closed Universe

The exam hands you a small set of sources and a client problem, and everything you may rely on is on the page. Below is a fictional universe — one statute, three cases — and six questions in the exam's manner. Five are answerable from the universe. One is not, and recognizing that is itself the tested skill.

How to use this: read the universe first, completely. Then answer each question from the sources alone — outside knowledge is not just unnecessary, it's against the rules of the exercise. The format is modeled on released exam materials; every source and fact here is original and fictional.

Your universe

Everything below is fictional and everything you may use. The discipline: answer from these sources only — and know when they don’t answer.

Demonstration — fictional closed universe (format modeled on released exam materials; all content original)

Residential Rental Standards Act § 12

Fictional state statute

(a) A landlord shall maintain every residential rental unit in habitable condition, including operable heating facilities capable of maintaining safe indoor temperatures during the heating season. (b) Upon written notice of a defect under subsection (a), the landlord shall repair within a reasonable time. (c) Remedies for violation of this section are as provided by law.

Marsh v. Golden Rentals

Fictional state supreme court

A residential landlord must keep a rental fit to live in, and that duty includes providing adequate heat during the cold months.

Okafor v. Canyon Ridge Apartments

Fictional state supreme court

A tenant faced with an unrepaired habitability defect may repair and deduct, or may withhold rent — but only after written notice and a reasonable opportunity to cure. To the extent Prewitt v. Stonegate LLC permitted withholding without notice, it is disapproved.

Delgado v. Mesa Verde Rentals

Fictional state court of appeals

Damages for a habitability breach are generally limited to the loss in rental value; emotional-distress damages require egregious conduct, and are not available as a matter of course.

Six questions

0 of 6 answered