Property

Professor Grimmelmann

New York Law School

Spring 2011

About the Course

Overview

This course covers the essentials of property law. We’ll study what makes “property” rights distinctive; how they’re created, transferred, and destroyed; and the powers and duties of property owners.

Class Meetings

We meet Mondays and Wednesdays, from 11:00 to 12:45 in Room W300. We will take a five-minute break each class session, somewhere towards the middle.

Here’s what I expect from you in class:

Please arrive promptly, be prepared to discuss the day’s readings. Bring your casebook with you or have the interactive version open on your computer. Bring the supplement with you on days when there are assignments from it.
The readings include numerous problems (in blue boxes). I will expect you to have thought about and formulated answers to them before you walk into class.
I expect you to be in class, unless you have a compelling reason to be absent (e.g. illness) and have notified me beforehand. In keeping with the NYLS attendance policy, more than two unexcused absences will be grounds for a reduction in your grade or exclusion from the course.
I call extensively on students, mostly at random. I’ll do everything I can to make the experience supportive and unthreatening.
Questions are always welcome. I’ll answer as many questions as time constraints permit. If something seems unclear to you, it’s likely that others are also wondering the same thing.
In class discussions, you should be respectful of and courteous towards your classmates. One of the skills you are learning as law students is how to express disagreement in a friendly and professional manner.
Internet and cell phone use are prohibited in class, as is anything else that is distracting to me or your classmates.

Readings

You’ll need:

John G. Sprankling & Raymond R. Coletta, Property: A Contemporary Approach (2009), ISBN-13: 978-0-314-19104-5 (hereinafter “S&C”). You do not need access to the online version; I will not assign anything that is available only online.
The course supplement (to be distributed). Unless otherwise noted, any additional readings listed on this syllabus can be found in the supplement.

The schedule below is divided into twenty-six assignments. Unless I tell you otherwise, you’re responsible for reading one assignment per class session. I promise to stick closely to a one-assignment-per-session pace. The remaining classes will be used to deal with schedule slips, review, breaking events, and topics to be selected.

The reading assignments will typically include a variety of materials:

You should, by now, be able to identify and remember the important facts of a case, the legal issues the court faced, its specific holding, and the reasoning supporting that holding.
You should think about the questions asked by the notes in the book; my questions in class will often be taken directly from them.
Where the book contains problems (in a blue box), you should come to class having written out a brief answer.
The supplement contains a high proportion of New York cases and statutes. Where I provide you with them, you should ask how the other cases for the day would have come out, had they taken place in New York.

Recording

Under most circumstances, the class will be videotaped and available for viewing through Blackboard within 24 hours.

Grading

The final exam is currently scheduled for Thursday, May 12, at 1:30. It will be four hours long and closed-book. You’re responsible for anything in the readings or discussed in class, with the emphasis on what has been discussed in class. The tentative format, which is subject to change, is one-third multiple choice and two-thirds essays.

The exam counts for 100% of your course grade, except that I may adjust it by one third up or down for class participation. I consider good class participation to be anything that helps your classmates learn. Asking me for an adjustment is the best way not to get one.

Course Web Page

This syllabus is at http://james.grimmelmann.net/courses/property2011S/. As the semester progresses, I’ll post updates to it here.

Contact

Office: 40 Worth St., Room SE941 Phone: (212) 431-2864
Email: james.grimmelmann (at nyls)
Office Hours: Tuesdays, 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM

Schedule

Real, Personal, and Intangible Property (8 classes)

Trespass

S&C 47—57 (Jacque)
S&C 135—42 (Causby)
Pile v. Pedrick
Madden v. Queens County Jockey Club
Civil Rights Act of 1964

Nuisance

S&C 68—81 (Sundowner, Prah)
S&C 739—53 (Boomer, Thomsen)
New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law (spite fences)

First Possession

S&C 8—15 (Pierson)
S&C 161—74 (Shaw, Poppv)

Finders

S&C 174—77 (Armory)
S&C 185—97 (McAvoy, Haslem, Benjamin)
New York Personal Property Law (lost and found property)

Good Faith

Atlas Auto Rental Corp. v. Weisberg
Candela v. Port Motors, Inc.
Atlas Assurance Co. v. Gibbs
New York Uniform Commercial Code (voidable title)
S&C 208—09 (problems in note e)

Thefts and Gifts

S&C 201—20 (O’Keefe, Gruen)
Guggenheim v. Lubell
New York CPLR (statute of limitations for personal property)

Gifts (cntd.) and Wills

S&C 220—32 (Albinger, Brind)
Stevens v. Casdorph
New York Estates, Powers, and Trusts Law (will formalities)

Intellectual and Intangible Property

S&C 233—41 (Cheney Bros.)
S&C 274—90 (Chakrabarty, Larami)
Kremen v. Cohen

Co-Ownership (4 classes)

Fee Simple and Life Estate

S&C 309—33 (Cole, White, Woodrick)
Johnson v. Whiton
New York Estates, Powers, and Trusts Law (estates in land)
New York Real Property Law (conveyances)
New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law (waste)

Defeasible Estates

S&C 333—37 (overview of defeasible fees)
S&C 345—48 (Metropolitan Park District)
Mountain Brow Lodge No. 82 v. Toscano

Co-Ownership

S&C 379—402 (James, Tenhet, Ark Land Co., Esteves)
New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law (co-tenancies)
New York Real Property Law (co-tenancies)

Marital Property

S&C 402–27 (Sawada, Guy, Roccamonte)

Landlord-Tenant (5 classes)

Leases I

S&C 439—56 (Neithamer, Kajo)
Garner v. Gerrish

Leases II

S&C 457—75 (Keydata, Clark, Kaminsky, JMB Properties)
New York Real Property Law (delivery of possession)

Leases III

S&C 475—95 (Wade, Teller, Ernst)
New York Real Property Law (condition of premises)

Leases IV

S&C 495—512 (Ernst, Kendall, Sommer)
Holy Properties Limited v. Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc.
Whitehouse Estates, Inc. v. Post
New York Real Property Law (assignments and subleases)

Leases V + Statute of Frauds

S&C 512—29 (Hillview, AIMCo, Berg)
New York Real Property Law (retaliation)
New York Real Property Law (termination of leases)
New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law (forcible entry)
S&C 533—42 (Hickey)
New York General Obligations Law § 5-703 (statute of frauds)

Real Estate Transactions (4 classes)

Land Transactions

S&C 542—60 (Lohmeyer, Brush, Stambovsky)
S&C 584—90 (Giannini)
New York General Obligations Law § 5-1311 (risk of loss)
New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law (statutory deed forms)

Mortgages

S&C 576—84 (Wansley)
New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law (mortgage foreclosure)

Title Assurance

S&C 599—11 (Luthi)
S&C 617—20 (notes, including problems on page 619)
S&C 628—34 (Raub)
New York Real Property Law (recording act)

Adverse Possession

S&C 97—107 (Gurwit)
S&C 116—22 (Fulkerson)
S&C 126—34 (Howard)
Walling v. Przybylo
New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law (adverse possession)
New York Civil Practice Law and Rules (statute of limitations)

Other Interests in Land (3 classes)

Easements

S&C 645—58 (Millbrook Hunt, Van Sandt)
S&C 665—78 (MacDonald Properties, Kienzle)

Easements (cntd.) and Covenants

S&C 678—702 (Marcus Cable, Preseault, Tulk)
Eagle Enterprises v. Gross

Cooperatives, Condominiums, and Homeowners’ Associations

S&C 702—14 (Narhstedt)
Vincent Di Lorenzo, New York Condominium and Cooperative Law
Levandusky v. One Fifth Ave.
40 W. 67th St. v. Pullman

Government (3 classes)

Zoning I

S&C 755—67 (Euclid)
S&C 777—91 (Smith, Detwiler)
S&C 797—99 (notes)
Village of Belle Terre v. Boraas
Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities

Eminent Domain

S&C 892-905 (Kelo)
Goldstein v. New York State Urban Development Corp.
Kaur v. New York State Urban Development Corp.

Regulatory Takings

Miller v. Schoene
S&C 919—44 (Penn Central, Loretto)