LAW 520 – PROPERTY
FALL 2012
Professor Diane Klein
Course meetings: Wednesday, August 15, 3pm-3:50 pm (Rm. 206); thereafter, Mondays
and Wednesdays, 6:30-8:30pm
Course meeting location:
Final exam: December 13, 2012, 5pm-9pm
Professor Contact Information
E-mail (best contact): dianeklein66@gmail.com
Office hours: MW 3pm-6pm and by appointment, beginning August 20, 2012.
Students are encouraged to visit office hours to discuss past or upcoming reading
assignments, course work, and general matters relating to the course and the
College of Law.
Telephone: (909) 460-2057
Faculty assistant: Melinda Davenport, mdavenport@laverne.edu, (909) 460-2035
TWEN
This Course has a TWEN page, through which most course administration and
“housekeeping” takes place. Please make sure you have signed up for it with your mostused email address, and that you check it regularly. Changes to reading assignments,
meetings, etc. will be posted there.
Course Materials
Dukeminier, Krier, Alexander & Schill, Property (7th ed.) (2010) (“Dukeminier”)
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Linda Edwards, Estates in Land and Future Interests: A Step-by-Step Guide (3d ed.)
(2009)
We will be working from the Edwards supplement in our all-day meeting on Saturday,
September 29, 2012. You do not need it until then.
Course Overview
This is a Course in the Anglo-American law of property. More specifically, it is a course
designed to introduce you to and help you to master the major, most frequently barexamined aspects of the American law of real property. (The difference between “real”
and other kinds of property is a topic we will address.)
Attendance, Cancelled Classes/Make-up Classes
Our course has 26 scheduled meetings, including one all-day meeting on Saturday,
September 29. Your attendance and preparation at all of them is required; the College of
Law has no “excused absences.” Arriving to class late and/or leaving early may, in the
professor’s discretion, result in being marked absent. Serial unpreparedness may also
result in being marked absent.
Class will not be meeting on Monday, September 3 (Labor Day); Monday, September 17
(Rosh Hashanah); Wednesday, September 26 (Yom Kippur); Wednesday, October 17;
and Monday, November 5. I do not anticipate cancelling any other classes.
Class will meet on Wednesday, October 31 (Halloween); Wednesday, November 21 (the
evening before Thanksgiving); and Monday, November 26 (the Monday after
Thanksgiving).
Our full-day meeting on Saturday, September 29 (10am-6pm) will make up four of our
cancelled classes (the fifth is made up on November 26). Attendance is required at the
Saturday meeting. However, all students who attend for at least two hours will be
counted as having attended, and those unable to attend will be given only one absence.
Student Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
 Identify and correctly analyze issues presented in the most frequently barexamined areas of the law of real property
 Demonstrate a basic understanding of the role of lawyers and legal documents in
drafting and interpreting leases, conveyances, land sale contracts, and easements,
covenants, and servitudes
 Demonstrate basic familiarity with the public and private law of housing
discrimination and restrictive covenants
 Successfully answer MBE-style multiple-choice questions at the “bar rate” (100/3
hours), in the areas of landlord-tenant law, adverse possession, joint ownership,
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future interests, land sale agreements, mortgages, forclosure, warranties,
recording acts, easements, covenants, and servitudes
Basis for Grade
Your grade will be calculated as follows:
Unit I Test (September 12, 2012):
Unit II/III Test (October 24, 2012):
Final Examination (December 13, 2012):
10%
20%
70%
Reading Assignments
The reading assignments for our Course are set out below. At the beginning of the
Course, the reading assignments are often very short (less than 10 pages per class). You
are expected to do all of this reading with a great deal of care and attention to detail.
Later in the Course, the assignment for a particular class may be 30-50 pages, and
additional direction will be provided about what portion of the reading to focus on in
particular.
You will notice that we are not endeavoring to read the entirety of our nearly 1200-page
casebook. We will read part of Chapter 2, Chapters 3-4, part of Chapter 5, Chapters 6, 7,
8, and 10. We will not be reading them in precisely this order. However, these portions
of our casebook address the most heavily bar-examined parts of the law of Property, and
they are our exclusive focus in this Course.
Course Schedule/Assignments
UNIT I: THE LAW OF LANDLORD AND TENANT (Dukeminier, Chap. 6)
Unit objectives: By the end of Unit I, students will be able to
 Carefully read and accurately brief Property cases
 Properly use legal terminology and vocabulary in the landlord-tenant area
 Identify and analyze bar-examined issues in the landlord-tenant area as they are
commonly presented in bar-exam style essay questions
 Correctly answer MBE-style multiple-choice questions in the landlord-tenant area
Orientation Week
Wednesday, August 15, 3pm-3:50pm, Introduction to Leases
Dukeminier, pp. 421-431, including Garner v. Gerrish.
Please NOTE: Our first class takes place during Orientation Week. This is a
“real class” – unlike many college courses, it is not an “introductory” meeting in
which no substantive material is covered. You are expected to have done the
assigned reading, including briefing the assigned case, before the first class
meeting. Every student can anticipate being called on during class, and is
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expected to answer in a way that demonstrates serious preparedness (I do not take
volunteers, and “passing” is not permitted.)
Regular Semester
Monday, August 20, Housing Discrimination
Dukeminier, pp. 431-438 plus Klein & Doskow, “Housingdiscrimination.com?: The
Ninth Circuit (Mostly) Puts Out the Welcome Mat for Fair Housing Suits Against
Roommate-Matching Websites,” 38 Golden Gate U. L. Rev. 329 (2008).
Wednesday, August 22, Delivery of Possession
Dukeminier, pp. 438-442, including Hannan v. Dusch
Monday, August 27, Subleases and Assignments
Dukeminier, pp. 442-459, including Ernst v. Conditt and Kendall v. Ernest Pestana
Wednesday, August 29, The Tenant Who Defaults
Dukeminier, pp. 459-469, including Berg v. Wiley
NO CLASS MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3 (LABOR DAY)
Wednesday, September 5, The Tenant Who Abandons Possession
Dukeminier, pp. 469-481, including Sommer v. Kridel
Monday, September 10, Landlord Duties, Tenant Rights and Remedies
Dukeminier, pp. 482-508, including Reste Realty Corp. v. Cooper and Hilder v. St. Peter
Wednesday, September 12, UNIT I TEST
This will be a 2 hour, closed-book test, in two parts, weighted equally. The first
hour will consist of a bar exam-style Essay question in the Landlord-Tenant area.
The second hour will consist of 25 multiple-choice questions (MBE-style) in the
Landlord-Tenant area.
NO CLASS MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17 (ROSH HASHANAH)
UNIT II: THE SIGNIFICANCE OF POSSESSION
Unit objectives: By the end of Unit II, students will be able to
 Recognize and explain the factual basis of claims to title based on adverse
possession
 Recognize, describe, and explain the legal consequences of some forms of nonmarital joint property ownership, including the similarities and differences
between joint tenancy and tenancy in common
 Classify the entire range of present and future interests
 Apply the common law Rule Against Perpetuities to validate/invalidate future
interests
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


Apply common law “wait and see,” USRAP, and the California Statutory RAP to
a range of conveyances
Redraft conveyances to eliminate gifts that violate RAP
Correctly identify the owner of all interests in property over time, by bringing
together facts, the terms of a conveyance, and RAP (including as modified)
Correctly answer MBE-style multiple-choice questions in the areas of adverse
possession, joint interests, and future interests/RAP
Wednesday, September 19, Adverse Possession
Dukeminier, pp. 116-164 (brief all cases)
Monday, September 24, Joint Ownership
Dukeminier, pp. 319-358 (brief all cases)
NO CLASS WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26 (YOM KIPPUR)
Saturday, September 29, Future Interests ALL DAY MEETING (10am-6pm)
Read as much as you can of the Edwards Supplement. Doing at least a few problems at
the end of each chapter is also a good idea, to check if you are understanding it.
Then skim Dukeminier, pp. 183-317
UNIT III: THE LAND SALE TRANSACTION (Dukeminier, Chap. 7-8)
Unit objectives: By the end of Unit III, students will be able to
 Describe and recognize the basic parts of a real estate purchase contract
 Understand the mortgage foreclosure process in a basic way
 Recognize and understand the legal significance of the warranties in deeds
 Distinguish between the types of recording acts
 Correctly answer MBE-style multiple-choice questions in the areas of the land
sale contract, mortgages, foreclosure, and recording acts
Monday, October 1 Introduction; Brokers; The Contract of Sale
Dukeminier, pp. 519-553
Wednesday, October 3 The Contract of Sale, cont’d
Dukeminier, pp. 553-585
Monday, October 8 The Deed; Financing Real Estate Transactions
Dukeminier, pp. 585-621
Wednesday, October 10 Mortgage Foreclosure; The Recording System
Dukeminier, pp. 621-667
Monday, October 15 Types of Recording Acts; Chain of Title; Persons Protected by the
Recording System; Inquiry Notice
Dukeminier, pp. 667-702
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NO CLASS WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17
Monday, October 22 Marketable Title Acts; Registration of Title; Title Insurance
Dukeminier, pp. 702-727
Wednesday, October 24, UNIT II/III Test
This will be a 2 hour, closed-book test. The first hour will consist of a RAP
problem (problems of this type will be the culmination of the all-day class on
September 29). The second hour will consist of 30 multiple-choice questions
(MBE style) on Adverse Possession (3-4 questions), Joint Interests (3-4
questions), and the Land Sale Transaction (22-24 questions).
UNIT IV: THE LAW OF NON-POSSESSORY CURRENT INTERESTS
(EASEMENTS, COVENANTS, AND SERVITUDES) (Dukeminier, Chap. 10)
Unit objectives: By the end of Unit IV, students will be able to
 Distinguish between easements, covenants, and equitable servitudes and
understand the rights and duties created by each
 Correctly answer MBE-style multiple-choice questions in the areas of easements,
covenants, and equitable servitudes
 Correctly analyze bar-exam-style essay questions involving classification of use
rights as easements, covenants, or servitudes and the consequences of each
Monday, October 29, Easements
Dukeminier, pp. 763-786, including Willard, Holbrook, and Van Sandt
Wednesday, October 31, Easements (cont’d)
Dukeminier, pp. 786-812, including Othen and Raleigh Avenue Beach Assn.
NO CLASS MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5
Wednesday, November 7, Easements (cont’d)
Dukeminier, pp. 812-830, including Miller and Brown
Monday, November 12, Easements (cont’d)
Dukeminier, pp. 831-847, including Presault
Wednesday, November 14, Covenants and Servitudes
Dukeminier, pp. 847-876, including Tulk, Sanborn and Neponsit
Monday, November 19, Covenants
Dukeminier, pp. 876-896, including Shelley v. Kraemer, Western Land, Rick v. West,
and Pocono Springs
Wednesday, November 21, Common Interest Communities
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Dukeminier, pp. 896-924, including Nahrstedt and 40 West 67th Street Corp.
Monday, November 26, LAST CLASS: REVIEW SESSION
Thursday, December 13: FINAL EXAM: 5pm-9pm
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