Potential Lawsuit / Bar Exam Review Question of the Day: Laurence Tribe v. Safeway?

Last Sunday, the eminent constitutional law scholar Laurence Tribe and his girlfriend, Elizabeth Westling, got stuck in an elevator at the Safeway supermarket in Georgetown. (Professor Tribe is currently in D.C. to serve in the administration of his former student from Harvard Law School, Barack Obama.)

Read the (rather humorous) write-up of Tribe’s elevator incident in the Washington Post’s Reliable Source column. According to a Safeway spokesman, the company “is trying to figure out what kind of resolution is appropriate.” Options on the table include “some steaks or a gift card.”

For those of you preparing for the bar exam this week, tackle these study questions….

1. What possible claims could Professor Tribe and Ms. Westling bring against Safeway?

2. What possible claims could Professor Tribe and Ms. Westling bring against other parties?

3. Are Professor Tribe and Ms. Westling likely to prevail on these claims? Explain.

You can post your responses in the comments. (Feel free to fill in a random name and email in order to comment; your real name and email are not required.)

Speaking of comments, although they have no bearing on the legal analysis, some of the comments on the WaPo piece are amusing. E.g., “I can’t think of a more deserving man to be stuck in an elevator.”

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Laurence Tribe’s case against the Social Safeway: Top legal scholar stuck in elevator
[Reliable Source / Washington Post]
For an Obama Mentor, a Nebulous Legal Niche [New York Times]
Elizabeth Westling [Huffington Post]

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