A woman gifted her house to her niece by quitclaim deed. The niece promptly and properly recorded her deed. A year later, the woman conveyed the same house to a neighbor for $75,000 by warranty deed, which was promptly and properly recorded. As between the niece and the neighbor, who has the superior right to title to the house?

A woman entered into a written contract to sell her office building to an investor. A week before the date set for closing, the investor decided to buy a hotel in a neighboring town instead. The investor notified the woman that he would not be going through with the closing. The woman sued the investor for specific performance. Which fact, if true, would likely cause the court to rule in the investor’s favor?

A man and his nephew lived and worked together on the man’s ranch for 15 years. The man developed severe arthritis as he grew older, and the nephew took over the daily work of running the ranch. The man told his nephew that he wanted to be sure that the ranch would go to the nephew when the man died, so he gave the nephew a quitclaim deed. The nephew did not record the deed, but locked it in a drawer in his desk. Six months later, the man’s daughter learned about this. She asked her father to sell the ranch to her, saying he could continue to live there for the rest of his life. The daughter offered her father a good sum of money for the ranch, so the man agreed. The man and his daughter closed on the sale the next day. The man then told the nephew that he had changed his mind and decided to leave the ranch to his grandchildren. The nephew promised to destroy the deed, and the next week, he did. A month later, however, there was an accident at the ranch and the man and the nephew both died. The man died intestate and was survived by three children, including his daughter. The man’s heirs, the nephew’s heirs, and the daughter claim title to the ranch. The jurisdiction has a notice recording statute. If the nephew’s heirs bring an appropriate action to quiet title to the ranch, who is likely to prevail?

In exchange for a share of the profits, a woman conveyed her densely forested tract of land to a logging company by warranty deed. The logging company did not record its deed. Afraid her friends and family would think she made a bad business decision, the woman kept the transaction with the logging company to herself. Prior to felling any trees, the logging company abandoned its project and returned the deed to the woman. Then, in exchange for half the tract’s market value, the woman executed and delivered a quitclaim deed to the tract to her friend. The friend intended to record the deed but forgot. Subsequently, the logging company decided to proceed with its original logging project on the land. The jurisdiction has the following recording act: A conveyance of an interest in land shall not be valid against any subsequent purchaser for value, without notice thereof, unless the conveyance is recorded. In a suit between the logging company and the friend to quiet title, who is likely to prevail?

A man, who had a struggling catering business, was in desperate need of money to purchase groceries and supplies for an upcoming event. The man found an investor willing to lend him $30,000 if he put up adequate collateral to assure the investor that she would not lose her money. To guarantee the loan, the man gave the investor a deed to his house, which was worth $75,000 and had been left to the man by his aunt. The investor recorded the deed and gave the man $30,000. The man signed a promissory note agreeing to repay the $30,000 within six months. The man continued to occupy the house, and the investor agreed to reconvey the house to the man as soon as he repaid the $30,000. The man was unable to pay the investor when the note came due and the investor refused to give the man an extension. If the investor seeks to take possession of the house, may she do so?

An inexperienced worker who was instructed to clean the floors of a store mixed ammonia and chlorine bleach in a large pail. Both he and a customer who was standing nearby were overcome by fumes and suffered lung damage. The customer sued the worker, alleging negligence. In defense, the worker presented uncontroverted evidence that he could not read the warning labels on the containers and that, while he knew he was mixing ammonia and bleach, he had never been made aware of the danger of mixing the two chemicals. Nevertheless, the jury found him liable for the customer’s injuries. If the worker challenges the verdict on appeal, how should the appellate court rule?

An employee of a construction company working in a high crime neighborhood negligently cut through power cables. The accident knocked out power to the area and disabled a home’s security system. The homeowner, who was out of town, received an alert from the security company advising her to arrange for someone to go to the house and restart the system with a backup power source. The homeowner got distracted soon after getting the message and neglected to contact anyone. That evening, a burglar broke into the home while power was still off in the neighborhood. Because the security system was not working and the alarm did not go off, the burglar was able to steal jewelry and other valuables from the home and escape. The homeowner sued the construction company for the loss of her valuables in a jurisdiction that has adopted pure comparative negligence rules. Is the homeowner likely to recover?

An eight-year-old girl was playing catch on the sidewalk with her friend when her friend made an errant throw over the girl’s head. The ball hit a pedestrian, who was walking on the sidewalk in the other direction. The pedestrian angrily threw the ball into the street. The girl ran out into the street to retrieve it and was hit and seriously injured by a car. If the girl’s guardian considers legal action on her behalf against the pedestrian and the driver of the car, which of the following best states the pedestrian’s liability?

Based on the passage, it can be reasonably inferred that:

What is the main purpose of quoting Dr. Jennifer Etnier in paragraph 4?