Skywalker Memo, Version 1

ENC 4930 Introduction to Legal Writing and Thinking (Spring 2018)

Final Memo Fact Pattern

Luke Skywalker, a rebellious sixteen-year-old, snuck into a bar one night, drank eight

shots of Jaegermeister, and got into an argument with one of the regulars, Darth Vader. The

fighting escalated in violence until finally Vader took out a light saber and cut off Skywalker’s

hand.

“I’m totally suing you for this,” Skywalker said as the paramedics applied a tourniquet.

“Please don’t,” Vader said, and leaned over and whispered, “I’m not well. If you don’t

sue, I’ll leave you this light saber when I die, as long as you follow these conditions: quit

drinking and smoking marijuana until your 21st birthday, and attend Jedi University when you

graduate from high school. If you don’t do these things, I’m going to leave it to Chancellor

Palpatine.”

“I’ll think about it,” Luke said. He went home and talked to his aunt and uncle.

“It was awfully stupid of you to get into a bar fight,” they said. “You’re going to need

some intellectual skills now that you’re missing a hand. And lawsuits are expensive.”

It was an awesome light saber, Luke thought. And he still had one good hand. Why not?

That day, he resolved to quit drinking and smoking pot. In the fall of the next year he

filled out an application for Jedi University, fully intending to attend. However, one morning

before school started, he read in the paper that Darth Vader had died.