tutorials > admin law > fact pattern

Lesson One: Fact Pattern

As you work your way through this tutorial, you will see links to a research example. When you click on a "research example" link, you'll be linked to a page with instructions that guide you through the research process for the fact pattern below. Often, the instructions will include links to external web sites, which open in new, smaller windows. You may toggle back and forth to follow the instructions.

A partner at your law firm is annoyed: he has registered his phone number on the National Do-Not-Call Registry, but he keeps getting telemarketing phone calls at 9:00 every night, just when he's putting his youngest to bed. He wants you to gather as much up-to-date information as possible so he can be prepared to take action the next time he receives an annoying call.

In a related matter, he asks you to find out whether there have been instances of phone companies switching customers' long distance service without permission, and if so, what the penalties are, if any, for these actions.  His daughter, a freshman in college, claims that the reason for her unexpectedly high phone bill last month is because she suddenly got switched without her approval from MCI to MChigh.