LEGL 210 BUSINESS LAW I JUDY KOCH

LEGL
210 BUSINESS
LAW I JUDY
KOCH

ASSIGNMENT
# 1 LEGAL CASE ANALYSIS

VALUE: 10%
OF FINAL GRADE

DUE: Thursday, October 10, 2013, AT OR
BEFORE 6:00 p.m.

DESCRIPTION

This is an individual assignment.

Choose from Fact Situation A or B, attached.

Analyze one of the
attached fact situations using the format and process described in the attached
document, “How to Analyze a Legal Case Problem”. You should write using sentences and
paragraphs. Use Headings as
outlined in the 5-part process for analyzing a legal case.

Your answer should be 3 – 5 pages in length
(double spaced).

Your assignment will be graded primarily on content,
i.e. the accuracy of your fact summary, correctness of your issue
identification, clear and accurate essay on the relevant laws, soundness and
reasonableness of your legal arguments, and consistency of your conclusion with
your arguments.

In the Lawportion of the case analysis, you will be summarizing and
paraphrasing the relevant law from Yates (i.e. the textbook for the course). You must
properly use APA rules to acknowledge the source of both paraphrases and
direct quotes. Use parenthetical
citations, not footnotes.

For example, if you were analyzing a case
involving the law of false imprisonment, this is how you would cite the source
for the direct quotation:

False imprisonment is an intentional tort, the two elements of which are
the detaining or restraining of another person, and having no lawful right to
do so. The criterion for imprisonment is
that a person’s freedom to leave has been completely taken away. However, “Even a person who submits to
authority or threat can be considered imprisoned, since in his mind he has been
restrained.” (Yates, Bereznicki-Korol
& Clarke, 2013, p. 107).

A copy of APA Documentation Style is
available from the MacEwan Library, either electronically (Research, How do I
Cite?) or in person. Please feel free to
contact me if you are not familiar with the process of acknowledging sources in
a written assignment.

A References
page is not required for this assignment, as Yates will be the only source of
law that you are using. It is not
expected that you will do legal research for cases or statutes outside of the
text or class lecture notes. If you do
wish to reference cases or legislation from outside sources, they must
be precedents that are persuasive or binding on Alberta courts.

Your assignment will also be graded on
clarity, writing style, grammar, punctuation, spelling, and organization.

Please see me if you have questions regarding
this assignment. Please review the
Course Outline regarding the need for timely submission of assignments.

SUBMISSION
RULES

Answers must be typed, double spaced, with a
reasonable font size and margin width.
Please put a covering page on your assignment, at the front of your
document. Make sure you put your name on
your assignment, and paginate the document.
Please give your document a file name that starts with your surname, for
example: koch_judy_blaw_asnt1.

Assignments must be submitted in two formats.

1. Assignments must be submitted electronically,
using the appropriate Blackboard Assignments tool, before the time deadline. Do not use Blackboard Mail function – please
use the correct tab for submitting your assignment.

2. You must ALSO submit your assignment ON PAPER
(i.e. HARD COPY) in order to facilitate the process of giving you lots of feedback
on your written work. The paper version
of your assignment should be handed to me in class on the day the assignment is
due. Plastic covers are not required.

Analyze
Case A or Case B. F

Also
attached is the “How to analyze a Legal Case Problem” document.F

Case A

A Case of the
Tortious Teenager?

Mary
O’Neill is a sole proprietor who owns and operates a successful convenience
store, which is close to a high school in the city. She has been in business in that location for
more than five years, and much to her dismay, it has become a hangout for
teenagers. Typically they crowd into her
store after school, make very few purchases, and sometimes impede the
legitimate customers who stop to purchase milk, bread, etc. For some time Mary
has noticed an increase in inventory shortages and has suspected that the youth
are shoplifting items from her store.

O’Neill
hired Frank Fuller to work as a security guard between the hours of 3:00 and
5:00 p.m., when the store is at its busiest.
Mary explored contracting with a private security company, but found
their rates too expensive. She hired
Fuller as her part-time employee after a business colleague recommended him to
her. Fuller is aged 59 and otherwise
retired.

One
afternoon O’Neill noticed that a young woman named Shelley, whom she had
previously suspected of shoplifting, was acting suspiciously. She was avoiding eye contact, hanging around
where she couldn’t be seen from the cash register, and had her hands in her
pockets. O’Neill notified Fuller, who
was on duty at the time, by saying “Frank, watch that one . . .” and nodded towards
Shelley. Frank approached Shelley and
said in a loud and accusing tone of voice “Hey you, come here, I’ve got a few
questions to ask you!” Shelley realized
that he was acting on instructions from his employer, and she shouted to
O’Neill, who was at the cash register, “Hey lady, if you’ve got a problem, come
over here and tell me yourself! I’ll
smack you silly!” At that point Frank
lunged at Shelley in an attempt to determine whether she was concealing stolen
goods in her jacket. He grabbed and
violently twisted her arm, and tore the sleeve of her jacket, but she managed
to wrestle free and run out of the store. Shelley suffered bruising and a
severely sprained elbow.

A
number of Shelley’s classmates saw the incident and later teased her about
it. Angry that Fuller and O’Neill had
humiliated her, Shelley returned to the street outside the store later that
night and, despite her injuries, managed to throw a large garbage can through
the store window. This was clearly
caught on the store’s security videotape.

The
cost of replacing the large storefront window was considerable, and O’Neill
commenced an action against Shelley in Provincial Court, Civil Division (small
claims court). Shelley Smith countersued
O’Neill and Fuller for compensation for her injuries (she was not able to play
volleyball on her school team) and damage to the jacket.

Having
regard to all the torts the parties may have committed in this situation,
discuss who will be successful and why.

Case B

A
Case of Cold Pizza

Lee
Chambers is employed by Vinnie’s Pizza Ltd., which is a family restaurant and
take-out service, carrying on business in North Edmonton for the past 15
years. Lee has been working for the
company on a part-time basis for the last year or so. Lee typically works in the kitchen and clearing
tables. Lee is 19 years of age and a
university student. Lee has a valid
driver’s license.

One
late afternoon in December, the regular pizza delivery driver phoned in sick,
and Vinnie, the business owner, told Lee to act as substitute driver. This had happened a few times over the past
year.

Lee
was driving the company-owned van through a residential area in northeast
Edmonton. He had made 3 deliveries and
had two more to go. It was about 7:15
p.m.. He was hurrying and was driving about
10 kilometers over the speed limit, and looked down momentarily to check an
address, when just at that moment, a dog ran in front of the vehicle from
between parked cars. Lee braked to avoid
hitting the dog, skidded sideways on an icy patch, and crossed the centre of
the roadway. He struck the front and
side of a vehicle being driven by Alice White.
White had been driving down her side of the residential street at the
time of the collision in her older model compact sedan. White had not been speeding when the van
collided into her vehicle. The
residential street permits parking on one side of the street, and at that time
of the evening, a number of vehicles were parked on the street. The street has the standard number of street
lamps, which were on, given the darkness at that time of year.

The
dog was not injured in the incident and disappeared down an alley.

White’s
motor vehicle was extensively damaged, and she suffered cracked ribs, broken
ankle, broken collar bone and a broken nose, as well as numerous contusions and
lacerations. White would have a 2 cm
permanent scar on her face. White had
not been wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident.

White
lost two months off work, as she worked as a freelance hair and makeup
photographer’s model for a group of hair styling salons in Edmonton.

White
commenced an action against Lee Chambers and Vinnie’s Pizza Ltd., claiming
general and special damages for her personal injuries, cost of car repairs, and
loss of income.

Discuss,
with reasons, whether White will be successful in the claim against both
defendants.

How to analyze a LEGAL CASE PROBLEM – a 5
part process

Facts In this part of your analysis, briefly summarize the facts that have been provided to you. Summarize facts that are relevant to the issue and the analysis of the legal case. Synthesize the complex set of facts you have been given to reduce them to the essentials of the story. State “just the facts”. Facts are the outline of events, i.e. who did what. Facts do NOT include arguments or conclusion. Do not include too much detail, but don’t leave legally relevant detail out. Do not state the facts with any bias or prejudice towards one of the parties. The summary of the important facts should be just a few sentences. Do write in sentences and paragraphs, not point form.

Issue(s) State the legal issue or issues in the form of a question. Use the appropriate legal vocabulary to state the issue. The idea is to ask one or just a few material questions, the answers to which will provide an effective solution to the case. The questions you ask will provide the framework for your analysis. EXAMPLE (for a dispute involving the tort of defamation): DO NOT ASK: “Will he win?” INSTEAD ASK: 1. Was the statement about the plaintiff defamatory, i.e. was it untrue and did it injure his reputation? 2. Did the statement contain innuendo? 3. Can the defendants argue the defence of qualified privilege? 4. Is the corporate defendant vicariously liable for the tort of the manager defendant? A complex case may have more than one issue, but typically not more than three or four. Don’t answer the questions at this stage of the analysis. Simply list all the issues. Issue identification is critically important as it provides the structure and framework for your legal analysis.

Law This is like a “mini-essay” on all the relevant law. Summarize in sentences and paragraphs all the legal rules that are relevant to the issue(s). This is a description of the law itself. It does not contain facts or argument. The applicable law is typically found in your text for the course, or lecture notes, and may be case law or statute law. You are not expected to research the law from other sources. For your written assignments, you MUST use APA citation style to acknowledge the source for quotes and paraphrases.

Argument Now argue the case by applying the law to the facts. Analyze and evaluate the case situation. Here you can be creative (relatively speaking). Explore possible arguments for the Plaintiff(s) and Defendant(s), and look at the problem as objectively as possible. Present and follow alternative arguments, if appropriate. Address and argue all the issues you have identified in step 2. Raise and pursue reasonable arguments, but not absurd arguments.

Conclusion Now assemble all that you have written and identify the most probable result. Who will be successful? What remedy is available? Briefly summarize the outcome of the case in one or two sentences.