Reference no: EM131513944

Kathleen Walsh, 17, visits Electronica City looking for a cell phone case. She is attracted to a sparkly purple rubber case as well as a glossy red one. Unsure which would look best, she removes the purple case from its packaging, slips her phone out of its case and places it into the purple one.

She repeats this with the red case, then back to the purple case. After a period of time between shuffling cases, she decides she likes neither. Kathleen then puts the phone cases back in their respective packaging, places her phone back into her case and turns to leave.

Randy, the store manager, is watching Kathleen on close monitored TV. The picture is black and white and poor quality. Randy, who sees Kathleen removing cell phone cases from packages and placing them on her phone, is convinced she placed one of the cases from the shelf on her phone and put her used case back into the package.

Randy alerts Jake, the store security guard, to stop Kathleen. Jake is a 5 year veteran security officer who believes that dressing under cover as a customer is the only way to get the "bad guys". He is not wearing any insignia or uniform identifying him as security.

As Kathleen gets near the last row of merchandise, Jake grips Kathleen's forearm arm. She turns, sees Jake and struggles to get away from him. During this struggle, Jake closes his grip harder and says, "you're not going anywhere, you're coming with me". Kathleen is not strong enough to break free of his grip, nor can she resist him pulling her towards him. Kathleen bites Jake.

At 6'3 tall and 215 lbs, Jake withstands the bite and pulls Kathleen into the tiny, dark, windowless store room. Once inside, Kathleen complains that she is weak and needs water. She tells Jake she is a diabetic. Jake believes she is stalling and ignores her.

He asks her for her biographical information. She becomes listless and unable to cooperate. Jake believes she is under the influence and leaves to get some water, but locks her purse, which contains her phone, license, and car keys in his desk.

He tells her to stay put, that law enforcement is on their way and that if she tries to leave, she will be arrested for escape. Due to her state, Jake believes she is potentially a harm to herself, and locks the door behind him. Once back on the sales floor, another theft occurs, that requires Jake to chase the perp out into the parking lot.

The thief is caught and as he is being walked into the store, a police office shows up for Kathleen. Since the recent perp is previously wanted for another crime, the law enforcement officer decides to question the perp by the patrol car, cuff him and take him downtown. This takes approximately 45 minutes. When Jake mentions, Kathleen, the officer says he already called for another officer.

An officer arrived shortly thereafter, revived a near comatose Kathleen, investigates the alleged theft, determines no crime had occurred, and then released her.

After her release, Kathleen is taken to the emergency room where in depth tests were performed. Once released, Katie began to have nightmare of people grabbing her and feared catching anything from biting Jake. She required psychiatric services to calm her nerves. Additionally, Kathleen missed the SAT test which is the last test of the school year.

In order to maintain her scholarship eligibility she needed to have taken the exam. She has a $15,000 scholarship, but if she re-took the Sat and scored higher, she could have received up to $25000. Jake applied topical ointment and placed a band aid over his punctured skin. Jake, too, was worried about infection, but shrugged it off.

Kathleen sues Electronica. Electronica's in house counsel has contacted your firm to handle the litigation. They are interested in knowing the strength of their case, where they may be exposed to liability and whether it is more advantageous to settle.

Your attorney, Clair S Darrough, has asked you to answer the following questions. You will need to spot all relevant legal issues, identify and discuss the various torts, as well as any doctrines or defenses to complete this task.

The following questions have been presented:

What Torts has Kathleen committed against Jake, if any?

What Torts has Jack committed against Kathleen, if any?

What is Electronica's legal responsibility in this situation?

What defenses may Kathleen use to defend herself against a lawsuit by Jake?

What defenses may Jake use to defense himself against a lawsuit by Kathleen?

Assuming Electronica has legal responsibility, what defenses are available to it?

Identify and discuss any potential damages arising from the torts committed?