Reference no: EM132255310

Tort Law Assignment -

Upon completion of this assignment, you will be able to:

1. Describe the fundamental concepts of tort law from an international perspective based on comparisons of both common law, and civil law, as reflected in Book VI Draft Common Frame of Reference;

2. Identify the main rules that are applicable in tort law in various domestic jurisdictions based on both common law and in Book VI Draft Common Frame of Reference;

3. Compare the main differences and similarities in legal sources, legal reasoning and purposes of tort law between common law and European code based legal systems (as reflected in Book VI Draft Common Frame of Reference);

4. Analyze and resolve a simple and structured tort case in a common law or civil law jurisdiction;

5. Represent a client in a tort law case in a common law or civil law jurisdiction by applying appropriate formal requirements and writing in a persuasive way.

Assignment -

You work for a law firm that represents officer Dudley Doright in an appeal from an adverse ruling at the trial court level in his negligence case against Skidmore Logistics and ACME Truck Repair. The trial court ruled, inter alia, as a matter of law that Doright's injuries were not foreseeable by Skidmore and that therefore Skidmore owed no duty to Doright. You work on an appellate team that is preparing the brief and you have been given the job of writing the legal argument on this issue. Another lawyer on the team drafted the statement of facts and it reads as follows:

I. STATEMENT OF FACTS

An unseasonably severe storm hit the plains in Jefferson State on April 28, 2014. Dudley Doright, an officer with the Jefferson State Highway Patrol, was called to respond to an accident on Interstate 25. The storm had created white-out conditions on the highway. Many motorists were forced to stop their vehicles in the middle of the highway due to the slick, snow-packed roads, high winds, and extremely poor visibility.

Doright approached the accident scene near mile marker 213 in the southbound lane. Frank Poncherello, a deputy from the local sheriff's office was already on the scene. Doright parked his car diagonally across the highway lanes, parallel to the sheriff's car, but staggered a fair distance behind it to increase visibility of the accident scene. Both cars had their emergency lights flashing to warn oncoming traffic.

Doright proceeded to investigate the crash, which was caused by a semi-truck that had side-swiped two passenger vehicles parked on the side of the highway. About twenty minutes later, another semi-truck (owned and operated by Skidmore Logistics) approached the accident scene. The Skidmore truck appeared to be driving too fast for the conditions. Poncherello watched as the trailer slowly slid into Doright's car. The truck's trailer struck Doright's vehicle, as well as a passenger car parked behind it.

Doright could not investigate this second accident, since it involved his own patrol car. He called in Sergeant Jon Baker to respond to the Skidmore Logistics accident.

ACME Truck Repair (ACME) was called to the scene to remove the wreckage from the second (Skidmore) accident. Baker directed the ACME employees to get the Skidmore trailer away from the two cars it had impacted. The ACME employees positioned the wrecker in the passing southbound lane next to the Skidmore truck. They rigged the winch line from the wrecker to the Skidmore trailer, and winched the line. Then they lifted the Skidmore trailer away from the two cars and set it about four or five feet away from Doright's patrol car. Without alerting anyone else, the ACME employees unhooked the winch line from the Skidmore truck.

Once the trailer was lifted and after the winch was unhooked, Doright walked around to the driver's side to inspect the damage. At that moment, the Skidmore trailer slid back across the ice towards Doright's car and pinned him between the trailer and the car. The ACME wrecker team quickly re-attached the winch and managed to pull the trailer away from the car within several minutes. Doright was freed and carried to the side of the road, where he waited for an ambulance. He was treated at a nearby hospital for crush-type injuries.

You will write your section of the brief under the heading.

B. Skidmore Owed a Duty to Doright.

It is crucial to win on this issue as your firm just learned that ACME is going into bankruptcy and has no assets. In order to recover any money for your client, you have to keep the case against Skidmore alive by winning the appeal.

There are other issues on appeal, however, you are to limit yourself to addressing this single argument. Other lawyers on the team are preparing the other arguments.

Case law -

In drafting your part of the brief, you can assume that the legal jurisdiction is one of those odd, hybrid fictional common law jurisdictions that only exist in law school assignments. All of the following cases are applicable in this jurisdiction. Some of them (but not all) are applicable to this issue. You must decide which ones are applicable and use them with appropriate analysis. In other words, explain what the case is about, identify the rule, or test, set out in the case and explain why each case you cite helps your argument that Skidmore owes a duty to Doright. Incorporate and link important facts to your argument. Do not cut and paste the entire statement of facts. It will appear in the complete version of the brief. Just use what you need.

Choose from the following cases:

1. Palsgraf v. Long Island R. Co., 248 N.Y. 339, 162 N.E. 99 (1928)

2. Bourhill v. Young [1943] AC 92

3. Rigby v. Chief Constable of Northamptonshire [1985] 3 All ER 87

4. Donoghue v. Stevenson [1932] AC 562

Only submit the portion of the brief under the heading.

Attachment:- Assignment File.rar