Legal Issues: State the Legal Issue(s) Involved in This Dispute as Short Legal
Essay Preview: Legal Issues: State the Legal Issue(s) Involved in This Dispute as Short Legal
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Legal Issues: State the legal issue(s) involved in this dispute as short legal
questions in your first paragraph.
The legal issues involved in this case are numerous. There are several issues that arise in an instance such as this. Did XYZ Counseling Agency commit a tort of negligence in regards to the well being of Wilbur? Should Wilbur file a suit against Chuck for battery? Besides the physical attack is there any damage to consider to Wilbur such as emotional distress?
Plaintiffs Arguments: What facts and legal rules support the Plaintiffs (the one
suing) arguments? (second paragraph)
There are many points to be made in favor of the plaintiff. Due to the history of Chuck at his previous employer, the argument can be made that XYZ Counseling Agency committed willful negligence. According to page 100 of the text XYZ Counseling Agencys decision to hire Chuck fits perfectly the description of negligence. The defendant owed a duty of care, breached this duty of care, the plaintiff suffered an injury, and the injury suffered by the plaintiff was a direct result of the defendants negligence. In addition to the physical injury caused by this attack it is likely that Wilbur will suffer some sort of emotional distress. Emotional distress as defined on page 97 of the text states that “shame, humiliation, embarrassment, anger, fear and worry constitute severe mental distress”. Suffering a beating while in counseling for anger management is something that will leave Wilbur feeling ashamed, humiliated, embarrassed, angry, fearful and worried that something like this may happen again. While the case example does not mention it, I would think that Wilbur would file suit against Chuck for battery. The example clearly states that the reason for this suit is the beating Wilbur suffered at the hands of Chuck and per page 94 of the text, “Battery is unauthorized and harmful or offensive physical contact with another person”. Chuck made harmful and offensive physical contact with Wilbur and by virtue of this lawsuit it is safe to assume that Chuck was not authorized to do so.
Defendants Arguments: What facts and legal rules support the Defendants
arguments? (third paragraph)
I find it difficult to make a reasonable defense for XYZ Counseling Agency in this matter. It is their duty as a counseling firm to ensure that their counselor are properly trained and prepared to handle clients, and beating one up because of a lack of progress is clearly not a good reason to administer any sort of physical punishment. The only thing I can think of would be that Chuck acted on his own and should be subject to battery charges and held responsible for the outcome of his outburst.