Tort Law Case – Tort Hypo No. 1
David, a semi-retired teacher with significant health problems, was driving 30 km/hr in a school zone. That morning, David’s nurse gave him the wrong pills and he was feeling drowsy because of the mix-up with his medication. The nurse knew that David needed to drive to a doctor’s appointment later but she was in a rush as she had other patients to visit that day. As David passed a local elementary school on the way to his appointment, a 9-year-old boy named Jordan ran into the street to chase a hockey ball that bounced out of the school parking lot while he and his friends were playing ball hockey after school. David slammed on his brakes to avoid hitting Jordan and the car came to a full stop. Unfortunately, he was too late and Jordan was knocked to the ground. Fortunately, Jordan saw the car coming and braced himself for the impact. Jordan sustained a dislocated shoulder and a sprained knee after being hit by David’s car. Because of having to stop his car suddenly, David hit his head on the steering wheel and suffered a concussion. He now has persistent head aches and is unable to keep his part-time job at the supermarket where he was working as a stock person.
Immediately after David stopped his car on the road, Danielle, who was driving closely behind David, swerved to miss his car. Danielle was clocked at 70 km/hr by the crossing guard who set up a speed camera in front of the school as part of the school’s road safety program. As Danielle swerved, she lost control of her car, hit the speed camera and was seriously injured when her car crashed into a tree. Danielle’s injuries included a broken ankle, broken ribs and significant head trauma. The camera, manufactured by a company called “Photo-Op”, blew up like a bomb owing to a faulty lithium ion battery that was subject to a recall order. It turns out that the camera blew up due to an over-heated battery and not because of the impact from being hit by Danielle’s car.
Patricia, who was picking up her child from the school, was standing near the accident scene, next to the speed camera. Patricia suffered from 2nd-degree burns and was temporarily blinded by the explosion. Patricia has a heart condition and the shock from the explosion caused her to have a stroke. The crossing guard, Sally, is an ex-cop and she witnessed everything that happened.
Explain the elements of each potential case (using the ABCDs of Negligence) while also discussing possible outcomes and defences.

Contract Law Case – Contract Hypo No. 1
Jason, a recently retired restaurant owner, decides that he no longer wishes to be a slave to technology. Part of his plan to completely disconnect includes a self-imposed ban on the use of cell phones and computers.
Jason makes the decision to move, permanently, to his parents’ vacation home in a remote community on a private island located in the middle of a lake on Vancouver Island. In keeping with his ban on technology, he places an ad in the classifieds section of the provincial newspaper stating that he is selling his car.
The following ad was published in the weekend edition of the newspaper: “2010 Volkswagen Jetta FOR SALE. Car is in excellent working condition and will be sold to the first person who sends me a notice in writing indicating they will buy the car for $4,000. Notices must be sent to the following address: 123 Coney Island, Lake Comox, BC V1R 0G4”.
On Sunday evening, Jenny, who has yet to pass her driver’s test as she is only 15, posts a letter stating that she wants to buy Jason’s car for $4,000 on Wednesday morning. It normally takes one week for letters that are sent from Vancouver to arrive on Coney Island.
On Monday morning, Jessica, a bartender who used to work with Jason in the restaurant business, sees the advertisement in the newspaper. She recognizes the address as Jason once invited her to visit the vacation home a few summers ago. Late Monday night, after a long evening shift and after she has had one-too-many beers after work, Jessica sends Jason an email (to the email address that he gave her when they first met) stating that she is willing to pay $4,000 for the car. Jason never receives the email, owing to his self-imposed ban on the use of cell phones and computers.
On Tuesday evening, Jason meets his friend Dave for dinner on his family’s private island. Dave complains how his car is giving him problems and Jason mentions that he is selling his Jetta for $3,500. Dave says that he only has $3,000 to spend on a replacement car. Jason does not want to sell his car to Dave in case the car ends up suffering from mechanical problems, which would then put a strain on their friendship. To make matters worse, Dave suggests that, as part of the “deal”, he can give Jason $2,000 in cash and then transfer to him $1,000 worth of bonds that Jason knows Dave acquired in a fraudulent transaction.
Jason was becoming very discouraged as he thought selling his car would be quick and easy. So, he calls his 25-year old niece and tells her: “Look, Candice, you have to buy my car because of all the things I have done for you over the years… you owe me! I’ll give you my car for $3,000”. Candice offers her uncle $2,500 just because she feels pressured to make an offer but she has no intention of buying the car.
Explain, using the principles of contract law, the position of each of the parties involved in this scenario.

Tort Law Case – Tort Hypo No. 2
Johnnie purchased a skateboard from Skate-Mart, a skateboard shop located in the Kitsilano area of Vancouver, BC. The model of skateboard (called “The Intro”) that Johnnie bought is the cheapest in the line of products manufactured and sold by “Hardcore Skates”. Hardcore Skates is a relatively new line of skateboards that are produced by a Chinese company. Skate-Mart purchased the rights to sell Hardcore Skates products in Canada. Davie, a Skate-Mart employee, recommended “The Intro” model skateboard to Johnnie and claimed that it was the “perfect” skateboard for him, even after Johnnie told him that he wants to “skate in bowls and on ramps”.
“The Intro” skateboard comes with an instruction booklet. The front cover of the instruction booklet depicts a picture of a child using a Hardcore Skates skateboard in a skate park, along with the words “PLEASE READ BEFORE USE” printed in bold and caps on the cover. The instruction booklet lists basic features of the skateboard and also provides instructions for general user maintenance. The booklet does not recommend specific uses for the skateboard; however, it does recommend that the user regularly check and maintain the skateboard’s wheels and trucks in order to prevent the risk of bodily harm, especially when doing skateboard tricks. The Manual suggests that the skateboard not be used for ramps and there is a disclaimer at the end that reads: “Hardcore Skates is not liable for any injury or damage suffered while using our products”.
A few months ago, ten-year old Johnnie was riding his “The Intro” skateboard at his local skateboard park. The skateboard park is made up of concrete bowls, concrete ramps and a concrete halfpipe. The park is run and maintained by the City of Vancouver and there is a sign at the skateboard park that reads: “Safety equipment MUST be worn at all times. Use this park at your own risk”. Johnnie was not wearing any protective equipment and, when he landed, he fractured his elbow. As Johnnie was trying to land, the skateboard shot out of the bowl and it hit a mother, named Alice, who was sitting on a park bench nearby. Alice was walking through the park and was taking a rest. The skateboard hit Alice in the head and caused her to suffer a concussion and severe head trauma. Unknown to anyone at the skateboard park, Alice was recovering from a previous head injury a few days earlier when she fell off her bike. Immediately after the skateboard hit Alice in the head, George, a bystander who witnessed the accident, ran towards Alice to see if she was OK. While George was running towards Alice, he tripped on Johnnie’s skateboard and fell into the concrete bowl, breaking his ankle.
It turns out the reason why Johnnie fell in the concrete bowl was because the impact of the drop and landing broke the skateboard’s trucks.
Explain the elements of each potential case (using the ABCDs of Negligence) while also discussing possible outcomes and defences.

Contract Law Case – Contract Hypo No. 2
Charles wanted to sell his automobile on Craigslist and decided to post an ad with a ridiculously low price in order to generate a lot of interest. The online ad read as follows:
“CHEAP car for sale. 1988 Honda Civic. Everything is in good working order. Only asking $200 but plan to accept the highest offer.”
As a result of this ad, Charles received over 100 emails. In an effort to try to manage all the responses and work his way through them strategically, he looked at the responses in date order (prioritizing the ones he received on the first day that he put the ad online). Charles decided to work his way down the list, starting with the very first response, until he found a buyer who was willing to pay at least $500 for his car.
The first email he received was from Eric. Eric’s email stated that he would pay $300 for Charles’ car if he immediately took the ad off Craigslist. Charles decided that $300 was not enough but wanted to see if Eric would go up in price. So, Charles emailed Eric back and wrote that he’d accept $400. He also attached a picture of the car and added that the car had recently passed an Air Care inspection. Eric responded immediately (via his Blackberry) and agreed to pay $450 for the car.
Eric and Charles agreed to meet the very next day. When they met, Charles was shocked to see how young Eric was. He asked Eric how old he was and Eric responded, “Well, I am 15 but I am turning 16 next week and plan to get my driver’s licence right away.” Charles explained that he wasn’t comfortable selling his car to “a child” and asked, “How were you planning to get this car back you your place anyway?” At this point, it was clear that the deal was not going to go through and Charles just got into his car and drove away.
When he got home, Charles decided to call the next 2 people on his list. He called Amy first. She offered $400 and mentioned that her present car had broken down recently. “Great, at least she is old enough to drive,” thought Charles. Charles then called Luke. Luke explained that he couldn’t go higher than $300 because he was broke. Charles did not intend to accept an offer that was less than $400 but agreed to meet with Luke anyway.
Luke was available to meet first so he and Charles met at a local Starbucks. To Charles’ relief, Luke looked to be in his 40s. Immediately after they shook hands, Luke showed Charles $300 cash. Charles didn’t take the money but explained that he really needed $400 minimum. Luke then explained that he might be able to come up with 100 bucks but needed 24 hours to see if one of his “deals” would go through. At this point, Charles got a little nervous as he suspected that Luke was a shady character. So, Charles told Luke, “I’ll meet you back here tomorrow and, if you have the extra 100 bucks, the car is yours.” Luke seemed happy with this arrangement and left. Little did he know that Charles had no intention of returning to make a deal.
Later that evening, Charles met with Amy. Amy came over to Charles’ place after she got off work. Her friend dropped her off and left as Amy fully intended to buy Charles’ car. Amy handed Charles $450 cash and asked, “So, do we have a deal?” Charles used a very simple agreement of sale that he found online. In the agreement, it stated that he agreed to sell the car to Amy in exchange for $450. Charles gave Amy the keys and she drove the car away.

The next day, Amy called and was very upset. Apparently, the car broke down while she was driving home. She claimed that Charles knew that the car was not in “good working order” and insisted that he give her the money back. She also claimed that she checked the title on the car and that it was not registered under Charles’ name. Charles just hung up on Amy. At that moment, Luke called. He explained that he got the extra 100 bucks and wanted to come over to pick up his car. Charles explained that the car was “gone”. Luke then yelled, “What do you mean? We had a deal! I am going to sue you!”
Explain, using the principles of contract law, the position of each of the parties involved in this scenario.

Tort Law Case – Tort Law Hypo No. 3

Tony was travelling west on 104th Avenue in Surrey, B.C. When Tony approached the corner of 104th Avenue and King George Highway, he put his right-hand turn indicator on and came to a full stop. There was a pedestrian, named Sally, who was walking east in the middle of the crosswalk and Tony waited until she stepped on to the curb before proceeding to turn.

As Tony was turning, a cyclist (who was travelling westbound down the sidewalk on 104th Avenue) failed to slow down or stop at the intersection as he was trying to make it across the crosswalk before the light turned amber. A witness provided a statement where he stated that the cyclist (a minor) was riding at such a high speed down the hill that he thought the minor was going to hit Sally with his bicycle. Tony told the police that he turned on his indicator, came to a full stop and completed a shoulder check before initiating his turn (as mentioned he delayed his turn as he waited for the pedestrian to cross) and that he did not see the cyclist before turning. Just as Tony’s passenger door was in line with the crosswalk, the front wheel of the minor’s bicycle hit Tony’s door with such a force that it shook Tony’s car. The minor, named Alex, and his bicycle bounced off Tony’s car door and Alex fell to the ground onto King George Highway. The paramedics who arrived at the scene of the accident 15 minutes later assessed Alex’s injuries. Their diagnosis was that Alex suffered from a sore right shoulder (which hit the car door as he turned to brace himself for impact) as well as a contusion to his right knee (which hit the ground after he bounced off the car) and minor scrapes. There was no damage to Alex’s helmet (which ruled out a concussion) but the bicycle’s handlebar was twisted after it hit Tony’s car door and the rear derailleur was bent inwards when it hit the ground.

Sally, the pedestrian who was crossing King George Highway at the time of the accident, thought Alex was seriously injured after witnessing the accident. She fled from the scene immediately after she saw what happened as she was traumatized by what she saw. Sally now suffers from extreme anxiety and needs to take medication for her condition. She was already suffering from a mental disorder and had taken a stress leave from work just one week before the accident.

Explain the elements of each potential case (using the ABCDs of Negligence) while also discussing possible outcomes and defences.

Contract Law Case – Contract Hypo No. 3
Mary signed a two-year contract to provide housekeeping services for Florence. The employment contract is compliant with all of the minimum standards set out in the Employment Standards Act.
After working for Florence for two months, Mary learns of the wages that others in her position are earning in British Columbia. She bides her time before approaching Florence about this. Then, on the Friday morning before a weekend during which Florence is having an important dinner party for her husband’s business partners, Mary confronts Florence with the fact that she is underpaid. Mary also states that, unless her wages are increased immediately, she will be quitting on the spot–despite the fact that the dinner party cannot go ahead without her. Florence becomes frantic because housekeepers are in short supply and she also knows that it is too late to secure a replacement chef for that weekend’s occasion. As a consequence, she irritably agrees to Mary’s demands and says that she will increase her wages by 25 per cent. In order to do this, however, Florence tells Mary that her current employment contract is now invalid and that she must sign a temporary contract to provide catering services only for the dinner party that weekend, and that she will be paid the 25 per cent higher rate in this temporary contract. Florence was comfortable drafting the terms of this temporary contract which stated that Mary would be responsible for catering a dinner for 20 guests on the following Sunday (of that weekend) and that Florence would pay her for the costs of all the ingredients plus her new hourly rate of $40 per hour, which was adjusted for a 25 per cent increase.
After Mary agreed to the terms and signed the temporary contract to provide catering services that weekend, Florence stated that she wanted her lawyers to draft a new permanent employment contract after the weekend and that she would have it ready by the following Monday.
On the Saturday, a day before the dinner party, Mary spends all day preparing the food. On Saturday evening, she is ready to deliver the food to Florence’s mansion but Mary is unable to leave her house owing to a major storm that knocked out all of the town’s electricity. On Sunday, the morning of the event, there was still no power anywhere and hurricane-like winds, along with pelting hail, prevented anyone from going anywhere. In fact, there was a news advisory telling people to stay at home.
Neither Mary nor the dinner guests made it to Florence’s place that Sunday evening. On Monday, when Mary showed up for work, Florence told her that she was a “terrible person” for “blackmailing” her the way she did the weekend before an important event and that Mary was fired.
Explain, using the principles of contract law, the position of each of the parties involved in this scenario.

Tort Law Case – Tort Hypo No. 4

Jennifer and John are adventure guides for Westcoast Explorers and Rafting Inc. (WER Inc.). Jennifer has all of the advanced certificates that are required for a certified white-water rafting guide and she has been employed as a full-time guide by WER Inc. for the past 2 years. John only has some guiding experience with no formal training. He has taken the odd summer contract for part-time work with WER Inc.
Willy and Dale have signed up for a day out on a Class 5 river with their friends Cam and Mitch. Dale ends up in John’s raft while Willy, Cam and Mitch are in Jennifer’s raft. The certified guide who was supposed to pilot one of the boats called in sick at the last minute and Joe, WER Inc.’s supervising manager, called John to ask him to fill in as he didn’t want to cancel the second boat, which was fully booked. This is all of the participants’ first time white-water rafting.

The two boats set off together and the first stop is at a glacial lake. The guides are supposed to check to make sure that all participants are able to swim before setting off in the rapids. Jennifer asks everyone to exit the raft, swim 20 feet away and then turn around and swim back to the raft. John thinks this safety check is “stupid and not necessary” so he just asks everyone if they can swim. Before he gets any answers, he turns the raft towards the rapids and hits the white water. Jennifer, in the meantime, miscounts the number of members in the raft and she gets her raft moving towards the rapids to catch up to John’s raft. She thinks everyone is in the raft but she fails to notice that Willy, who was caught off guard by how cold the water was, is treading water and unable to make it back to the raft. He eventually makes it back to shore but is severely traumatized by the event. He actually suffered a mild heart episode for which he now has to take medication, and this prevents him from continuing to work full-time as a personal trainer.

While the rafts are in the Class 5 rapids, chaos ensues. John’s raft flips over because of his inability to control it and all the participants in his raft are jettisoned from the raft and into the frigid waters. At the time the raft flipped, John was trying a very tricky maneuver where he was supposed to bounce the front end of the raft off a rock wall and spin the raft around. All of the participants in John’s boat make it back to the raft except for Dale. He hit his head on a rock and, although he was wearing a helmet, Dale suffered a concussion. Jennifer, seeing Dale’s body face-down and floating in the river, jumps in to save him and drags Dale into her raft. She successfully resuscitates Dale and that’s when she notices that Willy is missing from her group. While Jennifer is tending to Dale, Cam and Mitch try to steer the boat and they are somewhat successful despite having no experience. Unfortunately, Cam wildly swings the oar from one side of the raft to the other while trying to maintain control of the raft and he hits a participant named Lily in the face, breaking her nose. Lily just had rhinoplasty and will need reconstructive surgery on her nose now.

After they get to camp, Willy (who somehow made it back to the camp on his own) and Dale are sent to the local hospital. As mentioned previously, Willy had a mild heart attack. Dale, who suffered a concussion, now suffers from severe neck pain and will need a serious operation to repair the damage to his neck. He will have to take 6 months off work and will require 3 months of rehab. Dale suffered from neck pain before as he was diagnosed with “Scholar’s Neck”, which gave him terrible vertigo. He was actually off work and receiving disability benefits.

Joe, WER Inc.’s supervisor in charge, did manage to get all of the participants to sign a waiver of liability before the outing but he neither allowed the participants to read it nor did he explain to them what they were signing.

Explain the elements of each potential case (using the ABCDs of Negligence) while also discussing possible outcomes and defences.

Contract Law Case – Contract Hypo No. 4
Jonathan, who turned 18 just before his grandfather died, recently inherited a 20-acre farm (including a farmhouse) from his grandfather in Price Rupert, BC. Jonathan’s parents were away in China on business and they sent him to deal with the sale of the property as he was the only named beneficiary of the property. Unknown to Jonathan, who had never visited Prince Rupert before, the land contained valuable coal deposits worth $1,000,000. A company called “Northern Mining and LNG” knew about the coal deposits and had made many unsuccessful attempts to purchase the land from Jonathan’s grandfather. While Jonathan was in Prince Rupert, an agent of Northern Mining and LNG, called Garrett, approached him at the farm and offered to purchase the property for $300,000. Jonathan explained to Garrett that his family really had no need for the farmland, but that they did not want to sell it until they knew the land’s market value. At this point, Garrett produced documentation previously prepared by Northern Mining and LNG showing that 20 acres of land in this area of Prince Rupert typically sells for about $200,000. Jonathan, thinking he’s a savvy negotiator, told Garrett that he would accept $350,000 and Garrett shook hands with Jonathan to seal the deal. They agreed to put their agreement in writing within the next couple of days or so.
That same day, a local farmer who owns the adjacent property next to the 20-acre farm invited Jonathan over for dinner. Over dinner, the farmer, named Joe, offered to purchase half of the 20 acres, the half that was adjacent to his property, for $200,000. Jonathan thought that he could sub-divide the property and sell each of the 10-acres for $200,000. Joe told Jonathan that he needed an answer by the next day, by midnight, or his offer would be “off the table”. Jonathan left Joe’s house after dinner and told him that he’d think about it.
The next day, Garrett took Jonathan to a local bar “to celebrate their deal” and Garrett bought Jonathan several alcoholic drinks, getting him quite drunk and then putting him in a taxi that delivered Jonathan to the farmhouse. That night, before Jonathan had time to sober up, Northern Mining and LNG’s lawyers showed up at the farmhouse and asked him to sign a contract for the sale of the 20-acre farm for $350,000.
Jonathan was clearly intoxicated and the lawyers from Northern Mining and LNG noticed he was drunk. Jonathan explained to the representatives that he already agreed to sell the property to someone named Garrett, at which time the lawyers told him that Garrett was one of their agents. Surprised by this new piece of information, Jonathan declared that he would need more time to think before signing the contract. Because Jonathan was taking a long time to make his decision, the lawyers for Northern Mining and LNG began to bully Jonathan, telling him that “a deal is a deal young man… you already agreed to sell the property”. They also told him that, if he didn’t sign the papers right then and there, he would be taken to court and sued for breach of contract.
At this point, the tallest and largest of the lawyers forced a pen into Jonathan’s hand. Clearly frightened, Jonathan signed the contract. Immediately after Jonathan signed the contract, one the lawyers handed Jonathan a cheque for $350,000 and then they all left Jonathan’s farmhouse.
The next morning, Jonathan suffers from a hangover and thinks that the deal from the previous night was all just a bad dream. He notices that a contract for the sale of 10 acres of his farmland has been put in his farmhouse’s mailbox. Thinking clearly now, he signs Joe’s contract and drops it in Joe’s mailbox right away.
Explain, using the principles of contract law, the position of each of the parties involved in this scenario.