LW188: Psychiatric Injury- Case Analysis- Law of Tort Assignment

Internal Code: MAS6780

Law of Tort Assignment:

Task: The coursework assessment task, which comprises 30% of the final mark for the module, is a problem question on issues relating to psychiatric injury: At the Wessex Recreational Ground a travelling funfair has been constructed to celebrate May Bank Holiday. During the day the roller coaster ride comes off its tracks and crashes into an adjacent ‘Donut’ stand, injuring Jane, Pete and Gillian. The crash occurred because the owner, Ken, was negligent in cancelling the rides annual maintenance check, to save money. Advise the following claimants as to their chances of a successful negligence claim. 1. Geoff, the owner of the ‘Donut’ stand who suffers a nervous breakdown when he sees the extent of the damage to his property, the only source of his income. 2. Helen, who is employed by Ken and is responsible for erecting the rides. She feels guilty that she didn’t know that Ken had cancelled the annual maintenance of the ride and feels responsible for the injuries. As a consequence she suffers a mental illness. 3. Komal who witnesses the ride crashing only metres from where she was sitting enjoying a donut. Although uninjured she is profoundly shocked at how close she was to death and is subsequently diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress disorder. 4. Janet, who is Gillian’s sister. Gillian had been seriously injured and had been taken straight to hospital. Janet heard about the disaster from the local radio and drove straight to the hospital. After making enquiries she is told Gillian is in intensive care. After a 3 hour emergency operation Gillian dies. Janet is taken to view the body and subsequently suffers a serious nervous disorder. 5. Harry, who was at the funfair and on hearing about the crash ran to the scene of the accident and helped drag Peter from the debris. Later on reflecting on the disaster he suffers from clinical depression. This task is assessing the following module learning outcomes, and you must therefore demonstrate achievement of these learning outcomes to be awarded a pass mark: 1. Demonstrate a knowledge and an understanding in relation to pure psychiatric harm in the law of torts and its range and limits 2. Locate and extract legal information from a wide range of primary and secondary sources to include key cases relevant to pure psychiatric harm 3. Make reasoned judgements based on an informed understanding of legal principles in relation to pure psychiatric harm in the law of torts 4. Demonstrate the ability to critically evaluate legal principles and policy arguments in relation to pure psychiatric harm in the law of torts