Assume that you are working as a litigation support paralegal at a personal injury law firm in New York. As such, you have been asked to work with the attorney performing the preliminary interview of each potential client. Identify what kind of investigation you would like to conduct and the different sources you would consult to further the investigation for prospective client Daniel (see below). Be sure to consider each of the facts of the case, as well as all the potential defendants.

Daniel O'Leary, a lawyer from New York on a business trip to Birmingham, Alabama, exited a steak house after a client meeting. While walking from the hotel after his meeting with his client, Daniel noticed a car (parked by a valet driver for a nearby fancy restaurant in Birmingham named Casa La Femme) rolling down a hill and out of the private parking lot in his direction.

When questioned after the accident, the valet driver testified that he put the car in park and turned off the car's ignition when he parked the car. In a futile attempt to avoid the car, Daniel pushed an elderly homeless man out of his way. However, the car struck Daniel, breaking both of his legs in several places.

The homeless man whom Daniel pushed out of the way picked Daniel's wallet, took his watch, and then walked away. A passerby named James Varney, an online instructor on a visit to the city, called the police and ambulance. After the accident, Daniel learned that the car was manufactured by Volkswagen and serviced by Billy Bob's Auto Repair, a local repair shop in Birmingham, Alabama. Because of Daniel's injuries, he lost several weeks of work and now walks with a permanent limp.

In preparation for the preliminary investigation into Daniel's case, the attorney asked you to outline in some detail about the following:

• What needs to be learned from Daniel, and why?
• Who else needs to be interviewed, and why? What kind of information are you seeking from each?
• What other kinds of background information you would want to acquire? Why? What sources would you use to gain that kind of knowledge?
• What theories of liability are relevant? What is the plan for proving or disproving them?
• What defenses, if any, could any of the potential defendants use -- and why?
• Are there any other principles or regulations from other fields that could affect Daniel's case?
• Are there any other kinds of obstacles that could affect either Daniel's case or the defense by any of the potential defendants? If so, what are they and what are the potential implications?
• What are the legal / ethical / logistical or other challenges to your New York law office possibly accepting Daniel's case?
• Assuming that your office accepts Daniel's case, what is your plan for keeping track of the incoming data and synthesizing it for easy use by the attorneys in the forthcoming litigation?
• What specific resources did you use to formulate the investigative plan?
  • Did you find any contradictory resources? What did you do about them (e.g., dismiss them as irrelevant, include them in your analysis, etc.)?
  • How do you know that your resources are relevant, current, accurate and reliable? How did you find them?
• In light of all that you have learned, what is your recommendation to the lawyer: should Daniel's case be accepted or not? Why?