CASE STUDY PROBLEM #2,"Nursing Services"

Jasmine was hospitalized with severe abdominal pain and placed in an intensive care unit.Her doctor told the hospital personnel to order around-the-clock nursing care for Jasmine.At the hospital's request, a nursing services firm, Nursing Services Unlimited, provided two weeks of in-hospital care and, after Jasmine was sent home, an additional two weeks of at-home care.During the at-home period of care, Jasmine was fully aware that she was receiving the benefit of the nursing services.Nursing Services later billed Jasmine for $4,000 for the nursing care, but Jasmine refused to pay on the ground that she had never contracted for the services, either orally or in writing.In view of the facts that no express contract was ever formed, can Nursing Services recover the $4,000 from Jasmine?If so, under what legal theory?

Use the IRAC method

1. IssueWhat are the key facts and issues? Suppose that a plaintiff comes before the court claiming assault (words or acts that wrongfully and intentionally make another person fearful of immediate physical harm). The plaintiff claims that the defendant threatened her while she was sleeping. Although the plaintiff was unaware that she was being threatened, her roommate heard the defendant make the threat. The legal issue is whether the defendant's action constitutes the tort of assault, given that the plaintiff was unaware of that action at the time it occurred. (A tort is a wrongful act. As you will see later, torts fall under the governance of civil law rather than criminal law.)

2. RuleWhat rule of law applies to the case? A rule of law may be a rule stated by the courts in previous decisions, a state or federal statute, or a state or federal administrative agency regulation. In our hypothetical case, the plaintiff alleges (claims) that the defendant committed a tort. Therefore, the applicable law is the common law of tortsspecifically, tort law governing assault. Case precedents involving similar facts and issues thus would be relevant. Often, more than one rule of law will be applicable to a case.

3. ApplicationHow does the rule of law apply to the particular facts and circumstances of this case? This step is often the most difficult because each case presents a unique set of facts, circumstances, and parties.Although cases may be similar, no two cases are ever identical in all respects. Normally, judges (and lawyers and law students) try to find cases on point previously decided cases that are as similar as possible to the one under consideration.

4. ConclusionWhat conclusion should be drawn? This step normally presents few problems. Usually, the conclusion is evident if the previous three steps have been followed carefully