evaluate, Causation, remoteness and mitigation for each of the parties below Dear Colleague, I am writing to
Question:
evaluate, Causation, remoteness and mitigation for each of the parties below
Dear Colleague, I am writing to you for a preliminary opinion on a brief that you may be interested in if the matter goes to court. For now, I just need a preliminary advice on your standard consulting contract with our firm. Earlier this year Bogan Beach Council announced that it would celebrate the virtues of striving to achieve 'Net Zero' (i.e. eliminating all carbon emissions) by convening a festival - comprising a series of stalls, activities and live entertainment on Bogan Beach itself. Enthused by the prospect of saving the planet local resident Kevin attends the festival that weekend with his adopted adult son Mal along with Mal's girlfriend Julie. In an effort to generate public support for 'wind power' as a form of renewable energy, the Council provides beach goers with a complimentary loan of a Windsurf board for the day to experience the untapped power of the wind in the waters off Bogan Beach. It is common knowledge that windsurfers can easily lose control of the windsurf board and be blown outside the limited area of water adjacent to the beach that is protected by anti-shark nets (designed to prevent sharks entering the shallow water near the beach). Windsurfing is also regarded as involving a significant risk of physical harm. Kevin, intrigued by windsurfing, borrows a windsurf board and is unfortunately soon blown outside the area of the beach protected by anti-shark nets where a passing tiger shark, mistaking Kevin for a tasty plump seal, lunges at him and takes a bite out of his right buttock. Bogan Beach Council had not invested in the deployment of a fleet of advanced flying 'shark deterrent drones' (which would probably have enabled Council to prevent shark attacks over a far greater area than anti-shark netting including the area where Kevin was attacked) because it had instead prioritized investment in renewable energy to achieve its goal of 'Net Zero'. Although Kevin (exasperated by the failure of Council to warn him against the risk of losing control of the windsurf board and being blown outside the area protected by anti-shark netting) is nevertheless able to return to shore he is immediately taken to hospital to receive medical treatment for his injury. Mal is entirely unaware of Kevin's ordeal until long after Kevin has been taken away to hospital, but becomes deeply distressed when he overhears one of the remaining paramedics who had treated Kevin earlier commenting: I don't think that Kevin is ever going to be the same person again. Unfortunately, as Mal approaches his car parked in the Bogan Beach Council carpark to drive to the hospital to visit Kevin he is viciously beaten by a group of assailants from the 'BroBoys' gang who were determined to take revenge against Kevin's family after Kevin had earlier reported them to Bogan Beach Council for parking unlawfully in a 'carbon neutral' vehicle carparking space. As a consequence of the assault, Mal suffers a form of brain damage which inhibits the operation of his conscience thereby precluding him from pursuing his childhood dream of becoming a foreign aid worker and instead prompts him to embark upon a wildly successful career as an investment banker. Incidentally as Mal's conscience no longer operates, he cannot experience the disappointment of not achieving his cherished ambitions of becoming a foreign aid worker. Although Mal's assailants have reportedly now fled overseas to Bali (and cannot be apprehended by authorities), Mal is livid that Bogan Beach City Council did not hire security guards to patrol the carpark as it is determined that the presence of security guards in the carpark may possibly have deterred the 'BroBoys' gang from loitering in the area and assaulting Mal. In the interim Julie, ravenous after her fasting (Julie is a model and regularly fasts for days at a time to maintain her wafer thin waistline), approaches a Council owned and operated stall serving complimentary 'crunchy critters' hors d'oeuvres (these appetizers comprise a variety of lightly baked grasshopper regarded as a pest but now prized by climate scientists as a 'net zero' substitute for meat). Unexpectedly to Julie's horror, some of the 'crunchy critters' were apparently not cooked properly by the Council and remain alive, hopping out of her mouth as she is about to bite into one of the hors d'oeuvres. Although not physically injured by the grasshoppers, Julie is deeply disturbed and subsequently develops a recognised psychiatric illness known as 'paleophobia' a fear of all 'carbon neutral' foods and to console herself instead embarks upon a diet of highly processed foods as a result of which she is rapidly gains weight becoming morbidly obese and is unable to continue to work as a model for the next 24 months. For 5 months during this 24 month period - at the peak of her weight gain when she is particularly overweight - Julie also requires extensive assistance in daily tasks (e.g. going to the bathroom, dressing herself etc. ) for approximately 8 hours per week but fortunately is assisted ex gratia by her sister Jane so that she does not have to hire anyone to assist her. Moreover, as the uncooked grasshoppers hopping out of the hors d'oeuvres are a recognised pest, the law then prohibits the sale of fresh fruit and vegetables within a 20km radius of Bogan Beach (i.e. to deprive the grasshoppers of a food source and prevent a plague) for the next three months. Consequently, Wokeworths, a chain of supermarkets selling premium fresh fruit and vegetables suffers a loss of approximately $5 million of profit from sales of fruit and vegetables. In the interim Kevin arrives at Bogan Beach hospital after being bitten and, in light of his evident desperation to embark upon a political career to boost his self-esteem at any cost regardless of the risks, he is advised by leading cosmetic surgeon Dr Nick of the availability of a new medical procedure to restore the shape and size of his buttock after the shark attack. Dr Nick does not mention to Kevin that there is a one in a hundred thousand (1/100,000) chance that instead of restoring his buttock to its ordinary appearance the procedure may actually exacerbate the size of her bitten buttock and leave him with mismatched buttocks. Although Dr Nick conducts the medical procedure in a manner approved by 70% of cosmetic surgeons in Australia, the procedure is unsuccessful and Kevin's right buttock is left permanently swollen leaving him with mismatched buttocks that substantially diminish his prospects of a successful political career into which he was hoping to transition at the next Federal election in three years from his existing role as a 'Drain Inspector' for the NSW Department of Drainage. Later, upon hearing that Mal has become an investment banker (as a result of the brain injury Mal sustained when beaten by the 'Bro Boys'), Kevin - who has always been unusually sensitive to hearing news about the welfare of his children - develops a recognized psychiatric illness in the form of clinical depression an