Identify the key facts, the background facts, and the irrelevant facts.

Ash's primary role is to conduct initial client interviews, prepare a summary of the interview, then assemble a legal memorandum containing an identification of the legal issues and an anal-ysis of the applicable law. Identifying the legal issue is often the trickiest part of the job. It did not seem, however, that it would be too much of a problem in Cari's case. Cari's home is across the street from Roosevelt Elementary School. Cari's best friend lives a block away and has a 7-year-old, Taylor, who attends school at Roosevelt. Last month, Cari was in the front yard planting tulips. It was lunchtime, and children were play-ing on the playground. Cari heard the crossing guard's whistle blow and tires squealing. Cari looked up and saw a car approaching a curve in the school zone at a very high rate of speed. It jumped the curb, crashed through the chain-link fence surrounding the playground, and hit the seesaw. The first thing Cari recognized was the carit was Briar's hot-rod Camaro. It looked like Briar was going too fast, lost control on the curve in the school zone, and crashed through the fence. Briar, a local teen, continually raced in the neighborhood. Several teachers complained to Briar's parents, who did nothing. Briar had received several speeding tickets. The second thing Cari noticed was that two children playing on the seesaw were injured. One of them was Taylor. Cari became extremely upset upon realizing who one of the injured children was. Since the wreck, Cari has had severe insomnia and extreme anxiety. Cari cannot sleep and has nightmares whenever sleep does occur. Cari's doctor prescribed medication for the anxiety and to help with sleep. Cari was also recently referred to a psychologist. Cari came to the law office Ash worked in seeking to recover the expenses incurred from the trauma of witnessing the terrible injuries to Taylor and the other child. After summarizing the interview, Ash focuses on the next task and asks, "What is the legal issue in this case?" The process of identifying the issue is the subject of this chapter. The Appli-cation section of this chapter discusses the answer to the question.