Instructions:

You are a paralegal employed by the firm Hedley, Smith & Cutler of 10 King Street, Milchester, MC1 4AZ. Your supervising Lawyer is Jane Cutler, who is a partner in the firm.Jane Cutler has asked you draft a suitable e-mail to be sent to the client following her recent meeting. You have been provided with the following information to help you focus on the client's case:

Attendance Note

File No: JC/36/2019/CC

Date: 21.05.2020

Fee Earner: Jane Cutler

Nature of Attendance: Initial meeting with Jeff Chandler, owner of Chandler's Coaches

Time Spent: 90 mins

On 1 April last year, Jeff was contacted by another coach company, Reliant Coaches asking if he could lend them a driver as their normal driver, Jermaine, had called in sick.Jeff had a driver, Alf, who was available and agreed to lend him to drive Reliant's coach to Portsmouth.Alf was an experienced driver and had been employed by Chandler's Coaches for a number of years.

Jeff called Alf who said that he would get down to the coach station immediately, even though the journey was not due to start for two hours.Apparently when Alf got to the coach station he met Sam, an old school friend, in the waiting room; by coincidence Sam was waiting for the coach that Alf was going to be driving to Portsmouth.

At Sam's suggestion, they filled their spare time by going to the White Horse pub, where both of them drank four pints of lager and two large vodkas. This was despite a strict ban by Reliant on its drivers taking any alcoholic drink in the 24 hours before driving one of its coaches. Sam paid for several of the drinks consumed by Alf.

Just outside Portsmouth, Alf failed to see a slow-moving lorry and drove into the rear of it. The coach left the road and plunged down a steep embankment. Many people were injured and more than 30 died. Alf was among the dead.

Sam suffered a broken leg and severe concussion. He was in hospital for six weeks and off work for a further three months.Jeff has received a letter from a firm of solicitors saying that they are acting on behalf of Sam and intend to make a claim for personal injuries against Chandler's Coaches on the basis of Alf's negligence.

I have recently received instructions to act on behalf of Chandler's Coaches in relation to an accident that occurred on 1 April last year. Full details can be found in the attendance note (Document 2).

I met with Jeff Chandler, the owner of the business last week and now need to send him an email advising of Chandler's Coaches potential liability for the accident.Usually I would give the client an 'overview' of liability, but Jeff Chandler completed a law degree many years ago and so wants full details.In particular, he wants to know the current law regarding the following points:

1.Whether Chandler's are likely to be held responsible for the harm caused by Alf given that he was committing a criminal act (driving while under the influence of alcohol) at the time of the accident; Jeff thought that an employer could not be held liable for an employee's criminal acts.

2. Given that Alf was driving for Reliant at the time of the accident, should Reliant be liable rather than Chandler's?

2. What defences could Chandler's raise in any action brought by Sam (identify one statutory defence and one common law defence and explain how likely each is to succeed).

Please ensure that you give a full explanation of each of these points and include any relevant cases and/or statutes.

Thank you.

Jane CutlerPartner