LEGAL MEMO

Also, with this Memo include a substantial "Recommendation" section following the Conclusion section. This is not always a part of a Legal Memo, but this Fact pattern particularly lends itself to extra questions we need to research, interviews to conduct, documents that need to be acquired

NOTE: Assume that we are in Oregon and all of the statutes and cases represent primary authority, some mandatory and some persuasive, so apply the Rules and Steps for analyzing legal authority.

FACT PATTERN: This morning your supervision attorney called you into her office and handed you a slim manila folder containing a few sheets of paper. "We have just been retained by Ms. Jane Healy to represent her in this matter," she said. "All we have thus far is a sheet of facts which is probably incomplete. I want you to work this case from the beginning. Read over the factual background in this folder, and then prepare a legal memo addressing the liability of Red's Tavern and the strength of a lawsuit against them. The contents of the folder included the following: The Client's name is Ms. Jane Healy, who resides at 483 Moore Dr., in River City. She is 32 years of age, single, ad a successful public relations specialist. She works for Ajax, Inc., a large firm, and is number two in the public relations department. She earns $95,000 per year. The firm likes her work. Jane has already been told that she will become head of her department when her boss retires in about 4 months. She can expect to be delegated a great deal of responsibility, and receive a raise of at least $15,000 per year. At 5:30 p.m. one month ago, Jane Healy was on her way home from work. Traffic was heavy, and Ms. Healy was running late. She had a date at 7:00 pm and wanted to get home in time to change clothes, feed her cat, and freshen up before her date arrived.

She was driving west on 14th Street, about 4 blocks from her home. As Jane approached the intersection of 14th Street and Childs Street, the signal light there turned yellow. Even though the speed limit in that area is 25 miles per hour, Jane admitted later to the investigating police officer that she had accelerated to about 35 miles per hour as she tried to beat the yellow light through the intersection. As she entered the intersection, traffic in front of her unexpectedly stopped, and she had to suddenly step on her brakes to avoid hitting the car in front of her. When the light changed to red, Jane remained stranded in the intersection because the traffic in front of her remaining at a standstill. While Jane Healy was stranded in the middle of the intersection, Charles Raymond was driving south on Childs Street in his 1985 Trans Am, and he had stopped at the same intersection for the red light. Totally disregarding the fact that the intersection was blocked and had not cleared of east/wet traffic, Mr. Raymond floored the gas pedal the instant the light turned green. He roared into the intersection, striking Ms. Healy's BMW broadside, knocking Jane against the left side door of her car, and smashing Jane's car into a street power pole on the southwest corner of the intersection. At the moment of impact with the pole, Ms. Healy's seat belt broke. As a result of this accident, Jane's skull was fractured, three ribs were broken, with one rib puncturing her lung, and her face was very badly slashed by broken glass. Although it has been 4 weeks since the accident, Jane is still hospitalized. Her doctors have told her that she must expect at least 2 more plastic surgeries to repair the damage to her face. Since the accident, Jane has also suffered from severe migraine-type headaches. Because of her disfiguring injuries, she cannot face the publicwhich is a requirement of her jobfor at least a year, and will probably carry some facial scars for the rest of her life. Jane Healy's firm, Ajax, Inc., is sympathetic, however, they have told her that it cannot leave open the assistant vice president position to which she was to be promoted in approximately 3 months from now. Even worse, if Jane cannot meet the public for an unknown period of time, they must hire someone who can meet the demands of the job. Ajax, Inc., has offered Jane a year's severance payout, but this accident has probably resulted in the loss of her present job and her future prospects in this type of career. Charles Raymond, the driver of the car that struck Jane Healy's automobile, is a mechanic at Allegretti & Sons, a large local company that rebuilds automobile transmissions and engines. Raymond was convicted of drunk driving in November of 2010 and again in June of 2015. On both occasions, he was sentenced to 60 days in the county jail and a $500 fine. In 2010, his 60-day sentence was suspended; in 2015, Raymond served 35 days. Last year, he was arrested again for drunk driving, but negotiated a plea bargain for a reduction of the charges to reckless driving, for which he served 10 days in jail and paid a $500 fine. On all 3 drunk driving convictions, the Court suspended Raymond's driver's license, and at the time of the accident, Raymond's license was still suspended. On the day of the accident, Raymond's boss, Vincent Allegretti, asked Raymond, as had many times in the past, to deliver a transmission to a body shop in River City on his way home from work. Raymond agreed. Mr. Allegretti knows of Raymond's fondness for alcohol, and also of his driving record, although Mr. Allegretti did not know whether Raymond's last license suspension was still in effect when he asked him to do this after- work errand. Mr. Allegretti was also aware that Raymond often stopped at Red's Tavern throughout the day whenever he was transporting parts for Mr. Allegretti's business or when he was on his lunch break. In fact, Mr. Allegretti had counseled Raymond in the past about staying sober during work hours. Allegretti & Sons has ablanket liability insurance policy on all of their employees and vehicles, with a maximum limit of $1 million per person per accident, plus coverage for property damage. After Raymond left work the day of the accident, he decided to stop at Red's Tavern before he delivered the transmission to the shop in River City. Charles Redmond is a regular customer at Red's, and he frequently gets obnoxiously and aggressively drunk. That day, Raymond had at least four straight shots of bourbon, plus four beers, all in approximately 45 minutes. As Raymond staggered from the bar and left through the front door, one of the other patrons in Red's commented, "Man, that guy is loaded." The regular bartender, Tony Simpson, who often serves Raymond, responded, "So what else is new?"

STATUTES: ORS 471.410 ORS 471.412 ORS 471.565

CASES: Campbell v. Carpenter, 279 Or. 237, 566 P.2d 893 (1977) This case has multiple layers in the caption reflecting other parties, however, for simplicity sake, just refer to this case a Campbell v. Carpenter. Sometimes it is easier to find this case when you Google the regional reporter citation. Brigance v. Velvet Dove Restaurant, Inc., 725 P.2d 300 (1986). Rappaport v. Nichols, 31 N.J. 188, 156 A.2d 1 (1959). Do not be fooled into thinking that this case is of no consequence because it is so old. This case is the foundation case for this kind of litigation.

Preliminary Steps: 1. Locate the cases and statutes. 2. Research the meaning of "dram shop liability." 3. Research the meaning of the legal doctrine of "Respondiat Superior." 4. Research the meaning of "deep Pockets" and "judgment proof." 5. Locate online "50 Signs of Visible Intoxication" at Oregon.gov/olcc (Oregon Liquor Control Commission). 6. Read the Statutes and Cases carefully. Make your own notes and assess how they apply to our fact pattern. 7. Begin to list questions you have about the Fact Pattern, and what additional information you want to know that can help you begin to formulate the "Recommendations" section for your Memo 8. Do not be pulled off track from the question you are being asked to research: the potential liability of Red's Tavern. There are other potential Defendants in this case and their possible importance and