You are employed in a London law firm. Your client is Mr Usain Smith. Over the last couple of months things have not gone well for him and a number of serious events have taken place, for which he needs legal advice. He has sent you a letter explaining the range of problems and you need to prepare for a forthcoming meeting with Mr Smith. In preparation for the meeting make detailed structured notes using relevant cases and statutory provisions, where needed. Usain's letter Dear Sir/Madam I own and run a laundrette in South London. Until recently I had three employees: Amber, Gordon and Delphine, who were new to the job and employed for only five weeks. Being relatively inexperienced, Delphine overloaded one of the dry-cleaning machines with garments and instead of filling it with a solution for dry cleaning fabrics, she filled it with a solution we use for maintaining and cleaning the machine. This caused a fire in the laundrette. I immediately called the local fire brigade and managed to get Ella, a customer in the laundrette at the time, Delphine and Gordon, out of the laundrette. Gordon was uninjured but Delphine suffered second-degree burns. Ella had minor burns on her feet. Amber was still inside the laundrette and in order to rescue her, I went back inside through the flames. Gordon saw me taking this action and had a severe psychological shock and collapsed at the scene. Mikella, another customer, was on her way to the laundrette and, having also witnessed me going into the laundrette to rescue Amber, suffered a nervous shock. The fire brigade attended the scene 20 minutes after I made the phone call but did not have the correct length of water hose and was unable to extinguish the fire. However, they managed to rescue Amber and I from the laundrette. The fire caused significant damage. It destroyed all the garments in the laundrette belonging to different customers, all the equipment and the interior of the premises was blackened with smoke damage. Delphine was taken to the local hospital for emergency treatment. The doctor that attended to her was recently qualified and due to inexperience, administered the wrong treatment. This caused Delphine's condition to deteriorate and she suffered cardiac arrest and died. Delphine's husband Fred was devastated by her death. On leaving the hospital, he saw me and in anger punched me in the face, breaking my nose. In addition to these problems I then received a letter signed by the owners of the other businesses in the same street as the laundrette. They stated that the state of the laundrette is a disturbing sight; that it had affected their trade and unless I took immediate steps to repair it and compensate them for their loss, they were going to bring a claim against me. One of the neighbouring shops, the printing office of a local newspaper, published an article in yesterday's edition of the paper, blaming me for the accident. The headline of the article read: "This is what happens when incompetent people operate a business" The article was accompanied by a photograph of the fire damaged laundrette and me. I am devastated and need your advice. Tasks 1. In preparation for the meeting with Mr Smith using relevant case law and statutory provisions, you need to produce a file of notes. In the file you must: Analyse the aims of tortious liability Analyse main examples of torts, their essential components, defences and remedies Appraise the rules for prevention of harassment and intentional harms 2. From Mr Smith's letter you are clear that he showed a duty of care to his staff and customers. Assess when a duty of care will be imposed Assess the consequences of third parties' interventions Illustrate circumstances when psychiatric harm can be compensated Analyse the factors that may render damages 'too remote' Analyse the policy reasons behind limitations of recovery for psychiatric harms Assess the application of public policy in limiting the scope of duty of care 3. Mr Smith is also concerned about his liability. In your file notes you need to: Distinguish between primary and vicarious liability Explain employers duties to provide safe system and place of work Examine occupiers' duties to visitors and non-visitors 4. In order to address the issues posed by local businesses and the article in the local paper you need to: Distinguish between private and public nuisance claims Compare and contrast effective and ineffective defences Appraise the rule in Rylands v Fletcher Define libel and slander Assess the conditions for a claim in defamation Evaluate the utility of available remedies Assess the meaning and need of fault in nuisance claims An examination of the tension between freedom of speech and protection of reputation. An analysis the prohibition of recovery for pure economic loss