Legal Issues Identification and Law Application Assignment

Objectives

OBJECTIVES

1. Students will become familiar with the process of identifying legal issues in case factscenarios.

2. Students will develop skills to research secondary sources of law.

3. Students will apply relevant legal principles to two different fact situations.

ASSIGNMENT

1. Students will review the following law problem scenarios and will then develop anoutline setting out all of the legal issues that arise in one of the two fact situationscenarios. There should be one outline completed, and the student can choose eitherone of the fact situations. The outline should be approximately 3 to 5 pages long (notincluding the reference page).

2. After identifying the legal issues, the student will set out the law that they believeanswers the legal questions that have arisen from the legal issues. It is very importantthat the student makes sure to identify all the legal issues are there are definitelyseveral legal issues that need to be analysed. The student can use the textbook, themodules, and “outside sources” to set out the law (the applicable law can be legislation orcase law or a combination of both). The student should have at least one “outside source”of law (found after a search for secondary sources of law rather than found in thetextbook or the module notes) for each of the issues. There should a reference sheet at the

end of the outline that cites all of the sources used in the outline. Note that the textbookproperly cites cases and legislation so follow the format found in the textbook. See theannouncement for other sources for citation.

3. When looking for outside sources of law, the student should endeavour to find secondarysources rather than looking directly for primary sources of law such as specific applicablecases or legislation. One may look for “on point” cases and legislation on CanLii, but it iseasier to find the primary sources when an expert has written about the issue. Examplesof secondary sources are journal articles, case studies and information sheets found on

web pages. Typical sources of these types of writings are web pages from law firms whopractice in the area, government websites, agency websites, non-profit websites andonline journals. Therefore, one may use Google to find these sites and look for thediscussions that are “on point” to the legal issues. Please ensure that you are looking atAlberta and Canadian sources.After setting out the law, the student will apply the law to the facts set out in the fact scenariochosen. This can be done in point form and should not be in an essay format. There is asample outline below.

1. Careful attention should be paid to all the possible torts that may have been committedand who might be liable for these torts. Keep in mind that, although negligence is likelyone of the torts committed, you should think about intentional torts as well as any othertort issues such as vicarious liability or occupier’s liability.

2. This assignment is due on the date set out in the course outline – make sure you checkit. The assignment is submitted by clicking on the “Assignments” tab in Blackboard. If,for some reason, Blackboard is not working, submit the

1. The following is a sample outline to use a rough guide to completing the assignment.

2. Note that this outline applies to a simple human rights problem and does not dealwith the legal issues that arise in the two problems in this assignment. Also, theremay be more legal issues in the assigned problem than are outlined in thissample.

3. Also note that the legislation and case law cited in the sample are not applicable tothis assignment.OUTLINE OF HUMAN RIGHTS CASE: JANE v. MEGACORP LTD.Legal Issue #1 – Did Mega Corp discriminate against Jane when she was fired for not being ableto lift a 50lb box in the warehouse?

Legal Principles:

In order to determine if Mega Corp discriminated against Jane when firing her, one needs toconsider whether or not:

1. Jane has a characteristic that is protected from discrimination by human rightslegislation;

2. Jane experienced an adverse impact with respect to her employment; and

3. The protected characteristic was a factor in the adverse impact.According to section 7 of the Alberta Human Rights Act, “every person is entitled to equaltreatment with respect to employment, without discrimination on the basis of race, religiousbeliefs, colour, gender, gender identity, gender expression, physical disability, mental disability,age, ancestry, place of origin, marital status, source of income, family status, or sexualorientation”.A