Legal Case Analysis: Issue, Facts, Laws, Decision, Rationale, and Recommendations

Task:

Task:

 

1.Issue:(What specific legal questions does this case or situation raise? What more general legal questions does this case or situation raise? As an easy rule of thumb to remember is, start your issue using the term ‘whether.’)  Note there may be more than one issue in any given case or situation.  This section should be one short sentence per issue and should be provided in legal issue or question format.  It is not an affirmative statement and therefore should not be provided in that manner. 

2.Facts: (The facts pertain to the circumstances that led to the plaintiff suing or threatening to sue the defendant and there are always two sides to every situation.  Please understand this is not about the case history or why a certain party is appealing the decision.  Again, this is about the circumstances that led to the plaintiff suing the defendant or charging the defendant with a crime)

a.Identify facts FOR issue:  Look at the case from the plaintiff’s standpoint if a civil case or state’s standpoint if a criminal case.  

b.Identify facts AGAINST issue:  Look at the case from the defendant’s standpoint.  

3. Identify relevant laws and regulations: (Determine which laws and regulations apply to the situation.  As we studied in week 1 laws come from different sources be it federal, state or local, regulatory, statutory or case law.  Begin by determining the source of the law and then identify the law itself.

4.Decision/Holding: (How did the court or the decision making body answer the issue?  Remember your holding should directly answer the issue in either the affirmative or negative.  For example, if the issue is whether the plaintiff ran the stop sign and hit the defendant’s car injuring the defendant, your holding; if in the affirmative, would be ‘the plaintiff ran the stop sign and hit the defendant’s car injuring the defendant. Note, that for the team project in particular a decision may not have been reached by the court.  In that instance you will need to provide your opinion on the ultimate outcome given your knowledge of the facts, issue and law.)

5.Rationale: (How did the court, if a case, reach its decision?  (If a fact scenario, how did the deciding party reach its decision?  If the case or fact scenario is still pending, state your opinion as to how the court or decision-making body reached its decision.  What facts and law did it rely upon and did the fact apply or fail to apply to the law?)

 
6.Based upon this evaluation, what went wrong? (Where did the problem happen?  How could the situation have been avoided? Be specific as to the steps the defendants could have taken to avoid the issues.)

7.If you are a manager tasked to tackle this issue, what would you recommend? (What recommendations would you make to ensure this situation does not happen in the future? Be specific and state the actual corporate policies you would implement to avoid any problems of this nature occurring at your company. State with specificity how you would implement those corporate policies.)