CASE STUDY

Case Study

Case Study

Case Background

Caroline went into The Old Swan public house to have a drink and something to eat. She was served by the landlord Harry. He had bought in several different kinds of pies, sandwiches and snacks from various local suppliers. Unfortunately, Harry had not kept any records of who made or supplied the different pies and snacks.

When Caroline opened the bottle and tasted the larger, she found that it was stale and tasted rancid. Caroline ate some pork pie, but then noticed that it was mouldy inside. She was then violently sick. Evidence later showed that the pie had not been properly cooked, and this had caused Caroline to suffer mild food poisoning.

Caroline then went into the toilets to clean up. Unfortunately, it squirted soap out all over her, ruining her new jacket, which had cost her £100 the week before.

Personal Injury

Caroline case is a Personal Injury Case. "Personal injury" cases are legal disputes that arise when one person suffers harm from an accident or injury, and someone else might be legally responsible for that harm. In this case Caroline suffers harm from an injury and Harry is legally responsible for that harm.

A personal injury case can become formalized through civil court proceedings that seek to find others legally at fault through a court judgment or, as is much more common, such disputes may be resolved through informal settlement before any lawsuit is filed:

Formal "Lawsuit" Unlike criminal cases, which are initiated by the government, a formal personal injury case typically starts when a private individual (the "plaintiff") files a civil "complaint" against another person, business, corporation, or government agency (the "defendant"), alleging that they acted carelessly or irresponsibly in connection with an accident or injury that caused harm. This action is known as "filing a lawsuit"(Baldwin, 1998).

Informal Settlement In reality, most disputes over fault for an accident or injury are resolved through informal early settlement, usually among those personally involved in the dispute, their insurers, and attorneys representing both sides. A settlement commonly takes the form of negotiation, followed by a written agreement in which both sides forgo any further action (such as a lawsuit), choosing instead to resolve the matter through payment of an agreeable amount of money.

Product Liability

As it has been mentioned in this case Harry gave caroline a free sample pork pie. When Caroline opened the bottle and tasted the larger, she found that it was stale and tasted rancid. She was then violently sick. Evidence later showed that the pie had not been properly cooked, and this had caused Caroline to suffer mild food poisoning.

Under any theory of liability, a plaintiff in a product liability case must prove that the product that caused injury was defective, and that the defect made the product unreasonably dangerous. Hence in this case Caroline can easily prove that pie had caused Caroline to suffer mild food poisoning(Yale Law School Program in Civil Liability, 1990).

There are three types of defects that might cause injury ...