Confidential Information for May Westwritten from perspective of May’s

lawyer:

May West was injured when she fell over in a Woles supermarket.

In your second interview with May, you are able to obtain certain information from
her. Before she gives you more detail however, she seeks reassurance that
everything that she says is confidential and just between the two of you. You give
her that reassurance.

May advises you that although the floor in the fruit and veggie section of Woles
had not been swept clean, she is not sure if she slipped on rotten fruit or something
else. One of her sons (Denis) was drinking from a bottle of juice while May did the
shopping and the drink leaked onto the floor.May might have slipped on the drink.
She instructs you to keep this information to yourself.

Mary seeks the following amounts:

Reimbursement of medical expenses and physiotherapy fees to date $2500

Future physiotherapy fees $600
Reimbursement of costs of new glasses $450
Reimbursement of costs of new watch $350
Loss of earnings (for 3 weeks at $600/week) $1,800
Pain and suffering $15,000

Mary was treated at the local hospital after the accident. Her fingers were put in
splints. When the splints were removed, her hand was x-rayed and the results sent
to May’s GP. The GP has advised her that she will suffer no long term effects
from her injuries. May complained of some pain in her fingers but was reassured
that this would improve with several more physiotherapy sessions.
May was unable to return to work for three weeks and since she had no sick leave
entitlement left to her, she had to take this from her annual leave. She seeks the
sum of $1800 – she normally earns $600 per week as an administrative assistant
and can provide a pay slip as proof.

May instructs you that her watch was very old (it only cost her $120 when she
bought it 10 years ago). She has replaced it with a more expensive watch. She can
provide a receipt.
Finally may tells you that she needed new glasses anyway. The glasses which
broke in the fall were prescription glasses but May had not had her eyes checked
for five or so years and was aware that she was having some difficulty reading the
fine print on the back of the grocery items.

May does not wish to go to court if she can avoid it. She instructs you to negotiate
(or mediate) this matter on her behalf.

The above scenario is adapted from BobetteWolski, Skills, Ethics and Values for
Legal Practice (2nded 2009), Thomson Reuters, 571