Prepare a Letter of Advice for Lucy Liberty

Read the below case study:

Your client Lucy Liberty is having some bad luck. She has come to you seeking advice for something that happened to her 5 years ago while she was watching the new Star Wars film at the local cinema here in the ACT.

Lucy was excited to watch the movie and was decked out in her favourite Storm Trooper gear, with popcorn and an ice cream to boot. As she was sitting in the front row, Venus Mylo stood up directly behind her and started spoiling the movie, proclaiming “this is one of the best series ever and I will not be stopped!”. Lucy noticed the crowd was getting riled up and telling Venus to shut up and calling him a boofhead. Lucy also noticed that Venus was dressed in an identical costume to her.

Eventually the jeering died down and the patrons settled in. However, someone had obviously taken offence to Venus and called the cinema owner Tim Thinker to come and sort out the problem. Tim approached Lucy and started shouting abuse at her claiming “she was up to no good” and “as she had spoiled the movie, he was going to gouge her eyes out with a rusty spoon!” Tim then reached out to Lucy’s popcorn and mimed pouring the bucket over her head and blocked her ability to leave the cinema for approximately 5 minutes.

Lucy, scared for her life ran was eventually able to run out of the cinema, screaming. In doing so she tripped and fell down the stairs at the front of the cinema, damaging her costume. Lucy had a sore shoulder for about a week following the incident.

Years passed and Lucy thought nothing more of the incident (except she never did manage to finish the film), however she has noticed she has pains in her shoulder every now and then and she believes she might have hurt herself in the fall. Lucy has never received treatment for her injury and the pains come and go.

Step 2

You are to advise Lucy on any claims relating to trespass against the person only and are not to include any information on damages or remedies. Students may wish to discuss whether there are any issues with Lucy’s claim being raised 5 years after the incident.