Assignment:
Assume that the law office where you have just been hired represents one of the individuals who was injured in the stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair on August 13, 2011. The attorney for whom you work is heading out of town to conduct a deposition in a different case and has asked you to begin working on this case. Complete the following steps:
Locate a news article and read a version of the events as they were reported in the news.
- Prepare an investigation plan that includes the information found in your text.
- List five substantive questions (questions that deal with the merits of the case) that you will ask your client and label these questions as open, closed, or leading questions. What potential problems do you anticipate in interviewing your client, and how will you overcome them?
- Select two witnesses that you listed in your investigation plan. Identify the witnesses and the information that you hope to gain from them. What potential problems do you anticipate in interviewing these witnesses, and how will you overcome them?
- Select an expert witness that you listed in your investigation plan. How will this expert witness help your client’s case? List five questions that you will ask the expert witness.
- Identify two items of evidence that you plan to obtain to help establish your client’s case. Report how you plan to obtain the evidence and whether you anticipate any evidentiary problems with the evidence and how you intend to overcome them.
- Next, select one of the potential defendants that you identified in your investigation plan. Conduct research on this defendant using Lexis or other resource to identify basic information about this defendant, such as their place of domicile, name of registered agent, profits, if applicable, and general nature of the business.
Now assume that your firm has been hired by the defendant that you referred to above, and answer the following questions. (You are not required to prepare an Investigation Plan for the defendant.)
- List five substantive questions that you will ask your client, the defendant. What potential problems do you anticipate in interviewing your client, and how will you overcome them?
- Select two witnesses that you think could help your client’s case. Identify the witnesses and the information that you hope to gain from them. What potential problems do you anticipate in interviewing these witnesses, and how will you overcome them?
- Select an expert witness that you believe could help your client’s case. How will this expert witness help your client’s case? List five questions that you will ask the expert witness.
- Finally, list five websites or resources that you will access to locate background information on the plaintiff. Identify the information that you hope to gain from the source, the purpose.