Your supervising attorney has assigned you to the dog bite case of Mary Princess. Your firm would like to file suit on Mary’s behalf, but first needs for you to gather some information. On the afternoon of June 12, Mary Princess, age 5, was playing in her sandbox located in the back yard. While Mary was singing and building her Egyptian pyramid sand replica, the neighbor’s Cocker Spaniel named Rocky ferociously attacked Mary. At the time of the attack, Mary’s mother Barbara Princess was washing dishes and watching Mary out of the kitchen window. Before Barbara could get Rocky off of Mary, Rocky bit Mary in the face. Barbara later found out from the neighbor that Rocky has an aversion to sandboxes because of an incident that occurred when he was a puppy. Seeing Mary in the sandbox must have caused Rocky to snap and jump the fence and attack her. After Barbara removed Rocky from the property, she rushed Mary to the emergency room at Dog Bites Medical Center East. Mary suffered multiple bites and lacerations to her arms and face and she was bleeding quite a bit. After seeing the injury to Mary’s face, Doctor Sand ordered several x-rays. After review of the x-rays, Dr. Sand told Barbara that Mary’s nose was broken, probably from the force of Rocky hitting her face. Due to the nature of the break, Mary would need to undergo surgery to repair the damage. Mary also had a deep gash on the left side of her face that required stitches. The surgery was scheduled for June 14 on Mary’s birthday. Mary was given a high dose of pain medication and sent home with a prescription for enough pills until her surgery in two days. Mary cried all night because of the pain she was in and because of the trauma of the day. Even the strong narcotics did not help the pain. On the morning of the surgery, Mary had to be at the hospital by 5:00 AM for surgery preparation. Mary was put under anesthesia and her operation lasted three hours. Mary was kept overnight for observation and released the following day. The surgery went well, but Mary was left with a terrible scar on her nose. She was given enough pain medication for seven days. Four days after the surgery, Mary’s facial wound was very swollen and red, and Dr. Sand told Barbara to bring Mary in so he could look at the wound. Barbara hated to make the 45 mile drive to the hospital, but she knew she needed to. Mary’s wound had become infected. Her stitches had to be removed so the wound could be cleaned. Mary was sent home with antibiotics and more pain pills. Barbara was told to bring Mary back in three days so Dr. Sand could check the infection. As instructed, Barbara brought Mary back to the hospital so Dr. Sand could look at Mary’s facial wound. The wound looked better, but he decided to put in more stitches that would be removed in seven days. Barbara took Mary home and made the long trip to the hospital seven days later to have the stitches removed. It has now been five months since the dog bite incident and Rocky’s owner is refusing to give the Princess family any money. The neighbor claims that the entire incident was Mary’s fault for so carelessly playing in her sandbox. This has all been very devastating for Mary, partly because the incident has ended her modeling career. Mary modeled on the weekends for Overpriced Children’s Clothing, a high end clothing line designed for young children. Mary will be unable to model because of the permanent scarring on her face. Also, Mary’s modeling income of $20,000 a year was placed into a trust for Mary to use as a college fund. At the time of the incident, Barbara was working as a part time adjunct professor in order to spend more time with Mary. Since the incident, Barbara has lost her job and income of $30,000 a year, because she had to miss work to take care of Mary. Barbara will now be unable to send Mary to Jr. Miss University. Per Dr. Sand’s recommendation, Mary underwent reconstructive surgery on September 25 to repair the damage to her face. Mary had to stay in the hospital for five days and was doing well when released. Mary was sent home with a prescription for more pain medication. Mary had a follow up appointment four weeks after she was released and another follow up four weeks later. Mary is currently done with treatment. Final Project, Part I (5%):For this part of the final project, you are required to research two dog bite cases (state or federal) and compare the case law found to the hypothetical scenario. This information should be presented in an internal memorandum. Your internal memorandum should contain a proper heading and should be correctly formatted. The memorandum should be as long as necessary to present a thorough analysis and comparison of the cases found and the hypothetical scenario. Make sure to identify and discuss the relevant facts and any issues to be decided. Discuss the law relied upon by the court and what the plaintiffs in the scenario must establish. Also, discuss any facts that would hurt the plaintiffs’ claim or issues that your supervising attorney should be made aware of.
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