Charlene conducts yoga classes at the Melany School of Arts building. This building was constructed as a dance hall for US service men in 1943. It is of timber construction with a highly polished...

Charlene conducts yoga classes at the Melany School of Arts building.  This building was constructed as a dance hall for US service men in 1943.  It is of timber construction with a highly polished hardwood floor.  Charlene is part time yoga instructor. She conducts one class on Tuesday nights and one class on Thursday nights.  Although Charlene holds a Certificate IV in Yoga Instruction from the Australian Yoga Institute, her regular job is as a physical education teacher at a local high school. Charlene’s operates as a sole trader and she hires the hall in her own name. She has no insurance.


Yoga is a physical discipline that involves stretching muscles and holding complex postures. Charlene’s classes are very popular and well attended. Charlene has 25 students in her Tuesday night class and an equal number of different students on Thursday night.  Each student pays an upfront fee to Charlene at the beginning of the course to cover tuition and all associated costs. Charlene asks students to sign a consent form when they start in which they consent to her instruction and disclose any pre existing illness or injuries.  The consent form makes no reference to exclusion of liability for negligence.


Charlene limited the numbers of students because the hall is physically too small to accommodate larger groups and she has found, over the last three years of her operation, that larger groups are too difficult to effectively supervise.  Initially, Charlene conducted classes of 35.  However, she found that she was not able to effectively supervise the students and after a series of minor sprains and injuries to various students, she limited class numbers to 25.  In the 18 months since she took that action, there have been no problems.  Charlene conducts each class alone and without assistance.


Charlene provides hot herbal tea and hot towels to students before and after the class on each night.  The tea is heated in a large urn on a table against the sidewall of the hall adjacent to the exercise floor.  The towels are heated in a steamer on the table next to the urn.


From past experience, Charlene recognises that the hall’s floor is far too slippery to effectively perform yoga upon.  She found that the provision of a temporary floor covering was too inconvenient because she had to lay and remove the covering before and after every class so that the space could be available to other hirers of the hall.  Charlene had originally purchased several large rolls of vinyl flooring to use but she found using the vinyl added two hours to her time spent at each class.  To overcome this problem, Charlene purchased a large number of cheap imported socks with rippled rubber soles.  She has found that when students use the socks they don’t slip and don’t hurt themselves. Charlene distributes the socks to each student before each class begins and collects them at the end of class to be used the following week.


Skye has attended Charlene’s Thursday night class since this year’s classes began. Skye is very tall and thin and not particularly well coordinated.  She spoke to Charlene after class one evening about her tendency to drop things and to walk into walls and her hope that yoga would help her co-ordination.



Charlene was forced to cancel her Tuesday night class a month ago because of parent teacher night commitments at her high school.  Some of the Tuesday night class were disappointed and even asked for a partial refund of their tuition fees.  Charlene responded by offering any Tuesday night student a replacement class on the next Thursday night at no extra cost.


The following Thursday night 20 Tuesday night students attended the Thursday class.  The total number of students then numbered 45.  The floor was very crowded.  Charlene prepared the tea and towels as usual.  She also issued each student with their socks with an instruction that they must wear them.  Charlene never completely explained the reason for the requirement to wear the socks but stressed that each student must wear them while on the floor.


Skye arrived a few minutes late because she had spent a few hours at an after work party where she consumed three glasses of wine.  While the class had not yet begun, she was surprised to see so many participants.  Skye could not occupy her usual position at the front of the class.  Instead, she found a small space very close to the tea and towel table.


Skye decided not wear the socks provided because they were orange and she thought the colour clashed with her hot pink outfit.  Skye commenced the class barefoot.  She was the only student not to wear socks.  While performing the first posture, Sky’s left foot skidded into the leg of the table, toppling the urn and steamer onto her body.  The hot tea, towels and appliances severely scolded her skin.


Skye was hospitalised for two weeks and requires ongoing treatment.  She has no sick leave as she works casually as a retail shop attendant. She will not be able to work for eight weeks.  Charlene visited Skye in hospital and apologised to her profusely. Skye thinks that she will take some ‘time off’ work, head to Byron Bay when she feels better and look for work around Christmas. She hopes to get a good pay out in an action against Charlene.



Advise Skye in relation to any action she may have in relation to the law of Negligence.




ASSIGNMENT GUIDELINES


The following guidelines are based on a review of common errors made in Business Law and Ethics assignments. Students are asked to read these guidelines carefully as they will be taken into account in marking your papers.





The information to follow is presented under the headings of:
•    Content and analysis
•    Structure and style
•    Referencing
•    Formatting
•    Assessment criteria.


CONTENT AND ANALYSIS
Your work in this task is assessed according to three main criteria. These are:


•    Knowledge of relevant business law and ethical principles and sources
•    Analysis and reasoning to generate conclusions
•    Structure, written expression and presentation


In order to demonstrate knowledge of the law for this assignment, you need to state the relevant legal principles accurately and reference them appropriately by citing case law and legislation.


In order to demonstrate analysis and reasoning, you need to apply the relevant legal principles to the facts of the case study in order to reach a conclusion.


You need to adopt a logical structure (you may use headings), avoid spelling and grammatical errors (see further under ‘Structure and Style’ below) and present your arguments in a coherent and convincing manner.


Note that the use of footnotes, or endnotes, is the preferred method of referencing for legal writing (you can use the ‘insert’ function in word).


The following guidelines stem from the criteria stated above:


•    It is not enough to discuss the facts in a general way without reference to legal principle/s.
•    It is not enough to state relevant legal principles without explicitly applying those principles to the facts.
•    Statements of legal requirements/ principles must be accurate. Use of your own words is encouraged but must convey the substance (meaning of) the legal principle/s.
•    Merely reproducing the facts given in the problem will not attract marks. This problem commonly occurs in written introductions, where it would appear that the writer is not sure where to start.
•    Answers should include an introduction, analysis and conclusion (but not include these headings as such).
•    The introduction should contain statements of:
•    The legal terms given to the relevant parties on the facts
•    The nature of the action to be taken by the party advised
•    The party who must prove the action (burden of proof)
•    The relevant standard of proof
•    The elements of the action requiring proof.
•    The analysis should state:
•    The elements requiring proof (from the legislation) and interpretation of those elements (from legislation and case authorities as appropriate)
•    An application of the legal requirements (elements) and their interpretation to the facts in question
•    A consideration of legal remedies available to the injured party should the action be proven.
•    The conclusion should contain:
•    A summary of previous discussion and conclusion as to the likelihood of proof of the action. No new material should be included in this part of an answer.
•    Accurate and full reference to cases and legislation must be used (see further below).