Problem Question:
John, a single dad, took his 3 year old daughter Beth to the park to enjoy a picnic with a group of friends. John's friends set up the table with snack food and start the BBQ to cook the hamburgers. While this is going on, John notices a new face in the crowd and introduces himself to Amy. Soon John and Amy are happily enjoying each other's company, snacking and commenting on how long it's taking for the charcoal in the BBQ to get going. While John is chatting with Amy, he doesn't notice that Beth has wandered off and was making her way to the busy street close by. Charlie, who is walking his dog, notices that Beth is about to enter into the street with cars zooming by. Charlie drops his dog's leash and bolts ahead to stop Beth from entering the street. He just manages to grab Beth by the shirt and yank her back to the safety of the park side. Unfortunately, Charlie was running too fast and continued going straight into the traffic. David is driving his van at the legal limit but does not see Charlie. Charlie trips forward and falls into the side of David's van with a loud crash, causing the van some minor damage. However, the collision knocks Charlie out (unconscious) and causes him a serious neck injury. After hearing the loud smash on his van, David immediately stops his van to investigate.
Behind David's van, Emily was driving her car trying to find parking. With David stopping in front of her, she slams on the brakes and careens off the road into the park. She narrowly misses running over Beth and comes to a safe stop on the grass. She jumps out of the car to check on Beth, sees Charlie unconscious on the road and faints. Beth now screams in terror. Amy, who was around 20 metres away, saw the whole thing but couldn't react. When she saw Emily's car careen into the park, it appeared to her that it ran right over Beth. She screamed and grabbed John's arm. John then turns to see what the commotion is but only sees a "parked" car on the park's grass. John and Amy go to investigate. Beth runs into John's arms and immediately calms down and appears to have no injuries. Charlie and Emily are rushed to the hospital for treatment. Amy is terrified from the sight and develops a post traumatic stress disorder that makes her lose her job and requires constant medication. John, also traumatized by the event, has trouble sleeping and now lives in constant fear that Beth will be run over by a car. He now walks her everywhere and refuses to drive his car. He also loses his job, and stays home to watch over Beth every moment of the day.
Requirement:
Identify and discuss the rights and liabilities of the parties involved, under negligence law, including possible defences available to the parties, if any.