Reference no: EM133295359

Case Study:- It was a nasty snowy day, on January 26 of the current year. On that day, two employees of

Alberta Correctional Services, Ike Inkster and Melvin Melrose, were transporting an inmate,

Zane Zuggins, from the Peace River Correctional Centre, to the City of Edmonton. Poor Zane had been suffering from a severely ingrown toenail, and required special medical attention not available to him in Peace River.

Zane was a model inmate. He was incarcerated for his role in a rather clever fraud scheme. He had not been violent during the period of his incarceration, but he was certainly getting anxious to be "on the outside" again.

Zane was being transported in a standard Corrections van on the day in question. He was not handcuffed or shackled, nor restrained in any way. Zane had been taken to a wide range of appointments before this day, and had never caused any trouble. As a result, the warden had given permission for Zane to be transported in this manner.

The transfer policy of the government department responsible stated:

In the event that a prisoner is deemed "low risk", he/she may remain unrestrained during any transfer of less than 1 day. The decision to transport any inmate unrestrained is at the discretion of the warden of the home institution of that inmate.

The trip to Edmonton proceeded rather uneventfully, until about 30 km west of town. Traffic on Highway 16, the Yellowhead, came to a grinding halt at that point. There had been a good deal of snow, and a little freezing rain on the highway, and it appeared there was probably an accident up ahead.

As the Corrections van came to a halt, Zane saw his chance! Ike, the driver of the van, had gotten out to see what was happening up ahead, and Zane quickly punched Melvin, knocking him out cold. Melvin didn't see the punch coming as he had been texting his girlfriend at the time. Zane ran out the back of the van, while Ike was still busy investigating the traffic situation up front. Zane ran across the median, and approached the vehicle of one Helen Happy, who was the sole occupant and driver of a westbound vehicle. She was proceeding slowly because of the road conditions.

Helen saw Zane escape from the van and, as he approached her vehicle, she thought she could detain him for the Corrections officers, so she slowed down even further and hit him over the head with her snow scraper. Although dazed, Zane took the opportunity to reach in, open the unlocked door, and punch Helen before throwing her onto the road and start driving away.

Zane was apprehended again within a matter of hours while still driving Helen's car. Zane broke Helen's collarbone, and knocked out a tooth when he hijacked her car. The collarbone injury left her with residual mobility problems, and she has sadly had to curtail two of her favourite hobbies - skiing and golfing. Zane's eye was cut by the snow scraper and he has some trouble seeing out of it. Melvin continues to have headaches and blurred vision after he was punched.

After the investigation into this incident, it was discovered that another guard had been sneaking letters out of the Corrections facility for Zane. Zane had sent a letter to his partner in the fraud scheme telling him about his plans to escape.

Question 1:- Set out all the torts that have been committed and by whom. Explain the legal rules for each of the torts and apply them to the facts.

Question 2:- Determine the potential defendants and set out their defences by explaining the legal rules that apply and then apply them to the facts.