Legal Issues Private and Public Law, Essay Example

Identify and discuss the public law and private law ramifications for the Logistics and Services Company in this situation.
There are grounds for public and private suit in tort based on the scenario. There are grounds for private employee suit because of the passenger contract with the ship to keep them safe at all times. There is also a separate contract to keep their personal property safe at all times. The suit for the public lawsuit will come into play because the ship failed their duty of care to keep the passengers and their room safe from other passengers and other intruders. The environment is supposed to be kept safe at all times. They are not supposed to be negligent in their duty of care at any time and it appears they failed their duty of care to the Lowell’s with gross negligence when the intruders/thieves were allowed to break in and steal their personal belongings and hurt the Lowell’s. There was theft and personal imprisonment of which Mr. Lowell will be able to bring an action against the Liberian court for. Mrs. Lowell will not be able to bring action because the flag was flown under Liberian waters which means under Liberian laws a woman cannot bring a tort claim for personal injury, she falls under her husband. Her husband can bring action for breach of contract, pain and suffering, tort, false imprisonment and libel for emotional distress and assault and battery. The main difference would be the wife would fall under the suit of the husband and would not be able to make a personal claim of her own in Liberia.

How would the legalities be different if the incident happened at a Logistics and Services Company resort on the U.S. mainland? If the incident had happened in the waterways of the United States each of the patrons would have filed their own claim for personal injury and false imprisonment. The court would have looked at was there a duty owed to each of them, was this duty breached, as a result of this breach was there any damages suffered and how much. Damages would have been awarded in the neighborhood of compensatory and pecuniary damages which would have been equal to what was loss and any wages or salary loss which is to put the patrons back to where they were before the incident occurred plus maybe a little more for their emotional distress. The important thing is both of the patrons would have filed their own claim for their own damages but it most probably would have been combined into one lawsuit.

What should the Logistics and Services Company do for Mrs. Lowell and in terms of developing policies for future criminal incidents? Logistics and Services Company can handle this in two distinct ways. They can provide in house safes for all patrons traveling the seas and they can have the travelling patrons sign an at risk contract that all valuables are not covered by the travel company are only covered up to a certain dollar value. They can also have security scour the halls all night to decrease the risk of theft in the rooms of patrons. They can put tighter security at night when patrons are away from their rooms. They can put security cameras in the halls and they can put sound alarm systems in all rooms/cabins. They may have to charge a little more to increase security and add these dimensions to the rooms but I am certain the travelers will appreciate these added dimensions to their trip to ensure a theft free travel. They can further have patrons sign a United Stated Contract through their docking port where if there is an incident they will be governed by United States law instead of foreign laws. The contract should read the laws by the docking port will apply instead of the docking port at the time of the said incident. The best way to handle incidents as such is to prevent them. The best ways to prevent them are to anticipate them. The best way to anticipate them are to have a top notch safety prevention plan and that is to ‘beef up’ security throughout the ship which  means increasing manpower, cameras, safes and other options for traveling customers. This will mean an increase in the ticket prices but given the choice I am sure the customers will prefer to be safe than sorry. Posting security signs throughout the ship is prevention to thieves. Let them know the ship is well maintained to handle crime. Let them know the ship will not tolerate crime before it happens. Make sure there is a police officer on board to handle crime and there are radio towers to have police on board for major crime if it happens.

References

The Legal Duty of Care in Tort Law Retrieved August 17, 2010 from, http://www.articlesbase.com/law-articles/the-legal-duty-of-care-in-tort-law-foreseeability-of-injury-200687.html

Jance J. (1999) Breach First Avon Books

Damages in Contract Law Retrieved August 17, 2010 http://www.lawdit.co.uk/reading_room/room/view_article.asp?name=../articles/Damages%20in%20Contract%20Law.htm