Friday, June 7. 2024

Today's schedule is BADC

B Block Legal Studies - We start today in the learning commons where we'll look at Vicarious Liability & Occupier’s Liability 

Vicarious liability – a Defendant is held liable for another person’s tort even though they may have done nothing wrong. Companies are liable for their employees’ actions through vicarious liability (as are parents for their children) 

Occupiers Liability – An occupier is someone who is in control of property. You have a duty of care to ensure that your property is safe for others. The occupier should be able to foresee any harm and mitigate it. There are three classes of people who occupiers are liable to: 

1. Invitees are people who are on property for reasons OTHER than social visits. These people are owed the HIGHEST standard of care. 
2. Licensees are people who are on property on the implied permission of the occupier (social visits where no business is transacted). 
3. Trespassers are people who enter property without permission or a legal right. 

Take some time to review invitees, licencees, and tresspassers for occupiers' liability (which is relevant for cases 3, 4, 5, 8, 9 AND 10). The Insurance Bureau of Canada has great help with Occupier's Liability called Slip/Trip and Fall. On this site it indicates: 

As an occupier, you and/or your organization are required to keep areas such as aisles, stairs, ramps, walkways, driveways and parking lots reasonably safe for persons who are using them. Some common hazardous conditions include: 

• ice and snow that has not been cleared 
• unexpected elevation changes 
• uneven surfaces (e.g., cracks, gaps, potholes) 
• slippery surfaces (e.g., wet floors, tile flooring) 
• missing or loose handrails on stairs 
• debris on walking paths (e.g., boxes in aisles) 
• inadequate lighting. 

An occupier may be held liable for slips, trips and falls if he/she/it fails to provide a reasonable standard of care in keeping the premises free from hazards. In cases where there is more than one occupier – such as a landlord and a tenant or in the case of shared spaces – it is possible for liability to be shared. Who is held liable depends on the circumstances of the loss. The following are some of the criteria used to determine whether or not the appropriate standard of care was applied: 

• Whether the danger was foreseeable. 
• Whether the occupier’s conduct was in accordance with acceptable standards of practice. 
• Whether there was an adequate system of inspection (considering the risks involved) in place and carried out. 
• Whether the danger was allowed to exist for an unreasonable amount of time. 
• The ease with which the danger could have been prevented. 

I would highly recommend that you check out some web pages to help with your project: 

Occupiers Liability Act [RSBC 1996] Chapter 337

Products Liability in BC "101"

Product Liability Laws in Canada

Family Compensation Act [RSBC 1996] Chapter 126

Host Liability - (for case #5) Commercial Hosts have a specific duty of care to their patrons so that they do not harm themselves from consuming alcohol. How to control patron’s alcohol intake:

• Every server needs to take and pass a “Serving it Right” course (experience and training)
• Every server needs to monitor patron’s alcohol intake
• No server can sell alcohol to someone who is intoxicated
• Take away keys, call taxis, call police

The Duty of Care for the commercial property exists through their patron’s to anyone who that patron’s come into contact with (third parties) Social Hosts have a specific duty of care to their licensees (where alcohol is served but there is no financial benefit) – there is also third party liability here…

There are some important sections involving "liability" for businesses and social guests on pages 406-410 (Occupiers' Liability: general invitees; commercial and social host invitees; licensees; trespassers; and the Occupiers Liability Act). These topics are relevant to all cases except for Case 7. For more on the BC Liquor laws (pertaining to case 5) check out the Serving It Right information here or for information on liquor law basics here.

BC Liquor Control and Licensing Act [RSBC 1996] Chapter 267

43 (1) A person must not sell or give liquor to an intoxicated person or a person apparently under the influence of liquor.

(2) A licensee or the licensee's employee must not permit
(a) a person to become intoxicated, or
(b) an intoxicated person to remain in that part of a licensed establishment where liquor is sold, served or otherwise supplied.

Liability of officer of corporation
77 If an offence under this Act is committed by a corporation, the officer or agent of the corporation in charge of the establishment in which the offence is committed is deemed to be a party to the offence and is personally liable to the penalties prescribed for the offence as a principal offender but nothing in this section relieves the corporation or the person actually committing the offence from liability for it.

Liability of occupant of establishment
78 On proof that an offence under this Act has been committed by

(a) a person employed by the occupant of a house, shop, restaurant, room or other establishment in which the offence is committed, or
(b) a person permitted by the occupant to be or remain in or on that house, shop, restaurant, room or establishment, or to act in any way for the occupant, the occupant is deemed to be a party to the offence and is liable as a principal offender to the penalties prescribed for the offence, even though the offence was committed by a person who is not proved to have committed it under or by the direction of the occupant but nothing in this section relieves the person actually committing the offence from liability for it.

From the Canada Safety Council dealing with Social Host Liability: (For Case #1 AND 2 )

It is important for every social host to consider the consequences involved with the service of alcohol because there will continue to be lawsuits. The social host could be found to have a duty of care to guests and all those who are at risk due to the intoxication of the guests for events that could be foreseeable. Further, the host has a duty to monitor and supervise the service and consumption of alcohol during a party or event. The best course is to take risk management measures. The social host should check his or her insurance to determine if there is coverage for any incident that may occur on the property or as a result of actions from the property. When hosting a party, plan appropriately. This includes:

1. Either don't drink or limit your own consumption of alcohol in order to track that of your guests. 
2. Know your guests - it is much easier to track the changes in behaviour of those you know. 
3. Try to serve all drinks yourself and avoid self-serve bars to track and monitor your guests' consumption. Consider hiring a bartender trained in alcohol service. 
4. Have plenty of non-alcoholic choices. 
5. Serve lots of food that has protein and fat - salt encourages more drinking and sugar does not mix well with alcohol. 
6. Meet, Greet and Repeat - meet and greet all your guests as they arrive in order to determine if they have had anything alcoholic to drink before arriving. If the party is an open house or cocktail format, repeat the process as guests leave. 
7. If a guest is intoxicated, encourage him or her to give you their car keys if relevant. Buddy up with a friend to assist in persuading the intoxicated person to take a cab. 
8. Keep the phone numbers of cab companies handy and tell the guest that a cab has been ordered - don't give them the option to refuse. 
9. If the guest is quite intoxicated, keep that person with you until they have sobered or can be left with a sober responsible person. 
10. Only time will sober the person, not additional fluids or food. Offering a spare bed is a good recourse. 
11. If the person refuses to give the car keys or spend the night at your house, call the police. It may seem drastic, but it could be a choice between that of an upset friend or far more tragic consequences. 

Having a plan will allow you to prevent problems from happening or a least, handle the problems in the least unpleasant way and perhaps, allow you to enjoy your own party. 

A Block Criminology - Are the voyeurisms of consuming the True Crime genre of media an example of curiosity or exploitation? Does it teach? Does it normalize? Does it Rationalize? Does it Trivialize? Today we'll start the documentary 15 Minutes of Shame, which looks at public shaming in modern day culture. This original documentary film examines social behavior by embedding with individuals from across the U.S. who have been publicly shamed or cyber-harassed – while exploring the bullies, the bystanders, the media, psychologists, politicians and experts in between. Clearly Nancy Grace and her 5 year (still doing it today too) public shaming of Casey Anthony could be seen in a range from free speech/public knowledge to obsessive harassment along with everything in-between. So, we'll watch we'll watch "15 Minutes of Shame"

It’s good to be a conscious media consumer, so to that end, the movie was:

• produced by Six West (a division of A&E Networks with is owned equally by Hearst Communications and Disney General Entertainment Content);
• distributed by HBO Max (owned by Warner Brothers Discovery); 
• produced and directed by Max Joseph. 
• Monica Lewinsky is both the narrator and an executive producer (along with the director Max Joseph and with both Steve Ascher and Kristy Sabat) of the film.

From CNN (which is also owned by Warner Brothers Discovery), "The documentary functions as an unofficial companion to a separate project on which Lewinsky served as a producer, “Impeachment: American Crime Story,” the FX channel (subsidiary of the Disney General Entertainment Content) miniseries that sympathetically looks back at the publicity ordeal she endured during the Clinton impeachment saga". FYI the series is based on Jeffrey Toobin’s book “A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President” and Toobin was a legal commentator on CNN.

So remember from Media Smarts :

1. Media are constructions 

2. Audiences negotiate meaning

3. Media have commercial implications 

4. Media have social and political implications 

5. Each medium has a unique aesthetic form 

We need to think critically about how and why media are made; examining the impact that media have on us and on society; and reflecting on how we use digital and media tools. 

So, what is true crime, in terms of media, why is it produced? How does it get packaged and then what might coverage of true crime media tell us about North American society?

D Block Physical Geography - You have the block to work on your Chroma Key Weather Forecast video project. Check the blog for sites to help. When you are filming the forecast, the green screen is ready for you in the classroom (#115)…please remember, for the green screen, don't wear green.  A good general rule is to avoid any reflective materials in the shot. Jewelry and glasses can complicate this. If you know you need a green screen for a given shot, then you should keep tabs of what props are necessary and adjust as needed. Good luck and have fun

C Block Human Geography -  Today You'll need to work on your questions connected to "Why Do Ethnicities Engage in Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide"? Specifically on the former Yugoslavia (1991-1999) and ethnic cleansing (look at Srebrenica in the Bosnian War).:

1. Define ethnic cleansing
2. How is ethnic cleansing different than normal warfare?
3. Regarding the Yugoslav refrain that was common during the rule of Josip Tito, identify  Yugoslavia’s: Five Nationalities; Four Languages; Three Religions; and Two Alphabets
4. Why did Serbs and Croats in Bosnia (aka Bosnia-Herzegovina) ethnically cleanse themselves of Bosnia Muslims?
5. After the 1996 Dayton Accords (end of Yugoslav civil war) What country controlled Kosovo
6. What ethnic group lives in Kosovo (and %)?
7. With the breakup of Yugoslavia, what began to happen in Kosovo?
8. How did the U.S. and U.N. respond?
9. Define balkanized
10. Define balkanization

Today's Fit...