Description

Trial Advocacy

QUESTION ONE

On 6/06/2015, John started operating a mobile money shop offering services for deposit and withdrawal of funds to his customers. On 10/06/2015 a customer came to deposit money at his shop. After tendering the sum of Kshs.l ,000 to John for him to deposit the money in his account, the hawk-eyed customer closely watched John entering the Personal Identification Number (PIN) to his mobile money operating account and noted it somewhere.

As soon as John finished the deposit transaction, the customer snatched his mobile phone, ran to a waiting vehicle and sped off. Aware of the risks involved, John ran to his friend in a nearby shop and using his friend’s mobile phone, called a customer care representative (CCR) for Yates Telecoms, the mobile service provider.

John reported the incident to the customer care representative and requested for all transactions on his mobile money account to be blocked. However, the customer care representative told John that he has to state the name of the customer who sped off with his phone. John did not know the name of the customer since he sped off before he could take down his details. The CCR declined to block John’s account.

In the meantime, the rogue customer withdrew all the funds from John’s account. Neither John’s mobile phone nor the customer were traced again. John has instituted a suit in court against Yates Telecoms for#egligence on its part claiming the sum of Kshs.300,000/- which was withdrawn from his account, general damages and costs of the suit.

You were recently hired as an Associate in the Litigation Department of Hardknocks Associates, the firm representing John in the matter.

• Prepare a case theory for John’s case. (16 marks)
• Draft four (4) questions, excluding questions as to John’s identity you will ask him during examination-in-chief at the hearing. (4 marks)