3.1 Legal Memorandum Pre-Writing
This document must be uploaded to this deliverable AND to the peer review deliverable 3.2 on the due date.
No late assignments will be accepted.
Note: This assignment is set up with a Grammar and Spelling Check. After completing this assignment, this is an additional tool for you to use before handing in the final memorandum. If you do not recognize what the problem is you can click on the indicator and look at a guide to help you understand the identified grammar issue. If there are significant problems identified on your final memorandum you will lose points for not having completed adequate grammar and spelling checks.
Writing Requirements:
This assignment is the first of four steps in completing the legal memorandum. This assignment has a different format than the earlier ones. This assignment will require you to:
Solve a statistics problem - you will solve the statistics problem and include it in this assignment (in the appendix.) - You will use the calculations you complete to inform the recommendation you make for this problem.
Answer the problem definition questions included on the first page of the assignment template -through doing this you will articulate an understanding of the problem and what you are being asked to do with that problem, the value of the statistical calculation to addressing the problem, and who the audience you are asked to address is and how their role and status will influence what and how you write your memorandum.
Complete a draft of the memorandum - through doing this you will demonstrate an ability to understand and explain a statistical problem
Using language appropriate to the process you are participating in and the status and background of the audience you are addressing.
Presenting a detailed analysis for this audience to understand what you have done and have confidence in your recommendation.
Present the memorandum such that elements flow (Links to an external site.) in a clear professional way.
Revise and edit your document so that it is complete, clear (Links to an external site.) and concise (Links to an external site.).
To complete this assignment you will use:
The Legal Memorandum TemplatePreview the document - open this template and complete the assignment in it
The Legal Memorandum GuidePreview the document - this will provide guidance on the content of the memorandum
The problem description below - this is the statistical problem you will address.
You may also reference the Legal Memorandum exemplarPreview the document to see what the layout completed assignment will look like.
What will you be graded on?
This assignment will be graded on completeness ONLY. However, it is the document on which you will get feedback from your classmates, so you should produce your best work, in order to get the best possible feedback. Be sure to look at the assignment rubric to assure that you have completed the required elements prior to turning in the assignment.
Problem Description
You are being brought in as an expert witness in a class action lawsuit (Links to an external site.) - Thomas v. True Car Parts Corporation. Using your engineering background you are being asked to provide an argument as to the liability or not of Trusted Car Parts for the design and production of their shafts used in fuel pumps currently in many automobiles from multiple manufacturers.
Shaft wear in excess of 3.50 microns could lead to catastrophic failures of a certain model fuel pump in extreme weather conditions. Engineers for the manufacturer of the shafts claim that the shaft wear is within acceptable limits. Lawyers representing a class action legal suit filed against the company feel that recent vehicle failures for vehicles with this shaft are due to faulty bearings causing abnormal wear and, thus, feel that the company should pay for the necessary vehicle repair and parts replacement.
The amount of shaft wear (in microns.) after a simulated mileage of 250,000 miles was determined for each of n = 45 fuel pumps having copper lead as a bearing material, resulting inx-1.png and s = 1.25. Use the appropriate hypothesis test at level .01 to determine if the shaft wear is within acceptable limits. Please state any assumption you have made, if necessary.
Conduct the appropriate hypothesis test. What determined your choice of the alternative hypothesis? Whose claim would you support?
Be sure to present in plain language the logic of your statistical approach clearly and completely to convince the Judge and jury of your position.
Write your response as if you were presenting evidence as an unbiased expert witness.
Audience: Your document is addressed to the judge in the case - The Honorable Fahimeh Hamidi, and copied (CC) to Thierry Reints, Clerk of the Court, Mikaela Booth, Plantiffs' Counsel, and Jon Grabinkski, Defendant's Counsel
As the expert witness for this case, the jury who will be reviewing the case documents is an important audience even though they are not formally addressed in the document. This audience is assumed not to have the specific technical knowledge of the field the witness is explaining. The expert witness must persuade the audience of their expertise and their presentation of the case is the most credible assessment of the facts possible.
Sample Solution