The civil law companion to The Case of the Skate Park Camera. When a café owner’s pergola is smashed by a delivery van, she sues for the cost of repairs — but is this really negligence, or just an unavoidable accident? Students step into a civil hearing to decide whether the business is liable, on the balance of probabilities.
This case introduces a different — and genuinely trickier — question than “who did it”: even though it’s fairly clear the van caused the damage, was the driver actually careless? Students learn that proving something happened isn’t the same as proving fault, a real and valuable distinction in negligence law.
What’s included:
• Full teacher guide with lesson sequence, timing, and classroom management tips
• Curriculum connections mapped to genuine Australian Curriculum v9.0 codes (AC9HC8K05, AC9HC7K03, English)
• A Legal Concepts Primer covering plaintiff/defendant, balance of probabilities, negligence, duty of care, and damages
• Honest teacher notes on how this would really be handled (usually a tribunal, often resolved by negotiation, rarely a full contested hearing)
• Courtroom roles for classes of 8–30 students
• 5 pre-trial mini-lessons, student case file, 8-exhibit evidence pack (each tagged with its evidence type), 5 detailed witness profiles
• Full courtroom script, 14 printable student worksheets
• Differentiation: support, core, and extension tasks (including a direct compare-and-contrast task with the criminal companion resource)
• Confidential teacher-only solution guide that supports either a liable or not liable outcome
• Debrief discussion questions
Best for: Years 7–8 | Class sizes 8–30 | 4–6 lesson sessions | Pairs naturally with The Case of the Skate Park Camera