Question

Your boss is having lunch at the restaurant across the street. An important fax comes in to the office for the boss, so you need to run to the restaurant to deliver the fax to the boss. You make the delivery to the boss and then leave immediately to go back to the office.

The restaurant did not give you specific permission to enter and you did not order any food or drink while you were there. What were you – an invitee, licensee, trespasser or something else? Explain the reason for your answer.

Would your answer change if, before you left, you snuck some food off the boss’s plate while she wasn’t looking? Explain why your answer would, or would not, be different.

My answer has to be with scholarly attachment.

Answer 1

Answer.

Given that the judgment is being made in the context of the restaurant policies, a restaurant is a public place where anyone can enter and claim services as long a they abide by the rules of the restaurant administration and pay for the services. However, in this case, as one is supposed to have entered without the intention to be a customer in the restaurant, one could be probably seen a trespasser. Here, we don't provide any facts about why there is any concern with our actions as we have come to seek the boss who is already identified as a formal customer of the restaurant, we are therefore an invitee. In premises liability case in law, an “invitee” is someone who is on another person’s property because they were invited by the property owner or because the property is public property and is made available to the public (Rottenstein, 2018) . The given situation fits into the second instance of the definition of invitee.

In the second case, Sneaking food off boss's plate is between you and the boss and thus it outside the purview of the restaurant rules unless this was an all you can eat buffet, in which case, one can be said to have committed a theft, and could be prosecuted.

References:

Rotlaw (n.s). ’Who is an Invitee in Prmises Liability Law?’. Rotlaw. Rottenstein Law Group LLP.

http://www.rotlaw.com/legal-library/who-is-an-invitee-in-premises-liability-law/