Question

At a college football game their are always lots of student activities to make sure the students enjoy the game whether they are football fans or not. Free t-shirts, free pizza, half-time contests to win gift cards, etc. During one of the games, Jake was one of staff who used the t-shirt launching guns to shoot the t-shirts into the crowd of students. The guns could shoot the t-shirts 100 feet into the air. He and his fellow launchers had launched several t-shirts into the crowd of students successfully and without any issues. During the final quarter, Jake pulled the trigger on his launching gun to shoot a t-shirt into the crown and nothing happened; the gun did not fire the t-shirt. Jake was taught that when that happens to point the gun in a safe direction and put it down. Instead Jake hit the side of the gun with his hand trying to get it to fire. He didn’t realize that he had lowered the barrel of the gun and it was pointing right in front of him. The gun went off firing the t-shirt into a cheerleader 10 feet in front of him. The t-shirt hit the cheerleader in the back of the neck causing permanent injury to her:

The Cheerleader comes to see you about suing for what happened to her. Please explain:

Who she has a right to sue;

Why she has the legal right to sue each person you name above (why are they liable);

What her legal argument is to win the case against each person you named above.

(Please use IRAC)

Answer 1

Issue - Whether the company or the employee is liable for the permannent injury sustained by the cheerleader as a result of misfire of gun.

Rule- Under agency relationship, an employer is liable for the wrongdoings of its employee while at work. Under tort of negligence, the employee has a duty of care for others, if he /she operates a dangerous equipment which is potentially capable of harming others, and is expected to take reasonable care while discharging duties.

Application- Here, the employee of the company, Jack acted negligently while operating the gun, and violated the standard operating instructions, breaching the duty of care which he owed to the people at the venue, who were potential target of the gun and under danger of sustaining an injury. This negligence was the proximate cause of the injury sustained by the plaintiff.

Conclusion - The organiser of event, who employs Jack and the cheerleader is liable for the negligence of staff and the plaintiff has right to sue it for negligence and recover damages for her injury and its consequences on her future life.