Question

Last month, there was a mechanical breakdown on the cable gondola that takes passengers from the base of Marvellous Mountain to the restaurant at the top. The system, which is operated by Marvellous Mountain Cable Corp. (Marvellous), has two large gondolas, one of which is going down the mountain when the other goes up. The breakdown took place in late afternoon and it soon became apparent that it could not be repaired until the following morning, so the passengers needed to be evacuated from the stationary gondolas.

The evacuation itself was not hazardous but, in the case of one of the gondolas, the passengers would have to walk a long distance over rough terrain after rescue personnel lowered them to the ground. It was considered unsafe for the passengers to be walking over this terrain with heavy items. As a consequence, the passengers were instructed over the public announcement system built into each gondola that for safety’s sake they were to leave any heavy bags and backpacks in the gondola, from which Marvellous personnel would remove them when the gondola was moving again and keep them to be reclaimed.

Two passengers in that gondola suffered serious consequences from these events. One Randolph, was claustrophobic. As long as the gondola was moving Randolph had no problem, but during the hour and a half that elapsed from when the gondola shuddered to a halt to when the passengers were evacuated, Randolph was reduced to a state of serious debilitation and, since the incident, has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The other, Rhonda, had in her backpack a small but heavy scientific instrument that she used in her job as a geologist. The instrument, which belonged to her, was worth $40,000. She left the backpack on the gondola as instructed and it was returned to her the next day, but the instrument was gone. It cannot be determined who removed it from the backpack or when, other than that it must have occurred after the luggage the passengers had left behind in the gondola was unloaded the next day by Marvellous personnel.

Each passenger, when buying a ticket for the gondola, had received a receipt in large font stating, “THIS TICKET CONTAINS CONDITIONS OF CARRIAGE — SEE BACK”. On the back, in a smaller but still readable font, were three conditions, one of which read:

“LIABILITY — PASSENGER ASSUMES RISK — By accepting this ticket,  passenger expressly agrees that Marvellous Mountain Cable Corp. shall not be liable for any personal injury or loss of property from any and all causes, including our negligence, that occurs in the gondola terminals or on the gondola.

It comes out, some time after the incident, that Marvellous had failed to arrange for the annual safety inspection and re-certification of the gondola system that was due the week before the incident. As a result, the gondola was operating without a current safety certificate. It appears that the standard inspection would have spotted the wear in a particular gear that experts later determined had caused the breakdown.

Discuss the contract claims that Randolph and Rhonda may have against Marvellous.

Answer 1

Randolph is claustrophobic. He had no problem traveling in the gondola and during the time the gondola was functioning. However, when the problem occurred, the gondola was stuck, this is when his health deteriorated and he has been reduced to state of serious debilitation. Since the incident.

While, Rhonda has lost her expensive scientific instrument as mentioned in the case. When the problem occurred, the Marvellous staff instructed the passengers to keep their baggage in the gondola and that the Marvellous' personnel will handover them to the passengers as soon as the gondola is repaired. Now, though the ticket mentions that the liability will lie with the customer, the problem of gondola has incurred due to lapse Marvellous Mountain Cable Corp. The license and certification for the gondola ride had lapsed one-week before. In fact, they ought to have arranged for an annual safety inspection. The gondola was running on an expired certification, which is illegal and punishable by law. Since, the problem incurred due to wear, which could have been easily identified during the inspection, the onus of the mistake lies with Marvellous. If it had conducted the timely inspection, then the gondola would have functioned properly. Neither Randolph nor Rhonda would have been inconvenienced.

Hence, Marvellous is liable for losses, i.e. ill-health of Randolph and loss of the scientific instrument to Rhonda.