Question

1. On a warm Sunday afternoon, Ariel visits her favorite restaurant, Marquetas, which recently opened   an outdoor area with a seating space and various booths selling a variety of beverages.

As Ariel checked out her options of drinks, she suddenly slipped and fell in a large puddle of juice that had leaked from a large, plastic 6 gallon container that was sitting on a table. Seeing no warning of the puddle, Ariel tried to stop her fall by grabbing the 6 gallon container, which only rolled away and did not break her fall. Ariel fell into the puddle and broke her leg. The 6 gallon container rolled away from the outdoor space at Marquetas, which was located on a hill, and landed in the parking lot of FastBurgers about 800 feet away, which was down a few blocks from Marquetas. Harry was walking to his car after enjoying a burger, tripped over the container and fell, suffering an injury that required 15 stitches.

               Can Ariel and/or Harry sue to recover damages? Explain fully.

Answer 1

Yes Ariel have case eligible to sue for the recovery damages based upon the facts that the owner of the restaurant was Negligent.

Proving the defendant’s negligence lies at the core of every case. Negligence is a legal term that means the defendant failed to exercise due care in order to avoid a preventable, foreseeable death or injury. There are four elements of negligence that must be proven by the plaintiff:

1. A duty of care. First, the plaintiff (Ariel) needs to prove the defendant (Marquetas Owner) owed him or her a duty of care, which is an obligation to meet a certain standard of caution. For example, No leakage of juice)
2. A breach of the duty of care. Next, it must be proven that defendant breached (violated) their duty of care. In slip and fall cases, breach of duty often lies in lack of maintenance, or inadequate maintenance, which can create major trip hazards for unsuspecting customers.
3. Causation. Third, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant’s actions — or in some cases, the defendant’s failure to take action — was what caused the plaintiff to have an otherwise preventable slip and fall accident. There are two types of causation: actual cause, which is an accident’s literal cause (e.g. a puddle on the floor), and proximate cause, which is an accident’s indirect or underlying cause (e.g. negligent maintenance).
4. Damages. Not all accidents cause harm, even if they occurred because of negligence. The plaintiff must prove that the accident actually resulted in damages in order to recover compensation.

Since the 4 counditions mentioned above exists in the case, Ariel may sue for damage.

However since there was no Duty of Care to Harry in respect of Marqueatus as the incident happened far away and Harry should have been vigilant while walking, he cannot sue them