Synopsis of Tort Cases
The team read and answered questions regarding the four different tort cases presented in the class syllabus. The complaints from each case vary from negligence, employee incompetence, personal injury inflicted by another party, strict liability, and premise liability. The situations in the four scenarios are different, but each scenario has a plaintiff who thinks he or she has grounds for bringing a lawsuit against a defendant. Each scenario identifies and discusses the plaintiffs and defendants, the key elements of the scenario, the possible defenses, and opinions on the outcome of the suits filed.
Scenario 1
Tom Hanks the defendant invited Ben Button, the plaintiff, to play volleyball at his home one evening in 2004. Ben decided to join the other volleyball players about 45 minutes after the others had started. Within 10 minutes of joining, Button fell and sustained injuries to his right elbow. When Hanks, called Button’s father to tell him he was hurt, he mentioned he fell over an invisible line, which was later discovered to be a pinkish colored line for tying down the poles of the net.
Looking at this case from Button’s side, one fact that supports his argument is the out-of- bounds line was in a dangerous place because of the proximity to the street. A second arguable fact is that a player has to run past the tie lines to retrieve an out-of-bound ball. Another fact is, according to Button’s father, Hanks’ admission that Ben tripped on the invisible string, which was the tie line even though the tie line was pinkish in color. These three facts support Button’s complaint of negligence and premises liability because Hanks set up a volleyball court in his front yard.
From the defendant’s standpoint, the line described as pinkish was the same color and material as the volleyball net. Another fact that Hanks can argue is that during the