Sullivan College of Technology and Design Civil Torts and Injuries Discussion
This week’s reading focuses on dealing with the legal duty to avoid harming others’ persons or property in ways that may or may not be associated with a criminal act. These responsibilities are wide-ranging and are often a source of litigation for business organizations. Understanding these duties and the associated cost of avoiding harm to others is therefore of great concern to leaders. This week’s prompt will ask you to look at a particular scenario and describe the various liabilities that exist.
DISCUSSION QUESTION (200 words) Please carefully read the following story and identify and explain all the tort liabilities that may exist for all involved parties. For each, be sure to identify the tort, the plaintiff, and the defendant and say how likely it is that each could be won or lost.
Titan Fireworks, LLC is owned by Bill Smith. It operates a retail location just off a busy expressway and has by its own advertising “The Largest Assortment of the Most-Powerful Consumer-Legal Pyrotechnics East of the Mississippi”. On April 1 at noon there are 3 people in the store, Smith, and a young newlywed couple, John and Tina Brown, who are shopping for fireworks to use for a prank they plan to play on their neighbor later that day. A few minutes later, they are joined by Smith’s ex-wife, Lucinda, who is carrying a baseball bat and who walks directly up to Bill and tells him that she will “wreck the entire store, and his life” if Smith doesn’t immediately give her $1000 out of the cash register. Bill Smith has a restraining order against Lucinda that precludes her from coming to the store. Bill tells Lucinda to leave or he will call the police. In a fit of rage, she swings the bat wildly at Bill, which he manages to block with his arm, the act of which dislocates the bat from Lucinda’s grip and sends the bat flying through the air. The airborne bat hits John Brown in the back of the head and he falls to the floor, unconscious. Tina Brown suffers from a diagnosed emotional imbalance and falls to the floor in a silent fetal position at the sight of her unconscious husband. Bill Smith grabs Lucinda and drags her back to the office and locks her inside and calls 911 for both police and medical aid. in the meantime, John Brown regains consciousness and tries to console his young wife. Upon getting Tina back to her feet, John begins to walk her out to their car. Bill Smith runs to the doorway and physically blocks their exit, telling them they must wait for the police to arrive and lifts his shirt to show a handgun in his waistband. The police and ambulance arrive within 15 minutes. The police take statements, haul Lucinda to jail, and render care on site to Bill, John and Tina. Over the next few weeks, Tina needs extra psychiatric counseling and John writes a letter to the editor of the local paper saying that Bill Smith deliberately injured the Browns and that he shouldn’t be allowed to operate his business in the community. Immediately after the letter is published, Smith’s landlord terminates his lease contract for the Titan Fireworks location and his membership in the local Chamber of Commerce is suspended.
