Analysis of Legal Arguments

Negligence (volenti argument, duty of care, standard for a professional, etc.) (Monika)

Volenti: Carter and Drew are now very excited.  They decide to celebrate by taking their spouses to the hit show Stinky Shoes at a theatre in downtown Toronto.  Carter’s spouse Careen is wearing stiletto boots for the occasion, which are hard for her to walk in and make her balance a bit wobbly. At the entrance to the theatre, there is a floor mat.  Some of the threading in the mat has come loose, and Careen’s boot heel catches on the threading.   Since she is already walking a bit wobbly in her boots, the loose threading is enough to cause her to trip and fall, and she badly twists her leg in the process.

Careen is in a lot of pain, so Carter helps her up and drives her to Docs Without Clocks, the after-hours walk-in medical clinic. Once inside the clinic, Careen is examined by Dr. Phil Feeble-Needle, one of the doctors employed by the clinic.   He tells her she has broken a bone in her leg and will need a cast. Careen is not so sure she wants a cast, but he is already wrapping her leg in a fiber glass cast before she can say anything.   Unfortunately, owing to a flaw in the design of the cast, it fits too tightly in one spot, and by the time Carter and Careen get home her toes are turning blue from lack of circulation.  They immediately turn around and go back to the medical clinic, where the cast is removed.  But sadly, there is already permanent damage to her foot that will make it difficult for her to walk even after the broken bone heals.

Despite these setbacks, the Very Chosen Inc. website goes live the following week.    Orders come flooding in shortly afterwards.   However, because Fay forgot to design the website so that orders would not be processed until payment was made, thousands of dollars of designer clothing gets shipped out without being paid for.

This quickly causes a severe cash flow shortage for Very Chosen.  It never really recovers from this (due in part to not having Jordan’s investment), and eventually goes bankrupt.

Negligence Analysis

Issue#1

The Volenti argument is a special case where the risk was voluntarily assumed and eliminates liability for any other party. For the purpose of this case, this argument is relevant to Carter’s spouse Careen’s decision to wear stiletto boots to the theatre. The case clearly states that they are “hard for her to walk in and make her balance a bit wobbly” – this is a clear depiction of her voluntary assumption of risk of potential injuries such a falling or loss of balance. Along with the Volenti argument, the concept of Contributory Negligence, that is a special term that means the injured party was guilty of some negligence along with others, can be applied to this particular scenario. It can be reasonably assumed that Careen was well aware of her capacity to walk in the stiletto boots and she should have taken extra care while walking into the theatre given that she could reasonably foresee the harm that an ill-maintained the mat could cause. Hence, when she actually suffers a twist in her leg due to the fall caused by loose threading, she is personally liable to a certain extent for her injuries due to contributory negligence; that is Careen, being the injured party is guilty of some negligence associated with her injuries sustained due to the fall.