Res Ipsa

Question 1

*Byrne

Answer 1

The flour barrel case. It would be wrong to say the facts of the accident are never enough to show negligence and it was the duty of the person who keeps barrels in the warehouse to make sure they don’t roll out. The court said that “A barrel could not roll out of a warehouse without some negligence” and it would be the same if a house is being repaired and something falls. Those with a duty are prima facie responsible and the burden is on the defendant to show any facts inconsistent with negligence.

Question 2

Prosser Rule

Answer 2

1) Accident wouldn’t ordinarily occur without negligence.
2) The accident was caused by agency/instrumentality in exclusive control of the defendant.
3) Not caused by plaintiff’s contribution/action.

Question 3

Larson compared to Connolly

Answer 3

The accident of a chair being thrown out the window and hitting the person below could happen even with a hotel meeting a standard of ordinary care because the guests have control and the hotel couldn’t post a guard in every room to prevent such surprise actions – no res ipsa loquitur (Larson v. St. Francis Hotel). Opposite result where a convention took over a hotel and was drinking and being crazy because hotel knew what was happening and had control (Connolly v. Nicollet Hotel).

Question 4

Benedict

Answer 4

NOTE that plaintiff’s possession of object that injures him doesn’t preclude res ipsa, assuming no abnormal use – Bingo folding chair collapse example

Question 5

Conditional res ipsa

Answer 5

If evidence presents factual issue of how accident happened and res ipsa applicable only under 1 version, court should give “conditional” instruction – 1st, jury decides how accident occurred and 2nd, jury considers res ipsa only if it found accident occurred in way fitting the doctrine (Allendorf v. Kaiserman Enterprises).

In such a case, is the thing really speaking for itself? Criticism in Khan v. Singh.

Question 6

*Comenares Vivas

Answer 6

Plaintiffs were in escalator accident where handrail stopped moving but steps didn’t. Court said a handrail wouldn’t stop suddenly while steps keep going without some negligence and PR Ports Authority had nondelegable duty of authority to maintain its facilities in a safe condition and there was no evidence plaintiffs caused accident. RULE was essentially Prosser rule: 1) accident of a kind which ordinarily wouldn’t occur absent negligence 2) caused by agency instrumentality within exclusive control of defendant 3) not caused by plaintiff’s voluntary action. The court did point to the fact that the escalator was in a “public” area meaning the case could maybe be distinguished for a private area. Exclusive control is flexible: even though another company maintained the facility, didn’t matter since Port Authority had non-delegable duty. Additionally, the court said you just need a defendant, and NOT a third party, to be responsible (even if they weren’t the only actor that dealt with that instrumentality. BUT there was a different result in Holzhauer v. Saks & Co where there were emergency stop buttons and so anyone could have pressed it and made the escalator stop.)

Question 7

*Ybarra

Answer 7

Point fingers. Surgery for appendicitis resulted in paralyzed arm because some weird metal pieces put under shoulders/neck during surgery – lots of doctors being sued, unclear who did what. When the chief evidence of true cause is accessible to culprit and not the injured person, need res ipsa loquitur - forces them to talk. Burden shifted to defendants to explain.