Chapter Five A hotel is not liable for all injuries that occur while guests are on the premises Only liable when it does something wrong commits a tort Tort non criminal wrongs done by one person that injure another Negligence a breach of legal duty to act reasonably that is the direct or proximate cause of injury to another Negligence is carelessness that causes harm Must anticipate someone being injured Three essential elements of Negligence 1 A legal duty owed by one person to another 2 a breach of that duty 3 damages proximately resulting from the breach The law requires that people businesses act reasonably in attempting to prevent injuries Acting unreasonably carelessly means that person is negligent If the cause of a hotel guest s injury is the carelessness of an employee the hotel will be liable to the guest 61 of all lawsuits personal injury to a guest Management by walking around you personally see situations that could cause lawsuit likely to see burnt out lightbulbs spills Elements of a Negligence Case 1 The existence of a legal duty to act reasonably owed by the defendant to the plaintiff 2 Breach of that duty 3 Injury to the plaintiff 4 Proximate cause The breach of duty must be the direct cause of the injury there can be no intervening cause We only owe the duty only to those people who would foreseeably be injured by our actions If an injury is not foreseeable no duty is owed and the hotel is not liable for guest s injuries For a defendant to be liable for negligence the defendant must owe a duty to the plaintiff to act reasonably but must also breach that duty If a restaurant serves spoiled food it breaches the duty to not serve customers rancid food The issue in each case is whether the defendant acted as a reasonable person of ordinary prudence would have acted under similar circumstances What constitutes reasonable conduct in a given situation is determined by a jury or in a bench trial by the judge If the defendant has not breached a duty the defendant is not liable Proximate cause of an injury refers to its direct and immediate cause Requirement of proximate cause the injury must have been caused by the breach of duty there must be a cause and effect relationship between the unreasonable conduct and the injury Connection must be direct or immediate so that a reasonable person could foresee the potential danger of the careless act If plaintiff falls due to defendant s negligence but her injuries constitute a preexisting condition a physical impairment suffered prior to the fall defendant s negligence would not be the proximate cause of the injury If the hotel s negligence aggravated an existing injury the hotel will be liable for the additional injuries it caused Events independent of and occurring after the defendant s alleged negligence may be the direct cause of the injury rather than the defendant s negligence intervening or superseding occurrence A wrongdoer is responsible only for the direct and proximate injuries resulting from its acts To win a lawsuit a plaintiff must have been injured as a result of the defendant s breach of duty Invitee someone who comes to an establishment for the purpose for which the business is open to the public or for a purpose directly or indirectly connected with that business Hotel invitees guests and visitors of guests non guests who use hotel store or purchase tickets from hotel ticket office Restaurant and bar diners and patrons Delivery person delivering some item necessary for the business food or alcohol are invitees Hotel is not a guarantor of the well being of its patrons it owes a duty to its invitees to reasonably inspect the premises for dangerous conditions and to exercise reasonable care to eliminate them Liability may result if and only if the business 1 knows or with reasonable care would discover a dangerous condition that presents an unreasonable risk of harm to invitees 2 should expect that invitees will not discover or realize the danger or will fail to protect themselves against it 3 fails to exercise reasonable care to protect its invitees against the danger Necessary reasonable care encompasses both repair of and warning about the dangerous condition Open and obvious the dangers are so obvious that the invitee can reasonably be expected to discover them Invitees are expected to take appropriate precautions to protect themselves Hotel is liable even if open and obvious if the condition is unavoidable Licensee someone who is on the premises of another by permission or acquiescence of the owner or occupier and not by invitation Does not further the defendant s business On the premises for his own benefit or convenience Ex off duty employee picking up paycheck The duty owned to licensees 1 Refrain from willfully or wantonly injuring the licensee or acting in a manner to 2 Warn of any latent dangers on the premises of which the property owner has increase peril knowledge For the invitee hotel must inspect for dangerous conditions and either repair them or warn the invitee about them For the licensee hotel s only duty is to warn of dangers it knows about must disclose known defects but doesn t need to make any effort to determine what defects exist Minority rule applies does not owe a duty to disclose and warn of known dangers only to refrain from willful or wanton injury Trespasser a person who enters a place without the permission of the owner or occupier A hotel is generally not liable for injuries that occur to patrons on property not owned or maintained by it even if the property is near the hotel or restaurant s facility Res ipsa loquitur the thing speaks for itself frees the plaintiff from the burden of proving the specific breach of duty by the defendant Circumstances hint the defendant was negligent but no proof To use res ipsa loquitur plaintiff must prove 1 The plaintiff s injury was caused by an accident that would not normally have happened without negligence 2 The thing causing the injury was within the exclusive control of the defendant 3 The plaintiff did not provoke the accident The law excuses a young child from negligent acts a person injured by a young person s conduct is not entitled to compensation Attractive nuisance is a potentially dangerous object or condition of exceptional interest to young people ie swimming pool large empty box If an attractive nuisance exists on the property the owner or occupier is required to exercise reasonable care to protect children from associated