Tommy Topspin
Claudia Clubber and the local Parks and Recreation Department should be held responsible.
Claudia is responsible for these reasons:
She hit a ball at Tommy while he was not paying attention
When Tommy fell Claudia did nothing but laugh and tell him to get back in line
She poked Tommy with her tennis racket instead of going over to him to examine the
injury
She is not certified in first aid
She didn’t call for an ambulance when she found out Tommy was actually hurt - she put
an ice pack on it and told him to wait on the sidelines until the clinic was over
Tommy had to wait 30 minutes for Claudia to call his brother to come take him to the
hospital
The Parks and Recreation Department is also responsible because they let an uncertified college
student teach a class over the summer without checking if she had medical training. There was
also no waiver the participants had to sign addressing an issue like this if it were to occur.
Claudia displayed all four types of negligence in this case study:
Duty- Since Claudia was not first aid certified and started hitting balls at students who
weren’t paying attention, she destroyed the safe environment of the clinic.
Breach of Duty- Claudia hit a ball at Tommy while he wasn’t paying attention
(commission) and failed to call an ambulance when she found out that he was actually
hurt (omission)
Causation- Tommy lost partial sight in his right eye due to Claudia hitting the ball at him
while he wasn’t ready and the ball bouncing off his racket and hitting his eye. There is a
definite connection between the two
Damages- The damage done here was to Tommy’s eye. He lost partial sight in his right
eye and will probably harbor bad feelings about it the rest of his life. There is not only
physical damage but also emotional and possibly economic because Tommy will lose the
$10 he paid to take the clinic.
