Slip and Slide Bride Case

2. Read your group’s assigned case, summarize it and what you learned from the case and how you would apply it in a management situation.  Post on Canvas. 

3. Answer questions

 Slip and Slide Bride
 Case
 (Plaintiff’s side)

Slip and Slide Bride Case-2

SLIP AND SLIDE BRIDE

Facts of the case:

In the early morning hours of April 7, 2013, between 12:00 a.m. and 1:30 a.m., various wedding guests poured water and soap on the dance floor, and proceeded to continue to use the dance floor to dance, slip and slide on the wet, soaped and slippery surface.

During that time, prior to Plaintiff’s fall, the wedding guests used the wet, soaped and slippery dance floor to dance, slip and slide on its surface on their backsides, sideways and on their front sides.   

Plaintiff’s husband, while wearing his tuxedo, also used the wet, soaped and slippery dance floor to dance, slip and slide on its surface.

By  his  own  admission,  Plaintiff  Kevin  Warner  did  not  believe  the  dancing, slipping  and  sliding  on  the  wet  and  soaped  dance  floor  to  be  a  dangerous activity.

The  employees of the  Hotel never  received  any written instructions or directives  on how to deal with  unruly, rowdy  or drunk guests  The Hotel did not  have security  video cameras  and had  no written Rules of Conduct for its guests.  

There was an open bar at the wedding party, and it was apparent to the Hotel and  its  employees,   that  alcohol  consumption  was  high  among   the  wedding  guests.  The Hotel does not enter  into  written  contracts  with wedding  planners nor  does  it  have  any  written guidelines  on  how  weddings  should  be  organized  and conducted  at the Hotel.

Before her  fall, Plaintiff danced  with  others  on the dance floor, and it was not wet.

At one point during the evening, Plaintiff left the dance floor to put on her bathing suit, as she wanted to join other guests that were going to the pool.  Before leaving the dance floor to put on her bathing  suit, Plaintiff did not see anyone throwing water  or soap on the dance floor.

When she returned to the dance floor after putting  her bathing suit on, as she stepped onto it, Plaintiff slipped and fell, as it was wet by that time.

Plaintiff was wearing  flat  rubber-soled shoes  when  she  fell.

According  to the Hotel Manager,  if she  saw  a guest  engaged  in a  dangerous activity  she  would  tell the guest  it was a “dangerous situation”,  but would  never  order them  to stop  because  in her opinion, she is “nobody to stop somebody doing whatever they want.” If she  witnessed  a guest  engaged  in dangerous activities,  she would not call the hotel guard to stop  it, as the guard was merely a hotel employee, and she could only call “the cops.”

On the  night of the incident, the Hotel Manager  saw  hotel guests  get the dance floor wet and soaped, slipping  and sliding on it and “throwing themselves on the ground  and doing all sorts  of crazy things.”   She  approached the  groom  and  told  him that  the  dance  floor should  not get wet and that what they were doing was not “appropriate”, but she didn’t demand that it be stopped.

A guard was present at the entrance to the Hotel on the night of April 6, but was never  called. According to the Hotel’s Manager the guard was on duty that night to keep the public out.

The Hotel Manager observed the  bride  jumping four steps  down from the pool area to the wet dance floor, to then slide on it, which she described  as something done in “water  parks.”  Another  manager  on duty at the Hotel that night believed that running,  slipping  and  sliding  on  a  wet  and  soaped   dance  floor,  was  not  necessarily dangerous, as he would have done it himself, if he had been a guest that night

The second most senior  Hotel employee on duty that night, a Restaurant Manager, observed  the wedding guests  wetting the dance  floor and  sliding on it.  He made  no attempt to stop  them from  doing that  as he considered them  “mean  and rude”
 and  instead  took a video for the  Hotel’s  protection, because the floor could get ruined if it got wet.

Not all guests  were slipping and sliding, as there were  parents, relatives  and older people at the wedding.  

According to the wedding planner, planning to avoid drunken guests creating situations, may involve simply putting the lights on, or ending the party, and that security guards  are  usually available  to restrain drunken guests.   

As a result  of her fall, Plaintiff felt the “crack” of a broken  wrist when she fell, 
i.e. a “distal radial fracture  just below” her wrist.   

Plaintiff’s husband   received  no  physical  injuries  as  a result  of defendant’s negligence,  but  has  pleaded  having  suffered  mental  pain  and  anguish  resulting  from seeing his wife’s injury, and the resulting  pain and discomfort  she suffered.   He also claims damages from loss of consortium

Issues:

1. Was the hotel negligent in failing to protect the safety of guests on its premises? Was there adequate warning of safety hazards?  Was there adequate supervision by the hotel?  Did the hotel have a duty to stop guests from dangerous behaviors?

2. Did the injured guest have the duty to avoid the open and obvious hazard of the slippery dance floor? Did the injured guest create her own risk by intentionally sliding on the dance floor?  Does it matter whether she was intentionally sliding or just trying to cross the dance floor?

3. Does the wedding planning company, which contracted with the hotel for the party, arranged and supervised the party have liability for the guest’s injury? Did they have a duty to warn about safety hazards?  Was there adequate supervision by the wedding planner?  Did the wedding planner have a duty to stop guests from dangerous behaviors?

4. Do the bride’s parents who paid for the party and invited the guests have liability for the guest’s injury? Did they have a duty to warn about safety hazards?  Was there adequate supervision by the parents?  Did the parents, as hosts, have a duty to stop guests from dangerous behaviors?

5. Since alcohol was served at an open bar by the caterer, how does this affect the duty of care by the hotel, by the wedding planner, by the hosts and by the injured guest?

6. Is the injured guest’s husband entitled to damages for his anguish, pain and suffering in seeing his wife injured and for loss of consortium?