Torts Question1

MET owned a beautiful vintage building that housed a museum open to the public during certain days and hours. Visitors bought tickets for entrance. Some visitors were allowed in for free. MET had a problem with its main lobby because the spectacular marble floor was also very slippery, especially on rainy days. They liked it clean and shiny, so they would polish it often to impress the visitors, but this made it even more slippery. 

There have been ten instances in the past year where visitors slipped and fell to the floor. Most were not seriously injured, but there was at least one visitor who severely fractured his ankle and was hospitalized. MET was advised to spray the floor with a nonskid material that would eliminate the slippery condition, but it would dull the floor and leave a rough layer of grainy, sand-like material. Further, it would create an annoying noise when walked upon. It would cost at least $100,000 to make this improvement. MET wanted to keep the floors shiny and beautiful in their historic condition, so they did not apply the non-skid material. Instead, on rainy days, they laid a large floor mat at the entrance and posted a few orange cones nearby with a small sign that read “Caution When Walking” at the entrance on rainy days as a warning to visitors.

POPPY was an elderly woman who always walked slowly and carefully to avoid falling. She entered the museum on a rainy day and saw the cones. She walked into the lobby carefully but slipped on the floor and fractured her hip. It was a serious injury. She was taken by ambulance to the hospital but injured her arm when the speeding ambulance collided with a car at an intersection, the driver of which apparently did not hear the siren of the ambulance. While waiting to be treated at the hospital, the DOC told POPPY they would need to operate on her hip and secure her hip bone in place with metal pins. If left to heal without this procedure, she would be so unstable that she would need to use a walker or crutches in order to walk for the rest of her life. With the surgery she would be able to regain her current ability to walk unassisted. POPPY agreed to the surgery with the pins. DOC didn’t tell POPPY that there was a 1% chance for a woman of her age and condition of suffering a stroke in the recovery room following the trauma of the surgery. DOC performed the procedure perfectly, but POPPY suffered a stroke in the recovery room and became paralyzed on the left side of her body. 

POPPY SUES MET IN NEGLIGENCE FOR ALL HER INJURIES. WHAT RESULT? 

POPPY SUES DOC IN NEGLIGENCE FOR HER PARALYSIS. WHAT RESULT?