Imagine you are in an in-seat class on a cool, rainy evening, listening to the instructor’s lecture. Sensing that he is losing your interest, the instructor decides to enthrall you with what his baseball career could have been like… had he any talent!
He grabs a baseball and throws it over everyone’s heads through a window up on the third floor of the building. The ball hits a passerby, knocking him to the ground. The passerby now needs medical attention.
A fire department crew promptly responds. A rookie is driving the fire engine, and misjudges the distance needed to stop the truck. He crashes into the boiler room portion of the building, and, because of a design flaw in the boiler, an explosion erupts. The blast damages the building and causes injury to a few people nearby, including the poor victim of the baseball.
List and discuss the tort claims and defenses the instructor, the victim, and the fire truck driver may bring, even if you believe they may be unsuccessful.