Tort law letter assignment:
“Donald opened a new fast food restaurant that was open 24 hours a day. The restaurant had a drive-through lane where customers were served takeout food in their cars. A few days after the restaurant first opened, Paul ordered breakfast from Donald’s drive-through window while he was driving to work. Among other things, he bought a large cup of black coffee. The coffee was served in a waxed paper cup fitted with a clip-on plastic lid. The plastic lid had a lift-up tab through which the coffee could be drunk.
Donald had bought the cups and the lids from different suppliers. The clip-on lids were a little too small for the top of the cups. They had a tendency to pop off unless the lip of the paper cup was crimped by hand to make it fit under the lid.
After buying his breakfast, Paul drove off with the coffee cup resting between his thighs. Unnoticed by him, the lid popped off as he was driving along. As Paul turned the next corner, scalding hot black coffee spilled over the lip of the cup and onto his thighs. Paul was so startled and hurt that he lost control of his car, crashing into another car parked by the side of the road. Paul’s car was badly damaged, and so was the parked car, which was owned by Peggy. Paul and Peggy were both injured. Both have sued Donald.
Advise Donald regarding the scope of any duty owned and extent of his potential liability to both Paul and Peggy. In doing so, locate the following cases on WestlawNext and apply these cases to your analysis:
Huppe v. Twenty-First Century Restaurants of Am., Inc., 130 Misc. 2d 736, 497 N.Y.S.2d 306 (Sup. Ct. 1985) aff’d, 116 A.D.2d 797, 498 N.Y.S.2d 332 (1986)
Holowaty v. McDonald’s Corp., 10 F. Supp. 2d 1078 (D. Minn. 1998)
Rearick v. Hardee’s Family Rest., 24 Pa. D. & C.4th 314, 1995 WL 701632 (Com. Pl. 1995)”
