An engineer designed an outdoor elevated patio that was expected to accommodateconference

meetings of up to 100 persons. The engineerconsidered the load bearing structure on the basis of the

weight of 200 persons as a safety factor. When the structure was completed, the ownerdecided to use

the patio for a rock concert and sold 400 tickets. In actual fact, over 400 patrons attended and packed

the patiofor a standing room only concert. The enthusiastic crowd at one point began jumping to the

music. The additional load pressure caused the structure to collapse injuring many of the patrons.

Treat this as a legal case and set out the legal position of the engineer, the owner and the patrons.