Ch$.7$ Case Discussion

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In this chapter you will Identify the elements necessary for a valid negligence claim to exist $($duty$,$ breach of duty, and causation of injury$).$ Identify the role of foreseeability in determining whether a defendant owed the plaintiff a duty of reasonable care. Identify what goes into a determination of whether a defendant breached the duty of reasonable care.Identify the differences among the respective duties of care owed by owners or possessors of property to invitees, licensees, and trespassers.When the doctrine of negligence per se does and when it applies.

After reading the chapter and reviewing the power point. Develop a discussion which includes the following: Issue, Rule, Analysis, and Conclusion: $($IRAC Method$)$ from the following case.

Currie v$.$ Chevron U$.$S$.$A$.,$ Inc$\mathrm{.}2008$ U$.$S$.$ App. LEXIS $4269(11$th Cir. $2008$

Acting in her own right and as personal representative of the estate of her deceased daughter $($Nodiana Antoine$),$ Tracye Currie sued Chevron U$.$S$.$A$.,$ Inc. and Chevron Stations Inc. $($collectively$,$Chevron$)$ on the theory that Chevron negligently caused Antoine$$s death. The facts giving rise to the case are summarized here.

For approximately two years, Antoine and Anjail Muhammad had had a close personal relationship. The relationship between the two women was a stormy one, with Muhammad sometimes threatening to inflict physical harm on Antoine. One morning in $2003,$ Muhammad and Antoine were in Muhammad$$s car, which Muhammad had parked in a restaurant parking lot in Marietta, Georgia. According to a statement Muhammad later made to the police, Muhammad and Antoine became involved in an argument, during which Antoine said that she wanted to end their relationship. Muhammad also said in her statement that Antoine left the car and started walking toward a Chevron gas station across the street to call her family. Muhammad followed her, and the women continued arguing as they walked across the street.

Pamela Robinson, a customer at the Chevron station, testified at the trial in Currie$$s case that when she pulled into the station, she saw Muhammad and Antoine approach the station. Muhammad was pulling on Antoine$$s neck or the collar of her clothing and essentially dragging Antoine. Robinson also stated that Muhammad appeared to tighten her grip when Antoine tried to pull away. Robinson, who watched the two women move in the direction of gas pump number one, went inside the station when she realized that the pump she was seeking to use had to be activated by a Chevron cashier before it would work. Jyotika Shukla was the cashier at the station on that day. Robinson testified that she entered the station and $$told $[$Shukla$]$ immediately that there was something going on with the two young ladies out here and that she needed to contact the police immediately.$$ Robinson explained that she then pointed out the two women to Shukla.

Shukla testified at the trial that she did not know there was anything wrong outside until Robinson came into the station and told her, though an earlier statement by Shukla to the police indicated that Shukla saw the women before Robinson came into the station. Regardless of when she first saw the women, Shukla said that she did see the two women $$verbally fighting$$ and that one woman was holding the other by her shirt. Shukla did not call the police because, according to her testimony, she thought the two women were or would be leaving the Chevron property.

Evidence adduced at the trial indicated that when customers at the Chevron station sought to use a gas pump, they had to lift a lever on the pump. A beeping sound inside the station would then inform the cashier that a customer had lifted the lever. In order for the customer to receive gas through the pump, the cashier would then have to hit the $$authorize pump$$ button. After the pump was authorized, the beeping sound would stop.

The evidence established that Shukla authorized gas pump number one by pushing the appropriate button inside the station. This authorization of the pump enabled Muhammad to use it$,$ even though Muhammad did not have a car on the premises. Shukla testified at trial that she authorized pump number one before Robinson came into the station and before she $($Shukla$)$ saw the women fighting, but Shukla$$s deposition testimony and an earlier statement given to the police indicated that she could not remember whether she knew about or had seen the fighting before she authorized the pump.

Robinson$$s testimony suggested that Shukla authorized a pump$$after$$Robinson told Shukla about the two women fighting. Based on her prior experience of working at a gas station, Robinson recognized that a beeping sound informed the cashier that a gas pump needed to be activated. Robinson testified that she heard a beeping sound when she entered the Chevron station. She also testified that the beeping sound stopped $$right after$$ she told