Martha is a ten (10) year old child but is unusually bright and very mature for her age.  A neighbor, Mrs. Schwartz, asks Martha to babysit for her six-year-old daughter, Colleen, while Mrs. Schwartz goes to a doctor's appointment. Mrs. Schwartz instructed Martha to keep Colleen in the house until she (Mrs. Schwartz) returned home. While babysitting little Colleen, Martha decides to call her friend Pat and chat for a while.  Martha becomes engrossed in her conversation with Pat and fails to notice that little Colleen wandered out the front door and into the front yard where Colleen met, Ross, a 40-year-old man who lives in an adjoining neighborhood.  Unfortunately, Ross sexually molests little Colleen.  Fortunately, a neighbor of the Schwartz's, Terry, saw Ross trying to put Colleen into a car and intervened. Naturally, Colleen suffered severe psychological consequences as a result of having been molested.  Mrs. Schwartz returns from the doctor's office and discovers what happened to her daughter and she is rightfully outraged.  Mrs. Schwartz files a negligence lawsuit against Martha (and her parents) alleging negligence on Martha's part.  Mrs. Schwartz contends that Martha should have more closely supervised Colleen and that Martha should have been paying sufficient attention to Colleen to prevent her from wandering out of the house unnoticed.

  A. What duty does Martha owe to Colleen? The duty of care.

 B. By what standard will Martha's actions be judged? (Be sure to name all elements of the standard)

C. Apply the standard required by "B" above and determine if it is likely that Martha will be held liable for Colleen's injuries.

D. While Colleen is being treated at the local hospital, the physician treating her is negligent in that the physician administers to Colleen a drug to which the physician has been told Colleen is violently allergic.  As a result, Colleen must be admitted to the hospital for treatment of this drug induced allergy.  Is Martha liable to Colleen for the injuries inflicted by the doctor's admitted negligence? Why?  Why not?

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

A Martha owes a duty of care to Colleen considering the circumstances of the babysitting situation and Marthas responsibility to ensure Colleens safet... View the full answer