Ron Artist is a pitcher for the Florida Grouper, a professional baseball team located in Miami, Florida.
Question:
Ron Artist is a pitcher for the Florida Grouper, a professional baseball team located in Miami, Florida. The Grouper were playing a home game in Miami one Saturday evening, and Artist was on the mound for the Grouper. The stadium, which is owned by the Florida Grouper, was packed that night in part because the Grouper had a promotion going on in which the first 1,000 fans through the gates received a free genuine Louisville Slugger baseball bat imprinted with the team’s slogan: “The Super Duper Grouper.” It was the seventh inning, and a few drunk and obnoxious Detroit fans behind home plate had been heckling Artist the entire game. These spectators had been served numerous alcoholic beverages since the first inning of the ballgame. On several occasions, Artist turned and looked directly at the hecklers with a scowl on his face, which just made the heckling even worse.
Before the eighth inning started, Artist was throwing warm-up pitches. He wound up as though he was preparing to pitch in the direction of the catcher, but he threw the ball twenty feet over the catcher’s head and directly towards the hecklers in the stands. Artist intended to only scare the hecklers, however, the ball inadvertently passed through a hole in the protective net screen and struck Pam, one of the hecklers. Pam was struck in the face by the hard-throwing ball and incurred a broken jaw as a result. After Pam was struck by the baseball, the other intoxicated hecklers taunted Artist and challenged him to a fight. Artist’s brother, Donald, and his friends were sitting two rows behind the hecklers, and a huge brawl suddenly broke out. Even Artist jumped into the stands and threw a few punches. Ricky, an 8-year old spectator caught in the middle of the brawl, was seriously injured when he was struck by one of the promotional bats swung by an intoxicated fan.
If Pam brings a vicarious liability claim against the Florida Grouper for the injury she received as a result of being struck by Artist’s thrown ball, she will most likely:
Prevail, if Artist’s throwing the ball at Pam was within the scope of his employment and in pursuit of his employer’s business
Prevail, if the Grouper knew or should have known about the hole in the screen
Not prevail, because Artist’s act of throwing the ball was not negligent
Not prevail, because Pam assumed the risk of getting hit by a ball
If Ricky brings a claim against the Grouper for injury he received during the brawl, he will most likely:
Prevail, because Ricky was a “business invitee”
Prevail, if the Grouper breached its duty of care owed to Ricky
Prevail, because the sale of alcohol and distribution of the promotional bats was in furtherance of the Grouper’s business
Not prevail, if the Grouper adequately warned the spectators about the risks associated with the promotional bats
Assume for purposes of this question only that, instead of the ball being thrown by Artist through the hole in the screen, the ball went through the hole in the screen as a result of a foul tip off of the batter’s bat while batting. If Pam brings a claim against the Florida Grouper to recover for her injury, she will most likely:
Prevail, only if the Grouper engaged in reckless conduct
Prevail, if the Grouper failed to exercise reasonable care to keep the screen free from defects
Prevail, if the Grouper had not been put on notice about the hole in the screen
Not prevail, because spectators assume the risk of being hit by foul balls
