Problem
Carolyn Anderson suffered injuries when she slipped and fell while running across the bathroom floor at the Black Angus restaurant.... The Black Angus lounge sponsored a series of scavenger hunts "as an entertainment/promotional device for the patrons." During the scavenger hunt, participants sat in chairs on the dance floor. As the disc jockey called out each object, the participants moved throughout the restaurant to locate the required item. The last participant to return to the dance floor with the item for that round was eliminated, and the game continued until only one person remained.
On the night in question Anderson went to the Black Angus with two friends and participated in one of the scavenger hunts. When she and three others were the only remaining participants, the DJ announced "toilet paper" as the next required item, and Anderson dashed to the women's restroom nearest the lounge. According to Anderson, she slipped and fell as she ran across the bathroom floor.... She glanced back after falling and noticed there was water on the floor. She also realized there were wet spots on her jeans in the knee area and below, and concluded the wet floor had caused her fall. As she stood up, Anderson was in some pain but able to walk. She took a piece of toilet paper from inside one of the bathroom stalls and returned to the dance floor. She remained in the game and ultimately finished second. She did not file an incident report or notify management until five months later when she advised the restaurants general manager that she had had three surgeries on her right knee as a result of the fall, and re-injured her back. She sued the restaurant.
al, M. E. Hotel, Restaurant, and Travel Law: A Preventive Approach. (p.269) [VitalSource Bookshelf].
a) Discuss the doctrine that Carolyn Anderson lawyers would be able use in this case?
b) Discuss what the restaurant could have done to avoid liability?