Affirmative Defenses
Tom and Mary Smith went to dinner at La Grande Fromage restaurant. Tom's bad lower back (hereditary disc problems) was acting up but he did not take a pain pill before going out. He was in some pain when the couple arrived at the restaurant. He had three glasses of wine before dinner hoping it would quell the pain. Before dinner was served, he got up to use the restroom. On his way to the restroom, he slipped on a puddle of melted butter on the floor and was seriously injured. The puddle he slipped on was comprised of several wrapped individual butter pats that had simply melted into a rather large yellowish blob on the floor near the men's room door. The butter pats had fallen off a tray that a busboy was carrying back to the kitchen while clearing a table. It is unclear how long they had been on the floor before Tom slipped on them. As soon as he dropped them, the busboy had yelled to the restaurant hostess (who saw them fall from her post at the hostess station) "That needs to be cleaned up!"
Please review the fact pattern above on the slip and fall. Pretend now that you represent the restaurant in this case. Based upon the facts as presented, what are two affirmative defenses that you might raise for your client? Explain how they would apply.
After answering the question above, please respond to three of your classmates.