Facts
Bob and Mary Beck live in an expensive gated community located just outside of Springfield, Missouri. They moved into that community about 2 years ago, primarily because so that their 9-year-old son, Brent, would have other school-age children to play with. The community is relatively new and, like many newer subdivisions, has deed restrictions which prohibit homeowners from fencing their yards. Since the Becks have a dog, they purchased an “invisible fence” system that keeps the dog in their yard by means of a shock collar.
Soon after the Becks moved into the neighborhood, Brent met James and John Spiel, who live two doors to the west of the Becks. Brent, James and John became frequent playmates and met each other after school almost every day. They often played at Brent’s house, because his back yard featured a large wooden tree house. The boys called the tree house their “fort” and spent many after-school hours there, weather permitting.
Bob Beck had built the tree house himself from plans he and Brent had drawn up together. Bob Beck was not a skilled carpenter, but he had consulted a do-it-yourself book about constructing outdoor play equipment. Although the book recommended that readers check with the Consumer Product Safety Commission for safety tips before building play equipment from scratch, Bob Beck had not taken the time to look up that information.
One afternoon when the Beck family was away from home, James and John Spiel came over and knocked on the Becks’ front door. Although they did not get an answer, they went into the back yard. James and John had previously played in the tree house when the Becks were not home – it is not clear whether the Becks knew that the Spiel boys entered the yard and used the tree house in their absence, but the Becks had never specifically told the Spiels not to do so.
James climbed the ladder to enter the tree house. As soon as James reached the main platform of the tree house, he went over to the railing to look down at his brother John. The railing gave way under James’s weight, and he fell out of the tree house, landing on top of his brother John. Both boys left the Becks’ yard at that point (James was limping badly) and went home, crying.
Mr. and Mrs. Spiel, the boys’ parents, sued the Becks. They claimed that the Becks were negligent. At the trial, Mr. and Mrs. Spiel presented evidence that Bob Beck had failed to consider the load-bearing capacity of the railing around the tree house platform and had ignored other basic safety precautions in constructing the tree house. The shoddy construction of the tree house caused James to fall and injure his leg and his brother John.
The Becks maintain that they were not negligent and that in any case the boys were trespassing on the Becks’ property at the time they suffered their injuries. Mr. Beck claimed that reasonable people know that they enter someone’s backyard tree house “at their own risk,” and it is not negligence to construct a tree house without consulting books or other resources; people do it all the time! Mr. Beck also argued that the city does not impose any building or safety codes on a backyard tree house or compliance with any construction standards, so he was not violating any local laws.
Questions
1. What is the legal definition of “negligence”?
2. What are the four elements of a negligence claim?
3. Have the plaintiffs (the Spiels) alleged all of the elements in your answer to #2?
4. You are the jury; how would you decide this case? Discuss whether Bob Beck was negligent, keeping in mind that the plaintiff has the burden of proving this by a “preponderance of the evidence”.