Violet inflated her car tires one morning, but she had no idea how much air the tires needed.
There was a label on the side of each tire that said, "Recommended air capacity 40-45 PSI --
WARNING DO NOT OVERINFLATE," but Violet didn't read the label and filled the tires up to
65 PSI ("Pounds Per Square Inch"). After inflating the tires, she drove her car to school and
parked in the parking lot right next to the school's main entrance and went inside. Shortly after
Violet went inside, Ricardo walked past her parked car on his way into the school while
carrying a basketball in his hand. As he walked by Violet's parked car, one of the car tires
exploded because it was overinflated. The blast from the tire explosion was so loud that it
ruptured both of Ricardo's ear drums. Additionally, the force from the blast caused the
basketball to launch out of Ricardo's hands and bounce inside an open window on the second
floor of the school building. When the basketball landed inside the second floor room, it
happened to knock over a chemistry experiment that Mr. Nye was working on. The chemicals
that Mr. Nye was working with were very dangerous and flammable if they were mixed
improperly. The basketball crash caused them to spill all over the place and start a fire that
severely burned Mr. Nye's face.
Who would be most likely to succeed in a negligence lawsuit brought against Violet for
damages incurred resulting from her car tire explosion?
Both Ricardo and Mr. Nye because neither of them would have been injured if Violet's car tire had not
exploded
Only Mr. Nye because his injury was a complete accident whereas Ricardo's injury could have been
avoided if he weren't walking so closely to Violet's car when it exploded
Neither Ricardo nor Mr. Nye because Violet did not owe either of them a duty of care and Violet did
not intentionally injure either of them
Only Ricardo because, when a car tire explodes, it is more reasonable to expect that a bystander would
be injured from the explosion than a scientist would be burned from a fire caused by a basketball
knocking over chemicals on the second floor of a building
Neither Ricardo nor Mr. Nye because the car tire explosion was a complete accident and Violet had no
way to predict that her decision to inflate her car tires would result in injuries to either of them
