Leesa Bunch v Hoffinger Industries, Inc and McMasker Enterprises, Inc - Assignment Example

After the settlement, Bunch amended her complaint to replace Hoffinger with Doe defendants. Hoffinger filed a motion to appeal.
3. Facts
Eleven-year-old Leesa Bunch broke her neck after diving into a four-foot deep, aboveground. The dive rendered Bunch quadriplegic and she later filed a case against Hoffinger Industries, Inc. and McMasker Enterprises Inc., the liner seller, among others. McMasker Enterprises Inc. Eventually, McMasker Enterprises Inc. managed to settle its issues with Bunch.

4. Issue (s) or question(s)
• Did Hoffinger owe any duty to warn of the danger of diving into the shallow aboveground pool?
• Were Hoffinger’s omissions the ultimate cause of Bunch’s injury?
5. Decision
The court examined the adequacy of the warning that Hoffinger provided and questioned if the caution was clear for an eleven-year-old child. Hoffinger’s discharge of duty to warn was also put into doubt by the court. As such, the court decided in favor of Bunch. The court established that Hoffinger’s failure to warn was responsible for the accident. Also, it was established that the design defect was also responsible for the injury, which was reasonably foreseeable.

6. Holding
If the doctrine of primary assumption of risk was applied to this case, then Hoffinger is clearly liable to pay for the damages to Bunch. The company had the duty to protect the plaintiff from foreseeable risks at the aboveground shallow pool. Read More