Reference no: EM132205354

Question:

Michael owns and operates an Italian café where he is also the chef. He usually has 2 assistants in the kitchen, but one Saturday night, both assistants call in sick just before their shifts start. Michael is unable to get anyone else to come in to work, so he is all alone in the kitchen that night. It happens to be a very busy night.

One of the special items on the menu is the ‘seafood special’, a dish involving raw fish. The raw fish has to be prepared very carefully and must be kept very cold at all times.

But because the café was so busy, and Michael did not have any help in the kitchen, he was rushing, and was not concentrating. He made several mistakes during the evening. After preparing one seafood special for a customer early in the night, he forgot to put the remaining fish into the fridge.

When the next seafood special order came in an hour later, he realised that the fish was not in the fridge. He saw it on the bench near the oven. The fish was warm. Michael had so many meals to prepare that he used the fish anyway without checking if it was still good quality.

Sophie, the customer who received the second seafood special, suffered severe food poisoning. Sophie was in hospital for several days and was unable to work for 2 weeks. The doctors determined that the food poisoning was caused by a high level of dangerous bacteria that had grown on the raw fish because it had not been kept really cold.

If Sophie were to sue Michael in the tort of negligence, would she be likely to succeed? Provide detailed reasons based on the relevant law.

Instructions

· It is recommended that you use the IRAC problem solving method to answer this Question.

· You may use headings and subheadings to structure your answer.

· Your answer must include legal references (relevant cases or sections of Acts).

· You are required to use the Harvard style of referencing. You should include a reference list in your Question, including a list of legal references you have used.