Reference no: EM132220440
Professor Conover while still of a tender age always dreamed of becoming an astronaut. It never came to be. Although he eventually became a lawyer, he still has an interest in aerospace issues. On weekends he can be found in his garage working on designing better rocket engines. He thinks that NASA may someday be interested in his work. People in the neighborhood have started talking. Some are even starting to question his sanity. Last weekend while working in his garage, three men in black showed up to have a talk with the professor. Two of the professor's neighbors were present. One of the men in black told the professor that he was in violation of 1004 USC 2 which makes it a federal crime to do what Professor Conover was doing. In fact, that was a false statement. One of the neighbors heard the statement and now wants nothing to do with Conover. Further, that neighbor now tells people that Conover is a criminal. Eventually, Conover had had enough of the men in black and got a baseball bat and told the men in black that one day he would get even. Conover then locked all of the garage doors. The men in black were unable to leave the garage and all of them died two weeks later from starvation still in the garage. Conover and one of the neighbors survived. Conover then told the neighbor that the men in black died from a loathsome disease rather than starvation.
Now, assume that everyone is still in the garage with no reasonable means of egress. Finally, Conover gets an idea for escape. He ignites one of the rockets engines. It takes off in the wrong direction and blows through the garage door allowing everyone to escape the garage except the men in black who remain dead. As the engine explodes, it kills one of the neighbors. His estate files a wrongful death case. A warning on the engine says, "Do not attempt to use this engine to escape from a garage, especially that of Professor Conover
Have any torts been committed? If so, identify them. Against who/whom have these torts been committed, if any?
Will the wrongful death suit based on product liability be successful? What defenses will be raised?
Did the actions of Conover with the baseball bat constitute an assault? If so why? If not, then why not?