Jack, a GC cleaning employee, was assigned to clean Client A's office building. Jack's first task was to vacuum the floors in a wide hallway. Jack plugged GC's commercial vacuum cleaner into the hallway outlet with an extra-long electrical cord and began vacuuming. Before beginning vacuuming, Jack checked to ensure that the hallway was clear of obstacles and people walking. After checking the hallway, he placed the cord to the side of the hallway out of the path of his pushing the vacuum. After vacuuming for a few minutes, Jack stepped to the side to turn the vacuum and tripped over two boxes that had been placed in the hallway by Client A's employee since Jack began vacuuming. Jack did not know the boxes had been placed in the hallway. Jack fell and broke his ankle and was taken to the hospital ER via ambulance. A cast was applied after it was determined the ankle did not need surgery. Jack missed three weeks of work because of the injury.
Identify any potential defenses that Client A may raise in response to Jack's negligence claim. The analysis must explain why the defense may be raised.
The client A's worker was negligent in putting the boxes in the middle of the cleaning process which caused Jack's injury, who was apparently not aware about it. However, A can raise following defenses.
(i) Jack was a new employee, who was unaware of the time and place at which the boxes were placed there everyday, and his employer failed to communicate him about it.
(ii) Boxes were placed at their regular place as always, while Jack was using the wrong way to vacuum the place which caused him to collide with boxes and fall due to his own negligence.
(iii) The employee of A alerted Jack, which he either failed to listen or ignored.
The objective for raising defense is to prove that either Jack was negligent in his work or GC failed to train him well to complete his task, leading to accident.
Jack, a GC cleaning employee, was assigned to clean Client A's office building. Jack's first task...