What is Foreseeable?
On a sheet of paper, continue the chain of events for each fact pattern. Be creative, you may be as bizarre as you like.
I. A passenger runs to board a moving train operated by the Long Island Railroad Company. One of the guards on board tries to help the passenger aboard the train as it pulls away from the station. He reaches out, extends an arm, and grabs hold of the passenger…
II. A vending machine repairman is called to repair a soda vending machine. He moves the vending machine away from a wall. He is not supposed to disconnect hoses, since they contain flammable liquid. He does so anyway to expedite repair…
III. It is winter in New York during World War II. Civilian and military ships and barges are busy loading, unloading and moving materials of all sorts for the war effort. A barge is inefficiently tied to a dock by a worker…
Read the actual fact patterns below.
I.
A passenger was running to board a train operated by the Long Island Railroad Company. One of the guards tried to help the passenger board the moving train as it pulled away from the station. In doing so, the guard extended his arm to help the person aboard. The person also extended an arm, and dropped a large paper bag he was carrying. The package fell near the tracks, and sparks from the wheels of the train set the package on fire. Inside the package were fireworks, which exploded with some force. Fireworks and skyrockets ignited, and were sent flying through the trainstation. One skyrocket flew to the opposite side of the station, where it hit a wall and exploded. The concussion from the explosion overturned a set of scales located some distance away from the loading platform. The scales fell on Mrs. Palsgraff, and injured her.
Mrs. Palsgraff sued the Long Island Railroad Company for personal injuries.
II.
A vending machine repairman was called to repair a soda vending machine. He moved the vending machine away from a wall. He was not supposed to disconnect hoses, since they contain a flammable liquid used in cooling. He did so anyway to expedite repair. The liquid spilled and soaked a rat which happened to be living inside the vending machine. Frightened, the rat ran from the machine. Seeking shelter, the rat ran beneath a natural gas water-heater located nearby. The pilot flame beneath the water-heater ignited the rat, whose fur was soaked in the flammable liquid. Aflame, the rat ran back to the vending machine, where the repairman stood in the puddle of flammable liquid. The burning rat ignited the puddle, which in turn burned the repairman.
The repairman sued his employer and the vending machine company for personal injuries.
III.
It was winter in New York during World War II. Civilian and military ships and barges were busy loading, unloading and moving materials of all sorts for the war effort. A barge was inefficiently tied to a dock by a worker. The barge broke free from the dock and floated aimlessly. The barge struck another ship and loosened it from its mooring. Together, both ships drifted aimlessly down the Buffalo River. Together, they hit a drawbridge that should have been raised by the city, but wasn’t. That created a dam that backed up ice, which also backed up water, which in turn flooded the river.
The flood caused property damage to adjacent homeowners and businesses.
What is Foreseeable?
Compare the actual fact patterns with your own feeble attempts to continue the chain of events in each example. These are actual cases, and are the bane of many Law students!
The cases are meant to illustrate the concept of “Unforeseeable Consequences”. Once a chain of events is set in motion, we cannot always predict what the outcome will be. After the fact, after the events have taken place, we can follow the chain of events backward to identify causes. “Hindsight is 20/20”, the saying goes. But often our foresight, the ability to predict all possible outcomes, is far less than perfect.
I.
1. Were the actual fact-patterns foreseeable or unforeseeable?
2. Were the actual fact-patterns more bizarre than your own creative writing?
II. Extending the Concept of Unforeseeable Consequences:
3. Do unforeseeable consequences play a role in Victor Frankenstein’s creation? (hint: Did Victor even stop to think about the foreseeable consequences?)
4. Apply the doctrine of unforeseeable consequences to cloning as described in the “Modern Prometheus” articles. (What happened to Dolly? What happened to the Asian cattle?)
5. Consider modern attempts to create or alter life as presented in the “Modern Prometheus” articles. How might Unforeseeable Consequences play a role in modern scenarios?