1.

What happened that caused the case to be filed (including what the
plaintiff is claiming)?
- Arthur P Strahan was attempting to load a jukebox into the bed of a
pickup truck with a rear power liftgate on his own. Although Strahan
had a lot of experience loading the jukeboxes in the truck, it happened
to slip off the truck and strike Dewey L Gauldin. Gauldin filed a case
claiming damages received due to negligence.

2. What explanation does the organization provide for what happened?

- Strahan is unable to give a precise reason for losing control of the
jukebox. He thinks the jukebox wheel may have gotten caught on
something in the truck. Things like this happen so fast. Even with the
ample experience Strahan has, it is near impossible to give a perfect
play by play of what happened.

3. What is the Court’s decision?

- The court decided in Gauldin’s favor for damages received in the
jukebox accident. Straham then appealed the case claiming that there
was not enough evidence to support Gaudin’s case. The ruling
originally also granted Gauldin’s attorney a reward for $145,000, which
was revoked during the time of the appeal.

4. What were the most important facts and legal concepts that
determined the court’s decision?
- The main legal concept used in this case is the doctrine of res ipsa
loquitur. Even though the exact terms differ by case depending on jurisdiction, essentially
the accident must be the cause of negligence solely on the part of the defendant. The
court referred back to Bell v U.S.B. Acquisition Co. and City if Burlington v Dague.

5. Does your team agree with the decision and how might this case
affect HR practice—in other words, what is the “HR takeaway”? What
is the team’s perception of any consequences? Make the connection—
a positive and negative outcome to any decision made is always
present—tie the outcome back to your learnings in the text book,
current events, and/or other cases.

- I agree with the court’s decision. It seems evident that the jukebox
struck Gauldin due to some type of negligence on behalf of Strahan. In
a human resources view, this case shows that when handling heavy
equipment someone should always be supervised. If someone was
assisting Strahan or at least watching over him this unfortunate
incident could have been avoided. But the facts are that he was
loading the jukebox without any help and because he did not exercise
reasonable care someone was injured.

- I do agree with the verdict. Although accidents occur everyday and

at times there is no one to blame for them, in this particular case
there was someone injured and it should not be the responsibility of
the plaintiff to have to pay for the injuries that occur due to this
incident. It is not guaranteed that if Gaudlin would have had someone
helping him load the jukebox, that the jukebox would not have injured
Strahan, but it would have been much less likely that negligence would
have been considered. Strahan was simply walking by when he got
struck by a jukebox that had lost control due to Gaudlin not having
sufficient help. The HR takeaway from this case would be that be that
you should only try to undertake what you know you can handle.
Asking for help could have avoided this incident.