Brief Description of Case:
The infant plaintiff was injured during a culinary class. He alleged that, while he was slicing potatoes, another student grabbed a mandoline slicer from him, causing him to slice his finger on the mandoline slicer’s blade. Infant plaintiff’s mother sued the School District, individually and on behalf of her son. The plaintiffs alleged that the infant plaintiff was injured because of a dangerous condition and that the culinary class was negligently supervised.
Court or Jury’s Decision and Reasoning:
We successfully argued and demonstrated prima facie that the infant plaintiff was adequately instructed on use of the mandolin slicer and that the alleged inadequate supervision was not the proximate cause of the injury. The Court agreed, in part because there was one mandolin slicer in the classroom and students were instructed to share it. In addition, the witnesses testified that the incident happened over a matter of seconds, so any alleged lack of supervision was not a proximate cause of the injury. The Court further agreed that the mandolin was not a dangerous condition because the infant claimant testified that it did not look broken or defective, and he had no problems using it for its intended purpose. Accordingly, our motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint was granted.