Question

Diving Fiasco. Mike, who owns a dive shop in the United States, decides to take a group of his customers diving in U.S. waters. Mike is aware that sharks occasionally visit the area where the divers will be visiting. He is also aware that, while stingrays are usually tame, they can become aggressive when fed. Mike does not reveal that information to the group of divers going with him. The divers go down into the water, and some have squid with which to feed the stingrays. During the dive, one of the stingrays becomes agitated and latches onto diver Susie's arm. Susie is so disconcerted that she drops her regulator (her breathing device) from her mouth and is in considerable difficulty. Another diver, Billy, encounters a shark, which snaps at him. While the shark does not actually bite Billy, the attack results in damage to his diving equipment. Mike, who is in charge of the dive, does nothing to help and leaves the other divers to return to the boat because the dive turned out to be more trouble than expected. Wendy, another diver on the trip, also returns to the boat without doing anything to help the divers in distress. Sam, on the other hand, goes to rescue the divers who are in distress. He manages to do so but in the process he pulls his back and requires medical care. All divers are very unhappy with Mike. Which of the following is true regarding whether Wendy and Sam had a duty to come to the assistance of the divers in peril?

A. Neither Wendy nor Sam had a duty to aid the divers in peril.
B. Wendy and Sam had a duty to aid the divers in peril, but only if Mike refused to do so.
C. Wendy and Sam did not have a duty to aid the divers in peril, unless they were the first to observe the problem. Wendy and Sam had a duty to aid the divers in peril, but only if they were acquainted with them before the dive.
D. Wendy and Sam had no duty to help strangers. Wendy and Sam had a duty to aid the divers in peril if personal safety was involved, but not O if the only issue was damage to property

Answer 1

Answer: A. Neither Wendy nor Sam had a duty to aid the divers in peril.

Step-by-step explanation:

Sam and Wendy were simply customers of Mike in this scenario and so could not be reasonable expected to take over his duties to oversee the dive which he initiated and was aware of the risks of.

They therefore did not have a duty to aid the other divers especially given the fact that they did not know the risks involved in diving in that particular area. The only person who had an actual duty to rescue the divers is the company or person that took the people on the dive which in this case was Mike.