Ed Norton, a city maintenance worker, is inspecting a sewer line. To access the sewer line he removes a manhole cover and climbs into the sewer line. City policy requires that protective barriers be placed around any open manholes but Ed is in a hurry so instead he sets out a warning sign and leaves the flashing yellow light on over his truck. Betsy is walking along the street texting with her boyfriend. Not watching where she is going Betsy falls into the manhole and suffers serious injuries. Betsy sues Ed in negligence. 6.Assume that Betsy suffered $50,000 in damages. Discuss the contributory fault defenses that Ed might assert and how the suit would be resolved under the different approaches. Solution In such a case, the fault is with both the parties. Ed should highlight the contributory negligence. Contributory Negligence addresses a way to allocate fault between parties when it is not clear that whose fault is it. If you are negligent, and your negligence causes another person to become injured, then you are legally responsible for paying damages. The concept of contributory negligence is used to characterize conduct that creates an unreasonable risk to one\'s self. The idea is that an individual has a duty to act as a reasonable person. When a person does not act this way and injury occurs, that person may be held entirely or partially responsible for the resulting injury, even though another party was involved in the accident. Ed was at fault because he did not put a protective barrier around the open manholes. But if Betsy had been paying attention to the open manhole, she would not have sufferred injuries. Betsy was not cautious adn is at fault. So Ed definitely does not owe $50,000 in damanges. He owes less than $50,000 (may be 50% or more)..