- [Announcer] Thanks to
Wix for keeping Legal Eagle in the air and our website on the web. - (laughs) I don't believe it. You're meant to come
down here and defend me against these characters
and the only one I've got on my side is the blood-sucking lawyer. - I take offense at that. (upbeat rock music) Hey Legal Eagles, it's time
to think like a lawyer. Welcome back to Laws Broken, where an attorney destroys
your favorite childhood movies by showing you how illegal everything is, because everything is illegal. - Hold on to your butts. - This week we're going
to examine Jurassic Park. As Ian Malcolm would
say, it's like Disneyland if the Pirates of the
Caribbean ate all the tourists. There will be negligence. Be sure to subscribe and comment in the form of an objection, which I will either sustain or overrule, and stick around until
the end of the video where I give a verdict for John
Hammond's civil liabilities and how long Dennis
Nedry would go to jail. - Huh, we spared no expense. Spared no expense. Spared no expense. - The bottom line is that
expenses were spared. (dramatic music)
(zapping) (roars) Let's examine the evidence. (tense music)
(dinosaur growling) Okay, starting off with a bang here. I am pretty confident
that OSHA regulations do not permit you to
have a loaded shotgun, as well as dozens of men
surrounded with cattle prods. That seems like a very
dangerous working condition that probably violates a number
of health and safety codes. This is clearly an unsafe
working environment that is going to lead to numerous on-the-job accidents and injuries. Of course, at least they
are wearing hard hats, which would make sense if
this were a construction site, but this is more like a zoo, so I think those particular hard hats, in addition to not making
sense in this context, probably make things more dangerous given that they're not
going to do anything to protect themselves
from the velociraptors. So their head's in the right spot, but they have no idea what they're doing, and they are certainly not OSHA complaint. (growling) - Push 10 more in there. - But at least unlike Willy Wonka, at least they were smart enough to put OSHA compliant handrails
on their buildings. - And push. (tense music)
(door creaking) We're off, loading team step away. - So in addition to shotguns and tasers, a lot of these men are
armed with automatic M16s. I kinda doubt there are
any zoos in the world that equip their zookeepers
with cattle prods and automatic weapons, that
seems counterproductive. - Raise the gate. (tense music) (dinosaur growls) - So that seems like a
terribly designed system. (yells) - Lock the openings,
don't let them get out. (yelling) - I'm sorry, I shouldn't
laugh at this carnage. Okay so there are a lot of problems here. First of all, whoever designed this system did a terrible job because
simply by the raptors running out of the cage it was
able to push everything back and grab one of these poor workers. I think there is a clear
products liability problem with whoever designed
this entrapment system, and on top of it, the person
that put this park together I think has some major negligence issues, which will be a running
theme throughout this video. This thing easily could have
been designed in such a way to prevent the cage from
moving back away from the wall and keeping all of these individuals safe. Just make it all automated
and use mechanics and hydraulics instead
of requiring a human to open and close this cage
and stand on top of it. This kind of foreseeable injury is exactly what negligence is made
to protect against, and this is a bad system. - 750. On delivery, 50,000 more
for each viable embryo, that's 1.5 million if you get
all 15 species off the island. - Oh I'll get them all. - Remember, viable embryos. They're no use to us
if they don't survive. - Oh, how am I supposed to transport them? - The bottom screws open. - (laughs) That's great. Look at that. - It's cooled and compartmentalized. - You got us one, that's great. - Customs can even check
it if they want to. - Let me see.
- Go on. - Oh. - There's enough coolant
inside for 36 hours. - No menthol? - The embryos have to be back
here in San Jose by then. - That's up to your guy on the boat. Seven o'clock tomorrow
night on the east dock. Make sure he gets it right. - All right, what we have
here is a civil and criminal conspiracy between these
two individuals to engage in a number of different
crimes and business torts. What Dodgson and Nedry are doing here is they are conspiring to
steal the trade secrets of Hammond and Ingen, which constitutes the criminal act of theft, and it also constitutes the
civil wrong of conversion. Conversion is the civil version of theft. So they're trying to steal
these dinosaur embryos from Jurassic Park. Now, given then Dodgson is
paying Nedry millions of dollars to engage in this theft
and this conspiracy, we can reasonably say that
the value of the things that Nedry is stealing are worth at least as much as he's getting paid, so millions if not tens of millions of dollars. Given the dollar amounts at issue, this theft gets enhanced into
the felony of grand larceny, which carries with it easily
five to 20 years in jail, depending on the circumstances. On top of that, they are
engaging in a civil conspiracy to steal trade secrets,
which carries with it a hefty civil fine along with it. So that is just the
beginning of the crimes that both of those guys are
gonna be on the hook for. - I'll tell you the problem
with the scientific power that you're using here. It didn't require any
discipline to attain it. You know, you read what others had done, and you took the next step. You didn't earn the
knowledge for yourselves, so you don't take any
responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something
as fast as you could, and before you even knew what you had, you patented it and packaged it and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now you're selling it.
(banging) You want to sell it, well. - I don't think you're
giving us our due credit. Our scientists have done things which nobody has ever done before. - Yeah, yeah but your
scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they
could that they didn't stop to think if they should. - So Malcolm raises a
really interesting point. The dinosaurs in this park
are not naturally occurring animals like you would find in a zoo. These are essentially
products that they created. When you put a product,
whether it is a car or a pharmaceutical drug
into the stream of commerce, you are often responsible for the damages that occur as a result
of that particular use. And in Jurassic Park, the
products are the dinosaurs. They have packaged it into a
theme park-like environment, but if a drug needs to
carry with it a warning that there are side
effects, you can imagine what kind of warnings would be necessary for a Tyrannosaurus
Rex or any of the other dinosaurs on this island. - (scoffs) I don't believe it. You're meant to come
down here and defend me against these characters
and the only one I've got on my side is the blood-sucking lawyer. - I take offense at that. - National Weather Service
is tracking a tropical storm about 75 miles west of us. - Ay ay ay ay, why didn't
I build in Orlando? - I'll keep an eye on it, maybe it will swing
south like the last one. - So a tropical storm is
going to hit Jurassic Park. This could actually cut in
two different ways here. On the one hand, if you build a theme park off the coast of Costa
Rica, you should expect to deal with hurricanes
every once in a while. On the other hand, there
is a concept in law called force majeure, which
is basically an act of god which is so unforeseeable
that no one can really be held responsible,
so you might argue that this particular hurricane
might be so severe and so unusual that there's no way Hammond could have planned for it and that he is not responsible
for the things that go wrong as a result of this particular
tropical storm or hurricane. So those are the two
ways that it could go. I'm not sure which way it comes out in this particular case, we'll see. - Oh uh, I finished debugging the phones. You know, I was gonna debug, so I did. You know, you told me to
get started on debugging the phone and I thought
maybe I should tell you that the system's gonna be
compiling for 18 to 20 minutes, so some of the minor systems,
they might go on and off for a while, but it's
nothing to worry about, it's a simple thing.
(tense music) - All right, so Nedry has engaged in probably what constitutes a number of different computer and hacking crimes. He has clearly exceeded his authorization regarding the Jurassic
Park computer network. He is using it for his
own nefarious purposes, and not only that, but
he's endangering the lives of everyone on this tour,
but because he has exceeded his authorization for the network, he's essentially trespassing to all of the different
computers and the locks and electronic systems on Jurassic Park. He's also engaged in
computer fraud basically, by using a computer for
fraudulent purposes. On top of that, the
hacking itself is part of his scheme to steal the trade secrets and the biological embryos
from Jurassic Park, so it's part of this larger conspiracy to commit grand larceny. So now would probably be a good time to tell you about the felony murder rule, because I think it's going to be relevant in this particular context. The felony murder rule
states that if you commit an inherently dangerous
felony and during the course of thing felony someone is killed, you are on the hook for
first degree murder, which is the worst kind of
murder that the law recognizes. It's essentially the premeditated killing. It's like an assassination, you intended to kill
the particular victim. The felony murder rule is an
exception to the general rule that to commit first degree murder, you have to have that mens rea, that intentionality of
killing that person. And often, that is how
you get the death penalty in states that still
have the death penalty. So if I was a prosecutor and
I was trying to prosecute Nedry to the maximum extent possible, I would argue that theft,
in this particular case grand larceny and conspiracy
to commit grand larceny, are one of the things that
qualify as being inherently dangerous, and Nedry might be on the hook for the first degree murder of the people that die during the course
of his attempted theft. (crunching) - Oh Jesus, oh Jesus. - He left us, he left us. (thunder cracks)
(breathing heavily) - I don't feel like this is an accurate portrayal of attorneys. - Where does he think he's going? - When you gotta go, you gotta go. (dinosaur stomps) (metal creaking) (thunder cracks) - Dr. Grant? (roaring) - All right, so the T-Rex
has broken out of its paddock because the electricity went down and the fence is no longer electrified. To me, this situation scream negligence. Negligence is one of the first things you learn about in law school. To prove negligence,
you have to show a duty between one person and another, you have to have a breach of that duty, you have to have a causation between the breach of that duty
and the damages suffered, and you have to have actual damages. Duty is important because strangers don't owe each other anything. The classic example is if you saw someone drowning in a pool, you don't have an affirmative obligation
to help that person. You probably should, but legally speaking, you generally don't have
a requirement to do so unless there is some obligation
to affirmatively act. That's what a duty is, and
when you create a theme park, you have a duty to your tourists, the people that are in that park. Whether you have breached
your duty depends on whether you have upheld the standards of someone else in your position. In other words, what would a reasonable proprietor of a theme park do? Did the damages, the harm
that someone incurred, did that result from
the foreseeable results of someone's actions? So looking at it in
this particular context, we have a Tyrannosaurus Rex in a paddock. They have taken precautions to make sure that the T-Rex doesn't get out. They have put an electrified
fence containing this T-Rex, and when that fence is electrified, the T-Rex doesn't get out,
it knows that it's going to get shocked and the shocks
are enough to keep it inside. However, can we expect things to go wrong? Is it foreseeable that the fence might not be electrified at all times? I would say yes, 100%. So what should you do as the proprietor of a dinosaur theme park? Well, you should take
precautions to make sure that if the electricity goes down, the T-Rex still can't get out. What that means in practice
is maybe a second fence, one that is able to withstand
the might of the T-Rex. It seems like the T-Rex here
was able to put its mass in or use its tiny arm
claws to be able to snap the steel cables here, which
means that they could have used a fence with stronger steel cables. Separately, maybe you
have a backup generator that goes into effect
immediately when the first line of electricity goes down,
that's a different way that you can solve this problem. A third way to prevent
this problem would be to not use a fence at all. I've been to many zoos that
have very large animals like elephants and giraffes
where those animals are far below where the tourists are, so the change in elevation is big enough that there's no way for the
animal to get to the high ground where all the people are. So the natural barriers,
the difference in elevation is enough to keep the
animals from attacking the tourists and the sightseers. So those are three different ways that the designers of Jurassic Park could have designed this
particular enclosure to keep the tourists safe, and there's really no question that this negligence resulted in the injuries that these people are going to suffer. The emotional distress
and the physical injuries that they're going to
suffer are a direct result of the T-Rex getting out, so
there's a direct causal link, what's called proximate
cause under the law between the negligence in
question and their injuries. So this is a slam dunk case, I think, against Jurassic Park for pure negligence, bordering on recklessness for these poor people in these cars. (breathing heavily)
(dinosaur screeches) - Oh, hi, nice boy, nice boy. - So we have the situation where we have a really bad actor
who is going to suffer some physical injuries, spoiler alert, as a result of his own bad acts. (groans)
(dinosaur screeches) But also partially as a result of some of the negligence of the park owners. So in this particular
situation, it's possible that if he were able to sue
as a result of his injuries and not being eaten alive by a dinosaur, he might be able to get some recovery. Yes, he was partially responsible,
but in most jurisdictions they use what's called comparative fault, which means that if you are at fault for a certain bad thing happening to you and someone else is also
responsible for that thing, well you just look at
the various percentages and you say well okay,
if it was a 50/50 split, then you're entitled to recover
50% of the actual damages. That is in contrast to
what states used to use, which is called contributory negligence, which is that if you're
responsible for even one percent of your own damages you're not
entitled to receive anything. They're are pros and cons
with both situations, but equity generally is
in favor of comparative negligence instead, so Nedry
might be able to file suit. However on the other
hand, there is a doctrine called Unclean Hands
which says that you're not able to profit from your own bad acts, and Nedry's acts are so bad in this case, I think he would probably be precluded from recovering anything. (grunting) (rattling) (dinosaur screeches) (yelling) So Nedry passes away as a
result of his own bad acts, but interestingly, because
he entered into a conspiracy, conceivably the other
members of this conspiracy might be responsible for Nedry's death, both civilly and criminally as well. (upbeat music) (dinosaur growls)
- No, no, no! (fence clattering)
(dramatic music) - Oh, Mr. Arnold. (tense music)
(dinosaur snorts) - Clever girl.
(dinosaur screeches) (yells) (sad trombone music) - Are you crazy, I'm not gonna jump. - You can do it, Dr. Grant says. - I'll count to three, one, two, three. - 11, 12. - I'm coming up, I'm coming up to get you. Lex, I gotta get Tim. - Okay, I'm gonna count to three. One,
(alarms blare) two,
(zapping) - Oh boy. All right, now just as it is foreseeable that the electricity's going to go down on these electrified fences, it's also foreseeable that
a human might be able to touch these fences as well,
so not only do you need the electric fence to
keep the dinosaurs in, but you also have to have
a way to keep the humans away from this electrified fence as well. Yet another reason why
these electrified fences were just a bad, bad
idea in the first place. The question is, is it foreseeable that a human would ever
touch these fences? Well, as we saw from
earlier in this movie, it was incredibly easy for the characters to leave the cars when they wanted to. (doors closing) (growls) One precaution you could
take is to make it so that no one can leave the cars
as they're taking the tour. That might open up a whole
bunch of other problems, but at least it would prevent people from touching the fence here. In this particular iteration,
we see that it's very easy for people to leave and
there is nothing preventing these people from touching
these electrified fences. So I think it is incredibly foreseeable that someone, some
person might accidentally touch the electrified fence and be shocked in the same way that Tim was here. (tense music)
(bones clattering) (groaning)
(dinosaur growls) - [Grant] Tim, let go, yes. (yells) - Okay, I suppose this is a
minor thing in the context of an island full of
dinosaurs killing people, but those fossils probably weigh thousands and thousands of pounds, I
don't think they should be buckling under the additional
weight of a couple of people, and the fact that they're
falling apart is yet more evidence of negligence
by the park owners here. (tense music)
(yelling) (bones clatter) So given the height that those
two characters fell from, I think we can safely add a sprained ankle and perhaps a broken foot
to the pain and suffering and medical bills that Jurassic
Park is responsible for. - That is one big pile of (bleep). - All right, welcome to Jurassic Park. Jurassic Park. Let's tally up the crimes. (dramatic music) Here the main bad actor is Nedry. He engaged in multiple criminal acts. First he attempted to steal
trade secrets from the company. Given the value of the larceny, I would peg his sentence at 20 years. On top of that, during the
commission of this felony that was inherently
dangerous, three people died, including Muldoon, Arnold, and the lawyer. - People are dying. - Given the felony murder
rule, Nedry would be guilty of three counts of first degree murder, the worst kind of murder,
and he would certainly be sent to jail for the rest of his life, if not put on death
row, effectively serving three back-to-back life sentences. (upbeat music) Regarding John Hammond as
the owner of Jurassic Park, I don't think he would
be criminally liable. He clearly didn't intend
for any of this to happen, so he lacked the mens rea
for most criminal acts. With that being said, their gross negligence
is clearly apparent. Skimping out on dinosaur-proof fences and not creating a back-up system for when those fences
were no longer electrified is clearly an act of
negligence, and they are responsible for the civil
damages that occurred. Included in that are
probably the wrongful deaths of the three people
that died, which include Muldoon, Arnold, and the lawyer as well, not to mention the OSHA
violations at the beginning of the movie which led
to the poor park worker being eaten alive by a raptor, so that's four counts of wrongful death. How much a jury would
award would depend largely on their lifetime earning
capacity, but let's conservatively say five
million dollars per person. On top of that, there is
the pain and suffering and medical bills for
all of the other people that went to the park
under false pretenses. (fence clatters)
(cries) So let's peg that at about a
million dollars per person. So add it all together,
that is $25 million that Jurassic Park owes
to the surviving members of the excursion, and the
family members of those that didn't quite make it all the
way through Jurassic Park. - After careful
consideration, I've decided not to endorse your park. - Damn. - Now if you're going to
start a dinosaur theme park that may or may not
kill all of its patrons, you're going to need a
website to advertise it. When I needed a website for
helping law school students, which for the record
contains no dinosaurs, I chose Wix. Wix helped me create an eCommerce store and a law school blog. I've used them for years and
have paid them with my own money because I actually like
the websites that I created. I looked at other website builders, but they were all too constricting. The templates were fine, but I couldn't change them how I wanted to. Wix allowed me to build an
awesome, professional website that let me be as creative as I wanted, and the click and drag
interface is so easy, even a velociraptor could do it. - Push, come on. - If you are looking to
build your own website, you have to check out Wix. The first 100 Legal
Eagles will get 10% off. Just click the link below and use the code legaleagle at checkout. So get out there, make a website
for a non-murdery version of Jurassic Park with Wix. And until next time,
I'll see you in court.
Damn Nedry you fucked up. This is great. I never knew how much I wanted this video to exist until now.