In the case of Jill, Roeland, Polet, et al. v. ESG Security, Inc., the stage collapsed at the Indiana State Fair on August 13, 2011. The plaintiffs had appealed when the trial court granted a motion for summary judgment in favor of ESG Security, Inc. The Indiana State Fair had no written contract with ESG, but ESG was hired for security obligation purposes. ESG said that they had no duty, did not breach any duty, or did not proximately cause any damages or injury to those that were injured or died as a result.
The Appellants argued that ESG had a duty to exercise due care but ESG argued that they do not have a broader duty to protect against all possible hazards. This would include weather related hazards, premises hazards, or other external hazards outside of their contractually assumed obligations. The Indiana Court of Appeals noted that the agreement that the Indiana State Fair had with ESG was to provide security personnel at various times and locations. The agreement that was in place did not contain any provision that could place protecting patrons from a stage collapse caused by wind within the scope of ESG’s duty. The Indiana Court of Appeals held that the broad type of plaintiff here was a patron of an outdoor concert, and the harm was the probability or likelihood of a stage collapse caused by a strong wind. The Indiana Court of Appeals believed that a security company could not be ready for such occurrence and held that a stage collapse due to high wind was not foreseeable as a matter of law.
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