GTE Regulation Case Study

The regulation laws set by states are designed to protect and regulate citizens of the state to avoid damages. The North Carolina regulation that prohibits telephone booth placement at public intersections were designed to avoid any harm that could come to the public due to the placement and proximity of traffic. GTE, Inc, acting on their own accord illegally placed a booth at one of these intersections which led to a pedestrian, Ann, getting injured through a car accident. Ann has rights to compensation over this company for the actions they had done, and GTE showed negligence in this way. GTE, Inc. has a duty to act reasonably and not impart unreasonable risk to others (p.273) This includes following laws and rules that have been set for them to conform to, and they have performed a breach of duty through the violation of a safety statute. Since the state of North Carolina has prohibited telephone booths within public rights-of-way, the placement of such by GTE violates this regulation. This is an act of negligence by the company, and they will be liable for such. By doing so, GTE was the cause in fact for the damages to Ann. Without the breach of duty of not abiding by the laws, Ann would not have suffered damages in this way. Because the phone booth is not …show more content…
Compensatory damages are meant to make the injured party whole again (p.766). Meaning that Ann has a right to sum of money equal to the damages, loss, or injuries she had gained from this accident. GTE would be responsible and liable for the payment of these damages. She can sue GTE for negligence since they failed to act reasonably by following laws set by North Carolina, causing damages even though they were not intentional. In this case, the driver would not be responsible to pay compensatory damages, as we do not know the context and extent of the accident