Posted: September 7th, 2017

It is 5:45 p.m. on Friday at the University of Arkassippi’s biosafety-level-4 laboratory for the study of hemorrhagic fevers. Karen, Sharon, and Suzanne have spent a long day working with samples of the newly discovered H9 strain of the Ebola virus. Communicating by intercom while working in their pressurized suits, the women hatch a plan to take a car trip to the big city of Nashlanta, five hours away, to check out a hot new night club, Sensations. Realizing they will have to hurry, the women move hastily through the decontamination procedures, skipping certain prescribed steps they consider redundant. They dart through the airlock, change into their clubbing clothes in the locker room, and hit the road. At Sensations, after several drinks, the women all descend on Tim, a handsome investment banker. Grabbing him to the dance floor, they all engage in dancing with Tim that involves very close body contact. Seven days later Tim is found dead in his kitchen, lying a pool of his own blood and liquefied organs. Tests quickly determine Ebola-H9 to be the pathogenic cause of death. Expert testimony at trial establishes the following: The virus particles that transmitted the hemorrhagic fever are equally likely to have come from Karen, Sharon, or Suzanne; it is also possible that such particles came from some combination of the three women, but there is a 90- percent likelihood that only one of women transmitted the virus to Tim. Which of the following is most accurate?

It is 5:45 p.m. on Friday at the University of Arkassippi’s biosafety-level-4 laboratory for
the study of hemorrhagic fevers. Karen, Sharon, and Suzanne have spent a long day
working with samples of the newly discovered H9 strain of the Ebola virus.
Communicating by intercom while working in their pressurized suits, the women hatch
a plan to take a car trip to the big city of Nashlanta, five hours away, to check out a hot
new night club, Sensations. Realizing they will have to hurry, the women move hastily
through the decontamination procedures, skipping certain prescribed steps they
consider redundant. They dart through the airlock, change into their clubbing clothes in
the locker room, and hit the road. At Sensations, after several drinks, the women all
descend on Tim, a handsome investment banker. Grabbing him to the dance floor, they
all engage in dancing with Tim that involves very close body contact. Seven days later
Tim is found dead in his kitchen, lying a pool of his own blood and liquefied organs.
Tests quickly determine Ebola-H9 to be the pathogenic cause of death. Expert testimony
at trial establishes the following: The virus particles that transmitted the hemorrhagic
fever are equally likely to have come from Karen, Sharon, or Suzanne; it is also possible
that such particles came from some combination of the three women, but there is a 90-
percent likelihood that only one of women transmitted the virus to Tim.
Which of the following is most accurate?
(a) Tim’s estate is entitled to a judgment against Karen, Sharon, and Suzanne as
jointly and severally liable for wrongful death.
(b) Tim’s estate can make out a prima facie case establishing liability for Karen,
Sharon, and Suzanne, shifting the burden of proof to each woman to disprove,
by a preponderance of the evidence, that her actions were not a but-for cause of
the transmission of the virus to Tim.
(c) Tim’s estate is not entitled to a judgment against any of Karen, Sharon, or
Suzanne, since Tim’s estate cannot establish that it is more likely than not the
case that any particular defendant actually caused Tim’s death.
(d) Tim’s estate probably cannot recover against any of Karen, Sharon, or Suzanne,
since the women’s allegedly negligent actions are unlikely to be found to be the
proximate cause of Tim’s death.
(e) Tim’s estate can recover against each of Karen, Sharon, a