Farwell v. Keaton, 396 Mich. 281, 240 N.W.2d 217, Supreme Court of Michigan (1976) p125.

Duty of care

• Seigrist and Keaton consumed some beer in a trailer rental lot while waiting for a friend who worked there to finish work.
• Two girls walked by and Siegrist and Keaton followed them down the street while attempting to engage them in conversation.
• The girls went into a restaurant and complained to their friends about it.
• Six boys came out of the restaurant and chased Siegrist and Farwell back to the lot.
• Siegrist escaped unharmed, but Farwell was severely beaten.
• Siegrist applied ice to Farwell's head.
• Then Siegrist drove Farwell around for approximately two hours, stopping at various fast food restaurants.
• Farwell went to sleep in the back seat of the car.
• Around midnight Siegrist drove the car to the home of Farwell's grandparents, parked it in the driveway and left, after unsuccessful attempts to rouse Farwell.
• The next moring the grandparents discovered Farwell in the car and took him to the hospital.
• He died three days later of an epidural hematoma.
• At trial a neurosurgeon testified that if a person in Farwell's condition in not taken to a doctor within half an hour after consciousness is lest, there is an 85 to 88 per cent chance of survival.

P, Farwell's father brought a wrongful death action. Jury returned a verdict for P and awarded $15,000 in damages. Court of appeals reversed finding Siegrist had not assumed the duty of obtaining aid for Farwell and that he neither knew nor should have known of the need for medical treatment.

1. Did Siegrist have a duty of obtaining aid for Farwell?
2. Did D attempt to aid the victim?

There is a general duty to aid a person in distress when there is a special relationship between the parties and a legal duty to avoid any affirmative acts which may make a situation worse.

Siegrist had an affirmative duty to come to Farwell's aid.

Because Farwell and Siegrist were companions engaged in a common undertaking there was a special relationship between the parties. Seigrist should have known of the peril Farwell was in and could render assistance without endangering himself.

Keaton was one of the people who beat D up.

special relationship exists when:

• common carriers
• innkeepers
• possessors of land who hold it open to the public
• persons who have custody of another under circumstance in which that other person is deprived of normal opportunities of self-protection

Second restatement of torts