McCarty v. Pheasant Run, Inc.
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
826 F.2d 1554 (1987)
Dula McCarty (plaintiff), a guest at the Pheasant Run Lodge (defendant), was attacked and beaten in her second-story room by a masked intruder who entered through an unlocked sliding-glass door reachable by an exterior staircase; McCarty fought him off. She sued the Lodge for negligence in federal court based on diversity jurisdiction, arguing the Lodge should have taken additional safety precautions, but she did not present evidence showing the cost of those precautions would be outweighed by their safety benefit to guests. The jury found for the Lodge, and the district court denied McCarty's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict.
Whether, under the Hand Formula test for negligence, an entity's unreasonable conduct is defined as the failure to take sufficient precautions when such precautions would generate greater benefits in avoiding incidents or accidents than the implementation would cost.