Wassell v. Adams
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
865 F.2d 849 (1989)
Susan (plaintiff), staying at a motel in a dangerous urban area the owners (defendants) never warned her about, opened her door at 1 a.m. believing her fiancé was knocking, only to be confronted by a stranger who ultimately raped her after she let him in and then tried unsuccessfully to escape; there was no phone or alarm in the room. A jury awarded her $850,000 but found her 97 percent comparatively negligent, reducing her recovery accordingly, and the trial judge denied her motion to overturn the verdict.
Whether, under a comparative negligence framework, fault may be determined by comparing the respective costs to the plaintiff and the defendant of avoiding the injury.