The principle outlined by the passage states that: "governments should be liable for injuries incurred on public property only if they knew about the danger beforehand and negligently failed to eliminate it."
Let's map out this principle:
Government liable for injury on public property - > knew about danger beforehand AND negligently failed to eliminate it
GLIPP - > KD and NFE
Remember: we need to change 'and' to 'or.' In order for the government to be liable for the injury, they have to BOTH know about the danger beforehand AND negligently fail to eliminate it. If the government did not know about the danger beforehand OR did not negligently fail to eliminate it, then the scenario does not satisfy the necessary condition and the government cannot be held liable for an injury incurred on public property.
The contrapositive is then:
Did not know about danger OR did not negligently fail to eliminate it - > government not liable for injury on public property
Not KD or not NFE - > not GLIPP
The current situation is that the city of Grimchester is liable for ANY injury that is incurred because of a city sidewalk that is in need of repair or maintenance.
The question stem asks us to select the answer choice which depicts a situation in which the city of Grimchester is currently liable even though the conditions set by the principle suggest that they should not be.
Answer choice A says that the city administration had been repeatedly informed of the need to repair an uneven sidewalk for several years before a person tripped and was injured. The city of Grimchester is currently liable for this as a person tripped and was injured on public property. However, this scenario also meets the conditions outlined in the principle as the city both knew about the danger beforehand and negligently failed to eliminate the danger over a period of several years. The question stem asks us to select the scenario where the city of Grimchester is liable but should not be based on the principle. This answer choice presents a scenario where the city of Grimchester is liable but also should be held liable based on the principle outlined in the passage and, therefore, is incorrect.
Hope this is helpful! Please let us know if you have any further questions.
Paulina980October 18, 2019
why is B wrong??
VictoriaAugust 5, 2020
Hi @Paulina980,
Answer choice (B) is incorrect because the stimulus tells us that the city of Grimchester is liable for any injury incurred because of a city sidewalk in need of repair or maintenance.
The injury outlined in answer choice (B) is the result of a shopping bag someone dropped on the sidewalk, not the city's failure to repair or maintain the sidewalk.
