Farwell v. Keaton
Citation and Court
Farwell v. Keaton, 240 N.W.2d 217 (Mich. 1976)
Facts
Richard Farwell and David Siegrist were out together drinking when a group of young men attacked them after Farwell attempted to chat with their girlfriends. Siegrist escaped, but Farwell was severely beaten. Siegrist applied ice to Farwell’s injuries and put him in the back seat of his own car. Instead of seeking medical help or notifying Farwell’s family, Siegrist drove around, attempted unsuccessfully to take Farwell home, and ultimately left him in his car in his grandparents’ driveway overnight. Farwell died the next day from a subdural hematoma that medical care could have treated.
Issue
Did Siegrist, as Farwell’s companion who undertook to provide some care, owe a legal duty to exercise reasonable care for Farwell’s safety?
Holding
Yes. The Michigan Supreme Court held that Siegrist owed a duty of reasonable care to Farwell based on both the special relationship between companions engaged in a joint venture and Siegrist’s voluntary undertaking of care.
Rule / Doctrine
Two distinct bases for imposing a duty to act affirmatively: (1) a special relationship between the parties — here, companions engaged in a common undertaking who are dependent on each other for safety — imposes a duty of reasonable care; and (2) when a person undertakes to render aid to one in peril, they must do so with reasonable care and cannot abandon the victim in a worse position than if they had not acted. Either ground independently supports liability.
Significance
Farwell v. Keaton is a leading case on the affirmative duty to rescue and the expansion of special relationship doctrine. It demonstrates how courts can find duty in close personal relationships even outside traditional categories (employer-employee, innkeeper-guest, etc.), and illustrates the “undertaker’s duty” — once you begin to help, you must do so reasonably. The case is frequently contrasted with the general no-duty-to-rescue rule in American tort law to show how exceptions arise from relationships and undertakings.