COMPARATIVE CONTRIBUTION AND INTENTIONAL TORTS: A REMAINING ROADBLOCK TO DAMAGES APPORTIONMENT

In November of 1974, recording artist Connie Francis was a guest at the Howard Johnson Motor Lodge in Westbury, New York. In the early morning hours she was criminally assaulted by an unknown man who came through sliding glass doors that appeared to be locked, but were apparently capable of being easily unsecured form the outside. In a suit for negligence against Howard Johnson, Ms. Francis received a jury verdict of $2.5 million to compensate her for her pain and suffering and for future lost earnings. The rapist who escaped never answered for his crime to the people of New York nor to Ms. Francis in damages for his intentional tort of battery.¹