Dr. Leona, a capable dental surgeon with a degree from the Columbia Dental School, is employed at Syosset Dental Associates (Syosset) in Long Island. Dr. Leona is only 4'11" in height and often stands on a stool when she operates on her patients. Tom, a patient, has expressed concern about Dr. Leona's physical stature and, for that reason, has asked the receptionist at the Syosset Dental Associates not to schedule his upcoming surgery, to extract two wisdom teeth, with Dr. Leona. He also told the receptionist that he feels less comfortable with female surgeons and wants only Dr. Duffy, the male surgeon in the Syosset practice, to operate on him.On the date scheduled for Tom's surgery, Dr. Duffy is not available and Dr. Leona is the only dental surgeon who can operate on Tom's difficult case. Tom's request to have Dr. Duffy perform the surgery is ignored. Tom is given general aneasthesia and is only semi-conscious when Dr. Leona enters the operatory. Tom does not realize that Dr. Leona will be performing the surgery. Dr. Leona is standing on the stool, as is her usual procedure, when she starts the tooth extraction.As she is doing the extraction, Dr.Leona finds that she must adjust the height of the dental chair. As she is adjusting the chair, Dr.Leona falls from the stool on which she is standing.As Dr. Leona slips from the stool, she drops the drilling tool. As a result, Tom's lips are slashed and his two front teeth are badly damaged. Tom will require extensive dental restorative work.

I.Tom sues the Syosset Dental Associates and Dr. Leona for the injury to his lips and teeth. He argues that Dr. Leona was negligent in continuing with the extraction while she was adjusting the dental chair in which he sat. He also argues that Syosset Dental ignored his clear instructions that he be operated only by Dr. Duffy.Will Tom succeed?

II.Dr. Leona, in preparing for this lawsuit, discovered that the Ace cleaning crew had put a sticky cleaning product on the stool which caused her to slip. She is considering a lawsuit against the Ace cleaning crew. Will she succeed?