This was to be a significant year in the lives of Gaetan and his wife, Griselda.

On June 30th, they were to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary. To mark the occasion, they were to leave Montreal on June 29^thfor a two-week trip to the south of France - a trip that they had been dreaming of, and saving for, for over two years. Finally, in addition to the abovementioned important events, Griselda was pregnant with their first child, and was due to give birth in late November.

When Gaetan and Griselda awakened on the holiday of St. Jean Baptiste Day, June 24^th, and realized how beautiful a day it was, they decided to spend the day and to have a picnic at Beaver Lake atop Mount Royal. They brought along with them, Griselda's twin eleven year-old nephews, Gaylord and Perry.

They arrived at Beaver Lake around 10:30 am., and Gaetan spent the next hour playing Frisbee with the two boys. After that, and until lunchtime, Gaetan decided to take the sun and to lie on one of the blankets they had brought along. The blanket happened to spread out on the grass about 15 meters (45 feet) to the east of a paved pathway going through the park.

At around twelve o'clock noon there appeared on this path, an ice cream and frozen dessert vendor driving a three-wheel bicycle (perhaps, more appropriately, a tricycle). This salesperson was a seventeen (17) year-old student by the name of Howard H. Doody, who was employed for the summer between High School and CEGEP by the Tutti-Fruiti Ice Cream and Frozen Dessert Company (hereafter, referred to as Tutti-Fruiti).

Doody, in riding the bicycle along the above-mentioned path came to a hill, from the top of which his keen eyes spied what appeared to be a very attractive female sunbathing nearby. Believing himself to be very charming, debonair and attractive, Doody immediately jumped off his bike, at the top of the hill, so as to investigate what he had seen. In his haste, he had forgotten to put down the stand that would hold the unattended bike in place.

Some twenty minutes later, a loud bang was heard. More precisely, the bike had not remained in place. In fact, it rolled down the hill, and, in doing so, had gained so much momentum and speed that when it hit a tree, the propane gas tank which was used to run the refrigerator, mounted on the two front wheels, had exploded. One of the pieces of metal, which flew through the air, struck and hit Gaetan near the eye, severely injuring him. Griselda, who was preparing lunch at a picnic table nearby, had seen something fly through the air, and had heard the explosion and had also heard Gaetan crying that he had been struck.

Griselda, thinking that Gaetan was being attacked, jumped up, grabbed the vegetable paring knife, and ran over to him, where she saw him stunned and bloody. As a result of the fright, shock and excitement to which she had been subjected, she had a miscarriage, and lost her baby.

In addition to that incident, Gaylord and Perry, having become bored, decided to walk over to Beaver Lake on their own, and to throw stones at the lake. More precisely, what they did was to try to "skim" the stones so that they would glide along the surface of the water, before penetrating the water or lake.

Unfortunately, one of the stones thrown, in this way, and it is not known by which of the twins it was thrown, hit a ripple in the water, and bounced up and struck the face of Mrs. McGillicuddy, who was a passenger in a row boat, being rowed by her husband. They were also celebrating a wedding anniversary.

QUESTION

As one of Montreal's most prominent legal scholars, you are called upon to comment on the rights and/or responsibilities, and/or defences that may be raised by each of the following:

1. Gaetan
2. Griselda
3. Gaylord and Perry
4. The parents of Gaylord and Perry
5. Howard H. Doody
6. The Tutti-Fruiti Ice Cream and Frozen Dessert Company