In Pacific Rim The Black, Hayley Travis, a minor living in a community of children for 5 years, found an abandoned Jaeger, activated it, and in a series of events, the Kaiju known as Copperhead killed Hayley’s entire community. Hayley blamed herself for the incident.
Is Hayley legally correct in considering herself the cause of her friends’ deaths?
Drifting with Negligence
The question to determine Hayley’s responsibility for the deaths of others is whether she was negligent. Negligence has its origins in Common Law and has been codified in code sections across the planet. California jury instructions define Negligence as follows:
Negligence is the failure to use reasonable care to prevent harm to oneself or to others.
A person can be negligent by acting or by failing to act. A person is negligent if that person does something that a reasonably careful person would not do in the same situation or fails to do something that a reasonably careful person would do in the same situation.
CACI No. 401. Basic Standard of Care
Since Hayley is a minor, she is not held to the same standard as an adult. The jury instructions state that a “child is required to use the amount of care that a reasonably careful child of the same age, intelligence, knowledge, and experience would use in that same situation.” CACI No. 402. Standard of Care for Minors.
Hayley’s actions are critical in determining whether she was negligent. Below are the relevant facts of Hayley’s actions after finding the Jaeger designated Atlas Destroyer:
Introduced herself to the Jaeger’s AI “Loa”;
Skipped through the virtual training that required 6 months by saying “next”;
Loa informed Hayley the walk cycle training would start once her copilot arrived;
Hayley’s brother Taylor discovered her and the two argued;
Loa announced, “Commencing Walk Cycle”;
Loa started opening the hangar doors and triggered alarms;
Copperhead was attracted to Shadow Basin by the activity.
Hayley’s Standard of Care
Let’s face it, kids since the 1950s have been dreaming of finding a giant robot. The issue for Hayley after that dream came true is, did she use the amount of care that a reasonably careful child of the same age, intelligence, knowledge, and experience would use in that same situation?
There is a Jaeger size exception to a child’s standard of care and that is whether they are engaged in an adult activity, such as driving. Prichard v. Veterans Cab Co. 63 Cal.2d 727, 732 (1965).
There is a strong argument that taking a Jaeger in combat is an adult activity. However, as Taylor had been a training cadet while a minor, there appears to be a grey zone with Jaeger training beginning with minors. As Hayley was trying to learn how to use Atlas Destroyer, it is not unreasonable to hold her to the reduced standard of care for minors.
Regardless of the standard that applies, Hayley was on actual notice the walk cycle training would start once her copilot arrived. Hayley had no idea what that entailed, because she skipped through the entire pilot training course catalog. If we compare taking a Jaeger for a walk to taking a car for a spin, Hayley did not bother to look in the owner’s manual for the instructions. This on its face seems unreasonable.
Was Hayley the Cause of Copperhead Discovering Shadow Basin?
Causation is the legal concept that connects a person’s actions to the harm that follows those actions. California follows the “substantial factor” test, which states:
A substantial factor in causing harm is a factor that a reasonable person would consider to have contributed to the harm. It must be more than a remote or trivial factor. It does not have to be the only cause of the harm.
CACI No.430.Causation: Substantial Factor
Should Hayley have considered that engaging Atlas Destroyer’s walk cycle would have been a substantial factor in attracting a Kaiju to Shadow Basin? Stated more plainly, would taking a giant robot for a walk attract a Kaiju?
The answer to this question undoubtedly is YES. Hayley witnessed a Kaiju attack their parents’ Jaeger five years earlier. The community of child had purposively laid low to avoid being discovered by Kaiju. Starting a giant robot without any regard for the risk, whether as an adult of child, was wildly negligent.
There are issues such as the fact Hayley could skip through training simply by saying next, or the fact there was not a confirmation command from Loa that can mitigate Hayley’s actions, but there is no way around the fact that her actions were a substantial factor in getting her friends killed. That said, suing a teenager who is living in a post-apocalyptic wasteland is the definition of “judgment proof.” Sue the company that made a giant robot without a child safety lock.
