Jethro Is Having a Sweet-16 Birthday Party for His Daughter

Jethro is having a sweet-16 birthday party for his daughter Kate in his backyard. To make the party special, he hires Tony to put on a fireworks display. He found Tony through a classified ad in the local newspaper. In the written contract, Jethro simply instructs Tony to begin the display at 8 p.m., make it last 16 minutes, and make it spectacular; no safety parameters are mentioned or discussed. During the finale, one of the rockets malfunctions and explodes amid the party guests, injuring eight people. Jethro has no liability because Tony was an independent contractor.