Reference no: EM131006733

A female student at Virginia Polytechnic Institute was exiting a restroom when a male janitor accosted her. The attacker pushed her back onto the floor and attempted to strangle her. The student survived the attack, but suffered broken facial bones and required neck surgery. The jan- itor was an employee of Defender Services, which had a contract to provide janitors for the uni- versity. The janitor had worked on and off for the company for several years. The first two times that he was hired, he filled out application forms and attested to having no criminal record. The third time he was hired, no application was re- quired, but several personal references were contacted. On none of these occasions did the company complete a criminal background check on the employee. This was despite the fact that the company's contract with the university called for background checks to be performed on all personnel assigned to the university. Eleven months prior to the attack on the student, a protective order had been issued against the employee, stemming from his physical assault on a woman at a restaurant. The injured student sued the services company. What should the court decide? Why? (Blair v. Defender Services, 386 F.3d 623 (4th Cir. 2004))