Posted on 08/22/2005 12:29:51 PM PDT by SmithL
Selling gas to a drunk could make store owners legally responsible for injuries suffered if the intoxicated motorist causes a crash, the state Supreme Court has ruled.
The groundbreaking ruling comes in a Knoxville lawsuit that sought to extend the state's negligence laws, long applied to those who hawk alcohol to drunks, to those who provide them gas.
In the case, Gary L. West and Michell B. Richardson suffered severe injuries in July 2000 when their vehicle was struck head-on by drunk driver Brian Lee Tarver, 49, in a crash on Rutledge Pike.
Tarver later pleaded guilty to charges including vehicular assault and second-offense driving under the influence.
Attorneys Gregory F. Coleman and Michael A. Myers later filed a lawsuit in Knox County Circuit Court, alleging that Tarver's car never would have made it to its tragic collision with West and Richardson but for the $3 worth of gas he bought at an Exxon station on Rutledge Pike just before the crash.
More importantly, the attorneys alleged, employees at the Exxon, owned by East Tennessee Pioneer Oil Co., knew Tarver was drunk - so drunk that a cashier refused to sell him beer.
The question for the state's high court was whether Pioneer could be held liable for the crash. Could or should its employees have foreseen the risk of a crash and, if so, was there something they could have done to try to prevent it?
While the high court made clear that the store's employees were not required to take affirmative action to stop Tarver from driving, they still could have refused to sell him gas, the court ruled.
"A safer alternative was readily available and easily feasible - simply refusing to sell gasoline to an obviously intoxicated driver," the court ruled in an opinion delivered by Justice William M. Barker.
According to court records, the cashier was facing a long line of customers when Tarver "pushed his way to the front of the line and asked the clerk if she would 'go get (him) some beer.' "
He reeked of alcohol and staggered when he walked, court records stated. Believing Tarver was drunk, the cashier declined to sell him beer, according to court records.
"Tarver began cursing loudly, talking to (the cashier) in a threatening manner," Barker wrote in the opinion.
"Tarver then managed to pull three crumpled one dollar bills out of his pocket and laid them on the counter," Barker wrote. "He told (the clerk), 'We need gas' and then turned to leave."
Once at the gas pumps, Tarver was too drunk to figure out how to turn the device on, the opinion stated. Two off-duty employees then helped him turn on the pump, according to the opinion. They later watched as Tarver got behind the wheel and drove into the oncoming lane of traffic on Rutledge Pike, the opinion stated.
A University of Tennessee professor later determined that Tarver's vehicle would have run out of gas before encountering West and Richardson if he had not been able to buy more fuel.
Knox County Circuit Court Judge Harold Wimberly had dismissed the lawsuit by West and Richardson, ruling that state law did not allow a claim of negligence against Pioneer for injuries Tarver caused.
The case heads back to his court for trial, where a jury must decide if blame should be placed on Pioneer and its employees. The state Supreme Court ruling only allows the case to proceed. The justices did not rule on whether Pioneer was negligent.
"We're pleased," Coleman said. "Now we can go forward with the trial itself."
Uh oh,.........LMAO!
That I could not answer, but if the guy was too drunk to be able to put gas in his car, then the attendents had no business doing it for him.
The case deserves to go to trial and both sides deserve to be heard.
This is a terrible decision. Most of the less expensive gas stations in the Knoxville area, and much of the state, are self service; many have very convenient credit card activated pumps that allow people to purchase gas at all hours of the day and night. It would be incredibly easy to stretch this to all of those stations, thereby virtually outlawing self service gas stations and credit card activated pumps. The legislature needs to step in and reverse or narrow this decision.
Hi, dirtboy. Agree, or at least the appearance or impression of deep pockets.
Probably will run the owner out of business.
By this decision, you probably are.
I would be more disappointed at the potential number of Freepers that might help a guy, put gas in his car when he is too drunk to do it himself.
But the attendants were off-duty and acting on their own accord.
Can they sue the gas station that sold Kennedy the gas before he plunged Mary Jo to her death?
It's a crime to roll a drunk, what else did you take?
Insanity!
Will owners now be responsible to ensure that all gas buyers are legal drivers, in good standing, with no mental or physical ailments that would prevent them from operating their vehicles safely?
FL stations should be very worried: Imagine if they are considered responsible for the senile drivers with sever vision impairment that routinely hold up the lines down there?
>>It's a crime to roll a drunk, what else did you take?<<
I called the cops.
LOL. Too funny.
Bring back the asylums. Putting the insane on the bench isn't working
Agreed. Which would be a good thing for the defense to point out to the jury as a reason to absolve them of all or some of the liability.
Please show me a state law that they could have refused to sell him gas...While many business claim the right to refuse to serve anyone hasn't that been struck down repeatedly by the courts if your a public business you must serve the public unless the law requires you not to..IE no selling liquored to some one thats drunk...
The lawyers have taken the peoples freedom away to use their own judgment then turn around after the fact and tell you that your legally reasonable for not using your own judgment... dammed if you do dammed if you don't...
Lets put it this way, lawyers and the court are just fickle enough that if the gas station had refused to sell gas to this guy because he was drunk he probably could of sue and won because show me the law saying a gas station can decide I'm not fit to drive
But, how about selling that last Twinkie to one who then dies from a heart attack?
These policy arguments are now reduced to closing arguments. So do you think you can sell this in the face of evidence that the guy was falling down drunk and he could have been stopped by a call to the police?
This is a classic for the old saying "hard facts make bad law"
LOL!!!!
And, as we all know, those MD pump attendants all have State Calibrated Breathalyzers...or are also Phelbotomists with a State Certified protocol for handling samples from potential criminals...
"Judge/Lawyer/Politician...Rope...Tree"*
(*some assembly required)
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