Judge rules Dogfish Head Alehouse not liable in child’s death
It’s probably one of the worst fears you have after licensing your name to a business. To have it strewn about in the courts in a case involving the death of a little girl. Fortunately for Dogfish Head, a judge threw out the case this week.
On the night she died, workers at Dogfish Head Alehouse in Gaithersburg served a patron 17 beers and saw him drink one shot of an alcoholic beverage before he got into his Land Rover, drove onto Interstate 270 and crashed into a vehicle where Jazimen sat in the back seat, said Jason Fernandez of Silver Spring-based Greenberg & Bederman LLP, who is representing the Warrs.
Under Maryland law, any restaurant that has served alcohol to drivers who are involved in fatal crashes cannot be held liable.
via Gazette.net.
Do I think they should be liable? No.
Do I think they should serve anyone 17 beers and a shot? No.
They license their name to the Ale House? I thought they owned it. I’m a big fan of Dogfish Head but is the bar not liable at all? There is no reason ever to serve someone that much.
-Tucker
I’m pretty sure all the alehouses outside of the Rehoboth Beach location franchised out.
“17 beers and saw him drink one shot of an alcoholic beverage before he got into his Land Rover”
So, beer isn’ an alcoholic beverage now?
Seroiusly? This is nothing to be proud of. “Fortunately”? What the hell! Hiding behind a bs shield law is fortunate? Original post says their name is being thrown around in the courts but doesnt refute that driver was served 17 beers? F*ck that. A child died.
Typically I don’t like the idea of holding a bar accountable for a drunk driver. However, serving 17 drinks to someone is outrageous. In think in a case like that there is some clear responsibility. It’s hard though to draw distinctions without drawing a hard line that may adversely affect the innocent.
It’s not Dogfish Head. It’s a company they licensed to… They are absolutely fortunate by this court outcome. Obviously, no one is happy that a child died because of a drunk driver.
This company was absolutely bailed out by state law . . . and why the hell is dogfish head licensing out their name for brewpubs? I guess this is what “craft” breweries that are not overrated do to further promote the glory of craft beer.
Personal responsibility. A team of bartenders cannot be expected to babysit morons all night. That is not their job. You don’t sue the hospital that delivered the kid that grew up to be a murderer. You can’t hold the hardware sore liable because someone bought an axe from them and then killed someone with it.
This is a great law.
It sucks that this idiot made poor choices and then killed a little girl. But the bar is not to blame. If he had asked hey would have called him a cab. Most bartenders old pay the cabbie fom their own tips if necessary. The only person to blame here is he idiot with no self control who got behind the wheel.
This was Dogfish Head contributory negligence. This was under Maryland law. Try this in Va. or Tx, or anyone of a number of states that hold the bar labile for serving an intoxicated person. Dogfish Head.. very disappointed in you training. Seems you helped kill a child. Nasty… and yes Drew.. it is their responsibility to keep control of their costumers, if you want to call it baby sitting, or drunk sitting… it is what it is. Many, many bars have been held liable for over serving in wrongful death cases. BTW.. your analogy stretches the hypothetical a little to far. Bad analogy.
First. In most states the establishment WOULD be held liable. I completly agree with personnel responsibility but this an example of where the establishment has some liability. It is a tragedy. I hope DFH as a company takes step to ensure their name is never brought up in an instance like this. Even if they just sold liscensing rights this is the risk you take. It is still their name. My prayers got to the family of the little girl! With hope Sam and his company can create a charity to at least honor this girls life. Hopefully they also realize the cost of liscensing your franchise. If a franchised McDonalds served bad food they would be held completly accountable why shouldn’t DFH.
Charles,
Dogfish Head and Dogfish Head Alehouse are two separate entities with different ownership.
Adam
How big were the beers? Pints? 10oz? 6oz? 2oz samples? I have been to many a bar where I could say they served me more than a dozen beers and drove home just fine, cuz those beers were samples and I was there for more than 2 hours. But who knows?
Also, suggesting that the establishment is responsible because they served this person 17 drinks is the equivalent of saying they are responsible because they sold him 1 drink. It is a matter of opinion/taste. Where does the line get drawn? And don’t refer to other states and the fact that they have held establishments liable in the past and continue to do so in the present. Legality does not necessarily equate to morality.
Furthermore, I have not seen one word about how large this person was, how quickly his metabolism/liver processes alcohol, how long he was at the bar, where he got the shot from, etc. To merely post blame without knowing all the facts is irresponsible.
Funny that you mention legality and try to contrast it with morality. Rulings that extend liability for over-serving a patron are solely grounded in morality. Basically, states laws and courts (by extension, juries ) are stating it is immoral to over serve someone. Over serve, not over serve and drive. The ethic isn’t, ” you can drink more if yoi promise not to drive” it is “you havr had enough”. This protects society and even the person drinking. If a patron is over served and dies of alcohol poisoning, the bar is liable, same logic. It is interesting that MD has some kind of a shield law in place. As to those making the ” name licensing” argument, do you think other franchise industries should be protected? Most fast food joints are privately owned, and the name is licensed from corporate. I dont think anyone would state that corporate isn’t liable for a franchise’s negligence.
Just a nasty event all around. For the person talking about “sizes”, I doubt that these were sampler sizes. That would have been noted in the article, as its a pretty significant issue to the case. The bartenders would point that out immediately.
The guy was obviously over-served. Do I think they should be held liable? Maybe, I am really not sure. When someone sells someone some pharmaceutical or meth and that person overdoses they are often held liable.
Furthermore, what type of person goes into a bar and just ends up having 17 frickin beers? I am sure I have drank 17 beers at some point but its been a very long time. Granted, I am not the largest guy around but 17 beers takes alot of work.
“Personal responsibility. A team of bartenders cannot be expected to babysit morons all night. That is not their job. ”
17 beers…. they served him 17 beers and a shot. The person must have been extremely intoxicated at that point. They bartenders also thought “gee, I sure have given this guy lots of drinks” at some point. I have no idea why the kept serving him.
“Personal Responsibility” is some BS conservative catch phrase that means nothing. That is why they like to say it. We all have a personal responsibility to try to prevent people from killing each other. That is called being a member of a “society”, people do not exist in a vacuum. Is the driver mainly at fault? Yes. Were their contributing factors/circumstances? Heck Yes.
“He opened a second tab — three Coronas and a shot of tequila — closing it out at 10:55 p.m., according to the police records. He purchased drinks for himself and others, according to police records.”
“The evening of Aug. 21, 2008, Michael Eaton arrived at the Gaithersburg bar and restaurant, and started a tab. One witness told investigators he stayed for six hours.”
Just so that the information people are reading is correct, these are quotes from a Washington Post article on the subject. The words have been twisted in a way so that you believe this man CONSUMED 17 beers and two shots, when in fact the tab was not solely his. Interesting that this was never mentioned. On top of that, him being in the restaurant for six hours was also left out. I wasn’t there that night so I cannot pass judgement, but just because you read something that was cleverly written to lead you to believe the staff at that restaurant over-served him to an extreme level does not make it true. Just my USD $0.02.