In February of 2011, an intoxicated and belligerent customer walked into a Wal-Mart store in Tennessee. The man was then ejected from the store for his inappropriate and drunken behavior. Unfortunately, he got into his car and hit a 38-year-old woman in the Wal-Mart parking lot, seriously injuring her. Now, the Tennessean reports that Wal-Mart finds itself involved in a case that will soon be heard by the high court in Tennessee and that could redefine the obligations that store owners have to their patrons.
Our Knoxville injury lawyers know that injured victims in drunk driving crashes can generally take legal action against a store or a restaurant owner that serves alcohol to someone under 21 or to someone drunk if an accident directly results. This is long-established under state dram shop rules. In this case, however, Wal-Mart did not play any role in serving the drunken driver alcohol. The question that the case centers around, therefore, is whether Wal-Mart had a legal obligation to treat the drunk patron differently when ejecting him in order to protect other patrons.
A Store’s Obligation to Its Customers
It is an undisputed fact that stores have a legal obligation to make sure that their premises is reasonably safe before inviting customers to come in to shop. Stores can sometimes even be held responsible for crimes that occur in the store or on store property if the store is considered to have been negligent in securing the premises. Now, the plaintiffs in this case are asking the court to consider whether a store should also be responsible for a drunk driving crash that occurs on their property and that the store played a tangential role in at least allowing to occur.
Two lower courts have already addressed this question and the lower courts disagreed. Initially, the trial court dismissed the victim’s case using the reasoning that Wal-Mart had no real options to control the intoxicated patron. However, the Tennessee Court of Appeals disagreed with the lower court and indicated that the victim may have a case because she was injured while a customer on Wal-Mart’s property. Customers are owed the highest legal duty of care under premises liability laws (laws used to determine when a property owner is to blame for an injury).
The Tennessee Supreme Court will soon decide the case, which will largely come down to two issues: whether Wal-Mart was sufficiently protective to its patrons and whether the injuries sustained by the victim could have been foreseen. In other words, could and should Wal-Mart have done something differently, such as calling the police to remove the disruptive and intoxicated customer? If Wal-Mart’s behavior fell short of what would be expected of a property owner, then Wal-Mart could be liable. The court will also consider whether Wal-Mart could have predicted that an intoxicated patron would drive and hit someone in the parking lot. Because the dangers of drunk driving are so well-known, there is a strong argument to be made that Wal-Mart should have foreseen problems and not encouraged or allowed the drunk man to get into his car.
If you are hurt in a Knoxville car accident, contact G. Turner Howard III, Attorney at Law at (844) G3-Help-Me or 865-558-8030.
