A Boston court has ruled that a limo company and the limo driver can be held responsible for the actions of their drunken customer, after he has left the limo.
The Supreme Judicial Court found that Ultimate Livery Service Inc., of Boston, and its driver, Richard Broderick, were negligent in a 2001 accident that killed an off-duty Boston police officer and left several other people with serious injuries.What? Is no one ever responsible for their own actions? The men knew they'd be drinking, that's why they hired the limo, and yet they drove themselves to the sports bar at the beginning of the evening? They gave no thought to and made no provisions for the end of the evening? Is the limo driver supposed to be their mommy? Is the limo driver supposed to check at the beginning of the evening, and if they had driven to where he picked them up, should he refuse to take them?
The court said Broderick should not have dropped off a drunken passenger at a location where he would likely get into a car and drive.
William Powers, along with five other men, had hired Ultimate to take them to a bachelor party on the night of Aug. 11, 2001. The driver picked them up in a 15-passenger van at a South Boston sports bar, took them to a strip club in Rhode Island, then drove them back to the sports bar. The men drank in both bars and during the ride to and from Rhode Island.
Powers, joined by two of the men, drove away after being dropped off and had a violent intersection collision with another car. The crash killed Sean Waters, an off-duty police officer who was a passenger in the other car, and passengers in both cars were injured.
Lawsuits were filed by Waters' estate and the injured passengers, claiming that Ultimate and its driver were negligent in allowing Powers to leave the van at the Boston bar when they knew, or should have known, that Powers was likely to drive a car while intoxicated. [emphasis mine]
A Superior Court judge dismissed the lawsuits, finding that Ultimate and the driver were not responsible for the conduct of the passenger once he left the van.
But the SJC, in reversing that ruling, found that Ultimate and its driver, Broderick, "owed a duty" to the occupants of both cars. The case could now go to trial in a lower court to determine if damages should be paid.
"Broderick knew, or should have known, that Powers was intoxicated, yet he allowed Powers to make his own judgment about driving, failing to take any reasonable precautions to prevent him from doing so. A jury could conclude that Ultimate and Broderick were negligent when they left Powers at a location where he would likely drive and pose an extreme danger to the public," Justice John Greaney wrote for the court.
The court found that Ultimate's insurer, Commerce Insurance Co., is required to cover the claims made by the passengers. [Complete article here.]
What was the limo driver supposed to do - lock them in the limo until they sobered up? This article makes it sound like the guy got into his car immediately after leaving the limo. The PBS radio report, where I heard it first, said that they went into the sports bar and drank some more.
Is the limo driver supposed to follow them around for the rest of the evening? Should he have called their mommies?
I think I know what happened here - Powers' insurance company doesn't want to bear the full brunt of the claims, and is pulling in the limo company's insurance company, to pass some of it off to them. But I don't understand the court's thinking at all.
Opinions?
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2 comments:
It seems to me the SCJudge is in someone's pocket. Why would the ruling be reversed? Was there an appeal? Did the insurance company appeal? Who instigated the ruling reversal?
This makes me very mad, because I am VERY MUCH an advocate for personal responsibility, and when people don't take responsibility for their actions, and it's legally OK, that just tells me that no one else cares, and that's pretty upsetting to me.
Here's where you've messed up. You THINK you're on earth..... where you ARE is the twilight zone. Aren't you beginning to see that nothing makes sense here.
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