You Be the Judge! Page 81

ASE: 9

ISSUE BEFORE THE COURT

Whether the Defendant breached its duty of care when it sold grain
alcohol to a minor because it knew or should have known of the link
between grain alcohol and "fire play."

Whether the Defendant's sale of grain alcohol to a minor is an
ultrahazardous activity, warranting application of strict liability.

THE FACTS

You Be the Judge!

Because of its dangers,

some states do not sell

grain alcohol or any

liquor with over 75.5%

alcohol.

"It's an all too familiar scenario--a group of high school students

manages to obtain some alcoholic beverages, act irresponsibly, and
someone gets hurt." In this version, however, the injuries did not
result from the consumption of illegally obtained alcohol but from
a minor igniting it and causing an explosion. e Plainti , Bridget
Selwyn, was the victim in this tragedy and sought to recover for her
injuries from several named Defendants, including RC Liquors, Inc.

In the early morning of August 26, 2000, the Plainti and sev-

eral others gathered at the home of Karen Ward (Ward) in Warwick,
Rhode Island. e Ward property included an outbuilding, referred
to as "the barn," in which Ward's son, Taylor, and his friends o en
socialized. On the night of the incident, the gathering at the barn
included Bridget Selwyn, Taylor Ward, Michael A. Buonanno, and
several other teenagers.

Various people at the party were smoking marijuana and/or in-

gesting ecstasy in the barn. ere was also a partially consumed 1.75
liter bottle of 190-proof grain alcohol or "Everclear" at the party. e
bottle had a large label on it that stated, "Warning! Extremely Flam-
mable." At about 4:30 am on August 26, 2000, the bottle of Everclear
became the catalyst for disaster when Buonanno poured some of the
grain alcohol onto an open ame, causing an intense explosion that
burned Selwyn.

e bottle of Everclear was not purchased by Buonanno, but by

another teenager, Lauren Andrews. She purchased the Everclear for
a gathering at the barn the previous month. Andrews purchased
the Everclear at RC Liquors and stated at trial that she was never
asked for identi cation to prove she was over 21 years of age--the

For Evaluation Purposes Only