76
C
ASE: 10
You Be the Judge!
You Be the Judge!
Sources
The case brie ng above contains excerpts and direct extractions from the sources noted
below that have been combined with the author's own expert legal input. The case has
been condensed and formatted from its original content for purposes of this workbook.
Tobin v. Norwood Country Club, Inc., 422 Mass. 126, 661 N.E.2d 627 (1996).
Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Su olk
February 22, 1996. Opinion written by the Honorable Justice Charles Fried.
The term dram shop
refers to a shop where
"spirits" are sold by the
"dram," a small unit of
liquid.
The fi rst Dram Shop
Act was passed in
Illinois in 1872.
she believed Moran was in charge of that responsibility.
While the club had a policy of serving only two drinks at a time to
a customer, it came out at trial that many customers from the family
party came away with several drinks in hand to take to the function
room.
Erwin testi ed that she neither served anyone who appeared to be
a minor nor saw anyone she did serve hand a drink to a minor. One of
the teenagers at the party contradicted this testimony and stated that
on at least three occasions, he helped two adults by carrying multiple
drinks (on one occasion between 9 and 12 Sea Breeze vodka drinks)
from the bar.
Further, witnesses testi ed that many of the teenagers seemed
drunk by the end of the party and their tables contained several
empty and half-empty glasses of pink liquid that is consistent with the
color of a Sea Breeze vodka drink.
At the close of the party, the decedent had an argument with her
boyfriend and le the club alone. She walked down the breakdown
lane of the highway near the club's location. Several teenagers le the
party in a van in search of a place to continue their drinking. When
they encountered the decedent walking in the breakdown lane, they
stopped the van and tried to persuade her to get into the van. When
she refused and continued walking, the van followed, pulled ahead of
her and stopped. e decedent walked in front of the van, pounded
on the front hood and then veered diagonally toward the center of
the highway. She was struck by a passing vehicle and su ered the
injuries from which she died two days later. e decedent's blood
alcohol level two hours a er the accident was .229, nearly three times
the legal limit of .08.
For Evaluation Purposes Only