Is groundbreaking a synonym for stupid?
Gas stations can be sued for selling gas to drunk drivers.
Selling gas to a drunk could make store owners legally responsible for injuries suffered if the intoxicated motorist causes a crash, the state Supreme Court has ruled.
The groundbreaking ruling comes in a Knoxville lawsuit that sought to extend the state’s negligence laws, long applied to those who hawk alcohol to drunks, to those who provide them gas.
Of course, anyone can be sued for anything. The details:
Attorneys Gregory F. Coleman and Michael A. Myers later filed a lawsuit in Knox County Circuit Court, alleging that Tarver’s car never would have made it to its tragic collision with West and Richardson but for the $3 worth of gas he bought at an Exxon station on Rutledge Pike just before the crash.
More importantly, the attorneys alleged, employees at the Exxon, owned by East Tennessee Pioneer Oil Co., knew Tarver was drunk – so drunk that a cashier refused to sell him beer.
That actually sounds sort of reasonable in this particular case. However, as a hard and fast rule, it seems silly since we have a lot of self serve, pay at the pump establishments.
August 22nd, 2005 at 11:42 am
I thought about the pay-at-the-pump problem. I think that the arguement can be made that if you are able to get the credit card into the slot and push all the right buttons, you are sober enough to drive.
August 22nd, 2005 at 1:20 pm
Push buttons?
I’ve used pumps where I just swiped the card – no buttons at all.
(I like those pumps, btw.)
August 24th, 2005 at 7:32 pm
I likey the Exxon Mobile Speed Pass myself…