A man drank great quantities of alcohol of various kinds after work on Sunday, June 21, 2009. Later, he and a companion ended up at The Triple Door bar in downtown Seattle. The man recalls that he was drunk when he arrived and that he had some more to drink at The Triple Door, but he does not remember how he got the drinks.
According to a bartender at The Triple Door, she recalls she nearly served him when he attempted to buy his own drink at the bar, but she says she poured the drink out when she realized that he was becoming rude and aggressive.
The man became angry after the bartender denied him a drink. Bar employees observed the man physically push a patron and make physically assaultive threats to another bar patron. Bar employees quickly intervened.
They led him to the exit and escorted him outside. According to the bar employees, he became calm and nonaggressive after being taken outside.
Around this same time, a woman and her mother were leaving the Wild Ginger restaurant after having eaten dinner there. Wild Ginger and The Triple Door are contiguous, co-owned businesses located at the intersection of Third Avenue and Union Street in downtown Seattle. The two businesses share employees, supplies, materials, and equipment. Wild Ginger prepares food and beverages which are served at The Triple Door.
Suddenly, the drunk man stepped in front of the woman, approximately six inches from her face, and said loudly, “Whoa . . . where did YOU come from?” He bent down, grabbed her around the knees, lifted her up, and threw her over his shoulder. She fell to the pavement on her right shoulder and was injured.
The bar’s doorman and another bar employee witnessed the incident and ran over to help the woman. The doorman states that the drunk man began pushing him and shouting at him. Bar employees kept the drunk man on the scene after the police were called. The police arrived and arrested the man.
The woman was taken away by ambulance for medical treatment. The man was later prosecuted and convicted of third degree assault.
The woman later filed suit against the bar and the man who assaulted her. The trial court in Seattle dismissed the claims against the bar. The Washington Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal.[1]
The woman alleged various theories of negligence against GinSing, including negligent overservice of alcohol; negligent failure to enact or follow policies or procedures designed to control intoxicated customers; and negligent failure to cure or warn business invitees of dangerous conditions “on or near business property.”
The Court of Appeals noted that while it is undisputed that the man was very drunk when he arrived at The Triple Door, there is no evidence that he was actually served alcohol by any employee of The Triple Door.
It is well established that a bar can be liable to a customer who is assaulted by another patron, if the assault was reasonably foreseeable in light of what the bar knew or should have known about the assailant’s violent tendencies. The Court held that there are no facts in the record suggesting that the bar in this case did anything to create a special opportunity for criminal misconduct by simply removing the man from the bar and placing him back on the street where he originally came from.
The woman also argued that the bar had a “take charge” duty to control the man and prevent him from harming others. For a “take charge” duty to exist, there must be a “‘definite, established and continuing relationship between the defendant and the third party.’” The court held no such established and continuing relationship exists between a bar and the patrons who choose to enter it on any given night.
As a general rule, a person has no legal duty to prevent a third party from intentionally or criminally harming another. The relationship between a business owner and an invitee is a special relationship that creates an exception to this general rule.
The Court noted that assuming that a jury could find that the woman was an invitee at the time of the assault, her injury took place off of the owned premises.
This law firm took no part in the case described here.
Each case is different. Consult an attorney about your particular circumstances.