Simon Law June 2019

Simon Law June 2019

www.christophersimon.com

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june 2019

Overserving Leads to Charges

Texas Bartender Charged After Customer Kills 8

At the Simon Law Firm, we have regularly filed dramshop cases against bars that overserved customers who later killed or maimed people. Georgia is committed to stopping DUIs before they even occur, and its commitment includes punishing bars for not cutting people off. Georgia civil law clearly states that a bar is liable when its bartenders serve alcohol to someone who is visibly intoxicated, and there is reason to believe they may drive afterward. This law is measured in its approach, but let’s consider a recent case from Texas. A Texas bartender was arrested on a misdemeanor charge for serving a man who was visibly intoxicated. This man later went to his soon- to-be ex-wife’s house and killed her and seven other friends — including his best man — who were watching a Cowboys game. Later, authorities would determine this man had a blood alcohol content level of 0.33. Evidence later showed the bartender knew the killer, Spencer Hight, his wife, and their friend, and the bartender was supposed to join the party later. Text messages she sent to a fellow bartender show some concern. She wrote, “Spencer has a big knife on the bar and is spinning it and just asked for his tab and said I have to go do some dirty work ... Psychoooooooo.” She also texted that Hight was “drunk and being weird” and “produced a pistol from his front pocket and put it on the table.” (It should be noted that it is illegal to bring a gun into a bar in Texas.)

At 2:39 p.m., Hight ordered two gin and tonics, sat for a half-hour, went home, and drank more. When he returned to the bar at 6:38 p.m., he ordered two Miller Lites and a shot of lemon vodka. Eventually, the bartender tried to talk Hight into not going anywhere. She called her boss to ask if she should call the police, and the boss said no. A male bartender asked Hight to put the knife and gun in his car, and he suggested Hight call an Uber and offered him a ride. Hight put the weapons away but came back in the bar. When Hight left the bar just after 7:30 p.m., the two bartenders followed Hight, and when they realized he was going to his ex-wife’s house, they called 911. They didn’t follow any further. Now Texas has charged the female bartender based on a law that states a person is criminally negligent when they sell “an alcoholic beverage to a habitual drunkard or an intoxicated or insane person.” Yes, this arrest seems square in black and white, but these two bartenders appear to have gone above and beyond what is normally required of a server. They engaged with the drunk person and did everything but tackle him or call the police to the bar. The criminal charge is correct, but it sends the wrong message. There was also a civil wrongful death lawsuit filed by the parents of the deceased against the bar for gross negligence in failing to alert the police and prevent the mass killing. In order to be negligent under the law, you have

to prove the negligence — failing to call the police in this instance — is the “proximate cause” of the deaths. However, the bar can logically point out two defenses. First, they have no legal duty to call the police when it is not foreseeable that Hight was going to shoot people. Secondly, the serving of alcohol is not what caused the deaths. This situation is very different from serving someone who drives off and kills someone with their vehicle. Drunk people don’t often go on a shooting spree, but drunk drivers often get into crashes. The civil lawsuit was temporarily dismissed, and it will be interesting to see whether a judge allows a jury to consider the case. It is a tragedy all around, but I believe charging the bartender with a crime when she did more than most in her position would have done is unfair.

–Christopher Simon

www.christophersimon.com | 1

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Lawsuits From Beyond LET’S HOPE THERE’S A COURTROOM IN THE AFTERLIFE

We pride ourselves on being a country where everyone receives a fair trial. And while that’s not always the case, even the craziest claims still have to be heard in some capacity by a court of law. As you can imagine, this can result in plenty of spooky high jinks in the courtroom. Let’s take a look at some of the more baffling court cases in recent memory. movie, a New York man had to sue The New York Times on three separate occasions to get them to stop reporting that he was dead. In all fairness, it seemed like an honest mistake prolonged by the ineptitude of his public counsel and a whole lot of terrible coincidences all rolled into one. Juan Antonio Arias just so happened to share the same first and last name as one “Juan Arias” who had met his untimely demise. After it was reported in a Times article, the living Arias accidentally had Dead Man Talking In something straight out of a Coen brothers their greatest heroes. There are the long drives to sports tournaments, the late-night movies, and the sweets when Mom isn’t looking. We probably all have some reason to look up to our dad as one of our biggest influences. It’s Father’s Day this month, a special time of year when we take a moment to think about the sacrifices the father figures in our lives have made for us. Most dads are pretty great, but some go above and beyond the fatherly call of duty. Let’s take a look at some heroic dads who risked everything to keep their families safe. Brad Lewis: Over the Ledge Life can change in a split second, and how you choose to react in a moment of peril can define your legacy forever. Few people know this as well as Brad Lewis. When Brad and his young son, Oscar, were deeply entrenched in an intense Nerf battle, he surely didn’t think the situation would turn as dangerous as it did. When a few darts missed his father and landed on the balcony, Oscar ran after them but soon found himself teetering on the balcony’s ledge, 12 feet above the

his own date of birth and Social Security number added to the death certificate of his now deceased namesake in a terrible mix-up from the coroner. As a result, he sued on three occasions after his lawyer missed certain deadlines to turn in proper documents. Thankfully, the issue was resolved, but not before he had his credit cards and Medicaid revoked after appearing to be dead. Solemnly Spooked An unnamed New York resident — just what on earth is going on in New York? — claimed that the house they’d recently purchased was horribly and cripplingly haunted by unseen forces. The poltergeist was said to disrupt their daily activity, and the plaintiff was suing on the grounds that the home was notorious in the area for being haunted and had a reputation as such; therefore, it should have been disclosed to the buyer before closing. They won. That’s right; the court ruled that the seller misled the plaintiff and should have

disclosed the nature of this potentially harmful house. Shockingly enough, this type of thing is required to be disclosed when selling a house in New York. Well, at least a buyer will have peace of mind knowing that they got a sweet new pad and a ghoul for pennies on the dollar.

Heroic Dads Who Didn’t Back Down BEING A PARENT ISN’T ALWAYS AWALK IN THE PARK Kids often look up to their father as one of

Greg Alexander: Couldn’t Bear to See His Son Hurt While camping in Great Smoky Mountains National Park in June 2015, Greg Alexander awoke to the sound of a nightmare. The screams of his son intermingled with the roars of an unknown assailant, beckoning Greg to his son’s tent. There, he found his son Gabriel being attacked by a bear. The bear had his son by the head and was dragging him away. Greg jumped on the bear’s back, desperately trying to take attention away from Gabriel. Amazingly, it worked, and in the end, the bear ran away. Gabriel was left with serious cuts to his head, but thanks to his dad’s heroism, the two were able to walk away from that campsite and back to their lives together. The important thing to remember is that you don’t have to take a leap of faith or fight a bear to be a hero in your family’s eyes. Just be yourself, show some support, and do the best you can. Happy Father’s Day, everybody.

ground. Thinking fast, Brad grabbed his son just before he fell over, both taking the plunge while protecting his son with his own body. Just as he’d intended, Brad absorbed most of the blow. While Oscar sustained serious wounds, his father’s injuries were more severe. Brad was left fighting for his life in the ICU, with severe fractures to his skull and vertebrae. Thankfully, Brad is expected to make a full recovery and has made serious strides since the accident. He and his son will live to play another day.

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A ROAD MAP TO CLOSING DEALS ‘Influence’

WORD SEARCH June Word Search

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Business majors and longtime entrepreneurs will be very familiar with this work. And in an age when many shiny new theories on leadership and personal development come out every year, it’s refreshing to revisit a classic that has stood the test of time. Thirty-five years after its original publication, “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” should still be required reading for marketers, small-business owners, and anyone else looking to improve their negotiation skills. Written by Dr. Robert Cialdini, “Influence” explores why people say yes. A professor of business and psychology, Dr. Cialdini is uniquely qualified to tackle this question, combining scientific >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4

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