No Liability in Virginia for Wreckless Conduct of Bar who Overserved

Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Bruce White sentenced Alfredo Martinez Rivera to 15 year on prison for the death of Groveton area resident Robert Thomas.

Its seems that Rivera had consumed 12 beers at a Groveton area restaurant before killing this father of 5, who, at the time of his death had worked a 16 hour double shift and was bringing home an out of work friend in need of a meal.

Good riddance for Rivera but what of the restaurant? Someone at that place served Rivera the half a case of beer and took his money. He had to have been whopping drunk. His BAC was more than twice the legal limit in Virginia for driving.

Certainly Rivera bears the responsibility for choosing to drink and choosing (if someone with a .20 BAC can really "choose" to do anything) to drive but how come there is not an ounce of responsbility for the restaurant or the individual who served Rivera. That person should have some responsibility to Thomas's family.

Here's the "legal-eze" the Supreme Court of Virginia has used to say to bars "have at it, you will have no responsibility:"

The basis of the rule is that individuals, drunk or sober, are responsible for their own torts and that, apart from statute, drinking the intoxicant, not furnishing it, is the proximate cause of the injury. In other words, the common law considers the act of selling the intoxicating beverage as too remote to be a proximate cause of an injury resulting from the negligent conduct of the purchaser of the drink.

Its time for the Virginia General Assembly to take a hard look at this travesty of justice.

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