Montana Supreme Court Rides to the Rescue of the Stumble Inn

The Missoulian.com reports on the Montana Supreme Court decision upholding a state law requirement that the poor saloon-keeps of that state be given 180 day notice of a drunk drivng crash, that could result in a dram shop action against the bar.  Here's an excerpt from the Missoulian story:

 "A sharply divided Montana Supreme Court has upheld a state law that requires someone planning to sue a bar over liability in a drunken driving crash to notify the bar within 180 days of the crash. The Supreme Court issued the 4-3 ruling on Dec. 23 in a lawsuit filed by Cary and Terra Rohlfs over a June 2006 drunken driving crash that seriously injured Cary Rohlfs. The driver, Joseph Warren, had been drinking for much of the day at the Stumble Inn in Victor. The Rohlfs sued the bar just over a year after the crash, alleging it was liable for continuing to serve alcohol to an obviously inebriated customer. A District Court dismissed the case because the bar did not receive proper notice. The Rohlfs argued the 180-day limitation, enacted by the Legislature in 2003, was prohibited by special legislation that protected bar owners and added a burden to victims of drunken driving crashes.

The majority, in an opinion written by outgoing Justice John Warner, rejected those arguments, saying it was not up to the courts to second-guess the Legislature. Chief Justice Mike McGrath and Justice Jim Rice signed Warner's opinion while Justice Brian Morris concurred, but said he would have considered an appeal on the constitutionality of the law as applied in this case."

Here's the link to the Montana Supreme Court decision.

Bad Lawyer observation:  Justice Warner,  it is your job to "second-guess" the legislature.  That's what you promised to do when you said you would uphold the constitution of the State of Montana, and the United States of America. 

Student Drinking at Penn State

I was listening to This American Life over the weekend, which ran or re-ran a broadcast that looked at State College, Pennsylvania the great college town where Penn State is located.  PSU is routinely voted the nation's number one "party school."  Translation: student drinking.  Alcohol is complicated.  The great American experiment with prohibition didn't work out all that well.  Alcohol is social lubrication, helping the socially inept (including moi,) mate since time immemorial--but, an utter disaster for many as most of us know;  alcohol is the cause of so many social and family tragedies. 

Part of the TAL episode that I heard looked at the details of the death of freshman,  Joe Dado who died from alcohol poisoning; as well as the legal aftermath for his close friend, Jack Townsend.   The TAL broadcast analyzed the relationship between binge drinking and the college athletic dollar.  To his credit Penn State College President Graham Spanier submitted to tough questioning about alumni fundraising, athletics, and alcohol.  President Spanier's statement on the death of Joe Dado and another underclassman can be read at the link. 

On the heels of this episode is the report from the Centre Daily News that a local State College bar agreed to a voluntary 22 day shutdown, and a reform of its alcohol-service practices in light of a investigation into the provision of alcohol to three nearly incoherent female patrons.  One customer served in this bar had vomit on her dress. As a Bad Lawyer I've litigated lots of alcohol-related deaths and injuries.  A recurring theme is the utter denial of persons providing alcohol that they just might aiding and abetting the death or injury of someone who is drinking abusively.  Yeah, right, I know what you're thinking, why should "denial" be the exclsuive province of the drinker.

According to the This American Life report, if I'm remembering correctly,  approximately 1700 university kids drink themselves to death each year.   The statistics are telling: most of the incidents occur at the beginning of the school year, among mostly freshmen, and the research establishes the strong correlation between "availability of alcohol,"  incidents of binge drinking, and injury.  Duh.  But then again maybe this isn't such an obvious point.  If the schools, and authorities come down hard on campus drinking, fraternities and sororities, off campus parities, and public intoxication, it is shown that fewer kids get injured and die.  Simple.  The problem arises, when these efforts conflict with alumni weekends, and drinking in and around sports.  Alumni organizations give crates of money to the university--anti-alcohol efforts often run headlong into fundraising. 

I don't purport to know or advocate for solutions apart from those discussed in the episode of This American Life.  I do think it might not be a bad idea to make this ATL edition required listening for incoming freshman.  Hell, there's plenty of time to screw up your life without killing yourself as a college freshman. 

Cheers!