Widow sues pub for drink driving death

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Widow sues pub over drink-driving death

A WOMAN is suing a publican in Tasmania after her husband died while driving home drunk.

Shane Scott was killed in a crash at Orford after he tried to ride his motorcycle home from the Tandara Motor Inn on January 24, 2002.

His widow Sandra and the Motor Accidents Insurance Board are suing publican Michael Andrew Kirkpatrick and the company that owns the hotel.

She contends they had a duty of care and should have prevented Mr Scott from riding the motorcycle home on the night he died.

The lawsuit was dismissed by Justice Alan Blow in November last year and Mrs Scott's appeal before the Full Court began yesterday.

The court heard Mr Scott went to the pub after work and gave his motorcycle keys to Mr Kirkpatrick, who placed them in the hotel's petty cash tin.

His motorcycle was locked in a hotel storeroom.

The court heard Mr Scott declined offers of lifts home from another patron and the publican's offer to call his wife.

"If I want you to ring my f.***ing wife I'd f***ing ask you," he told Mr Kirkpatrick.

After drinking seven or eight cans of Jack Daniels and cola, Mr Scott retrieved his keys, recovered the motorbike and set off for his Orford home.

He was nearly there when he crashed into the side of the road bridge over the Prosser River around 8.30pm and died at the scene from massive chest injuries.

A post-mortem examination determined his blood alcohol reading was .253 -- five times the legal limit for driving.

Mrs Scott's lawyer Robert Phillips told the court the publican had failed to ensure Mr Scott's safety despite knowing he was drunk and earlier being asked to mind the keys and offering to phone Mrs Scott to arrange a lift home.

"The publican didn't carry out his part of the plan, he didn't ring the plaintiff, he simply handed back the keys at the deceased's request," Mr Phillips said.

"There were no attempts at all made by Mr Kirkpatrick to dissuade the deceased from his course.

"All he did was facilitate the retrieval of the bike from the locked room."

Jeremy Ruskin, QC, acting for Mr Kirkpatrick and the hotel, told the court Mr Kirkpatrick could not have called Mr Scott's wife without contravening his express wishes and there was nothing to say he would have gone with her anyway.

He said there was no duty of care owed to Mr Scott and, if there was, it had not been breached.

The case was adjourned for judgment on a date to be fixed.

[Heracles 417]

Keep up the BS..

Edited April 24, 2008 by Boo-Yah!

[Heracles 417]

Are you into soccer?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Keep up the BS..

What BS?

I'll make it simple for ya. Do you think a person should be able to sue a public house for the death of a relative who mullered themselves on Jack and Coke?

Are you into soccer?

Not in the least.

[Nagishkaw 510]

Alcoholism is the only disease that can be bottled, sold, and advertised.

[Heracles 417]

Not in the least.

I thought you would not. We are truly like night and day.

Edited April 25, 2008 by Boo-Yah!

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I dunno - neither of us has a Masters in Economics

[no name 1]

ooh, another useless post~!

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

ooh, another useless post~!

Thanks for lowering yourself to my level to point that out.

[no name 1]

ooh, another useless post~!

Thanks for lowering yourself to my level to point that out.

1 reply for me, you have 3 - you win the booby prize! How appropo that is.

[Teacher Mark 53]

My brother was dating a girl in Cleveland, Ohio who was stabbed to death by a Taco Bell manager. The manager was pissed because my brother's g/f was trying to walk up to the drive through and buy food (nice huh?). My brother's g/f had been drinking heavily that night. The man who owned the bar where she had been drinking settled his portion of the lawsuit for 100K. We never did find out how much Taco Bell paid out.

[Heracles 417]

ooh, another useless post~!

What else is he going to post. An actual opinion. :rofl:

Don't need an economics major to realize when someone is full of ####. Out of 1,000 posts 4 of them actually contain a valid opinion. The rest are rebuttals, sneaky attacks, insults or stupid one line responses. If we are lucky sometimes we even get two lines of BS..

Edited April 25, 2008 by Boo-Yah!

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

ooh, another useless post~!

Thanks for lowering yourself to my level to point that out.

1 reply for me, you have 3 - you win the booby prize! How appropo that is.

Careful - your shrine to Hillary might gather dust.

My brother was dating a girl in Cleveland, Ohio who was stabbed to death by a Taco Bell manager. The manager was pissed because my brother's g/f was trying to walk up to the drive through and buy food (nice huh?). My brother's g/f had been drinking heavily that night. The man who owned the bar where she had been drinking settled his portion of the lawsuit for 100K. We never did find out how much Taco Bell paid out.

Wow - it doesn't get weirder than that does it?

I seem to remember a story a while back about a guy who shot up a fast food restaurant because the servers forgot his ketchup. Strange mentalities and a lot of repressed anger.

[Heracles 417]

My brother was dating a girl in Cleveland, Ohio who was stabbed to death by a Taco Bell manager. The manager was pissed because my brother's g/f was trying to walk up to the drive through and buy food (nice huh?). My brother's g/f had been drinking heavily that night. The man who owned the bar where she had been drinking settled his portion of the lawsuit for 100K. We never did find out how much Taco Bell paid out.

What a dumb ### the manager is. We used to do that all the time considering a lot of places only have drive through open at night..

Edited April 25, 2008 by Boo-Yah!

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I had a housemate at unit who put up a sign in the kitchen that if there were loud noises late at night he would come down and "stab the culprit in the heart"