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Williams v. Saga Enterprises Inc.11/15/1990
COURT OF APPEAL OF CALIFORNIA, SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT, DIVISION THREE
No. B043922
1990.CA.40211 ; 274 Cal. Rptr. 901; 225 Cal. App. 3d 142
November 15, 1990
SCOTT WILLIAMS, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLANT,
v.
SAGA ENTERPRISES, INC., DEFENDANT AND RESPONDENT
Superior Court of Los Angeles County, No. NWC 028593, Ronald M. Sohigian, Judge.
Byers, Kroll, Kuittinen & Lyden and Michael W. Byers for Plaintiff and Appellant.
Wesierski & Zurek and Ronald Zurek for Defendant and Respondent.
Opinion by Croskey, J., with Klein, P. J., and Danielson, J., concurring.
Croskey
Plaintiff Scott Williams (plaintiff), appeals from a summary judgment granted in a personal injury action against respondent, a restaurant serving alcohol. We determine here that a triable issue of material fact exists as to whether the restaurant owed a duty to plaintiff based on a claimed undertaking by one of its employees to withhold a patron's car keys if the patron was not fit to drive his vehicle after he left the restaurant. Plaintiff alleged that he suffered injuries in an automobile accident with the patron shortly after the patron obtained his car keys and drove away in an intoxicated condition from the restaurant. Because plaintiff has raised a triable issue of material fact in his opposition to the motion for summary judgment, that judgment must be reversed.
Procedural and Factual Background
On May 18, 1986, plaintiff was travelling on the Ventura Freeway in the County of Los Angeles when the vehicle in which he was riding was involved in an accident with another vehicle and he was injured. On May 6, 1987, plaintiff filed an action for personal injuries stemming from the accident. The suit was filed by and through plaintiff's father acting as a guardian ad litem because plaintiff was in a coma as a result of the injuries sustained in the accident.
Named as a defendant was Lee Roger Chandler (Chandler), the driver of the other vehicle. Plaintiff's complaint alleges that Chandler was intoxicated at the time of the accident and such intoxication caused or contributed to plaintiff's injuries.
Joined in the case as a Doe defendant was the respondent, Saga Enterprises, Inc. (Saga). Saga owns and operates a Black Angus Restaurant (the restaurant). Through discovery, plaintiff learned that Chandler had been drinking at the restaurant before the accident occurred. Plaintiff also learned that employees of the restaurant had received Chandler's car keys before serving him drinks and had returned the keys to him after Chandler
had become intoxicated. Plaintiff contends that returning the keys to Chandler constituted a negligent entrustment of the vehicle by Saga and rendered Saga liable to plaintiff.
Saga filed a motion for summary judgment, contending that it had no duty to keep Chandler's keys, that the restaurant was only a bailee and therefore could not be charged with negligent entrustment, and that by statute (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 25602 and Civ. Code, § 1714) Saga could not be liable for Chandler's intoxicated negligence. Those contentions also form the issues on appeal.
After reviewing the moving and opposing papers, the trial court granted the motion for summary judgment and judgment was entered June 23, 19
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