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Williams v. Kingston Inn Inc.6/27/1990
ly caused an automobile accident. The injured victim filed an action against Mr. Edwards, Kaiser and the Red Lion. In opposing Kaiser's and Red Lion's motions for summary judgment, the plaintiff submitted the affidavit of the officer who investigated the accident. He was at the scene in minutes and stated that Mr. Edwards was unsteady on his feet, had bloodshot eyes and a flushed face, smelled of alcohol, and was unable to perform physical tests to the officer's satisfaction. In his deposition, Mr. Edwards admitted consuming 15 to 20 drinks in the 3 1/2 hours he was at the banquet. Dickinson, at 465.
[2, 3] The trial court granted Kaiser's and the Red Lion's motions for summary judgment. The dismissal was affirmed by the Court of Appeals but reversed by the Supreme Court, which concluded that the Superior Court and the Court of Appeals erred in not considering the affidavit of the police officer or the admissions made by Mr. Edwards as to the amount of alcohol he had consumed at the banquet. The court held that, in certain circumstances,
observations made after the drinker has left the defendant's establishment may raise an inference of obvious intoxication if they are made in close proximity to the time when the alcohol was consumed. Dickinson, at 464. Those circumstances include whether the drinker had consumed any alcohol after and independent of that furnished by the defendant, or whether any period was unaccounted for between the time the defendant last furnished alcohol and the subsequent observation was made. Dickinson. The court also held at page 465 that evidence of the amount of alcohol consumed could raise an inference of obvious intoxication because it relates to the question of whether the intoxication was obvious or should have been obvious to the furnisher.
Christen and Purchase distinguished Dickinson as "factually unique". Christen, at 491 (quoting Purchase, at 227). It is also quite different from the facts presented here. Unlike the trooper in Dickinson, Mr. McDougall observed Mrs. Williams some 2 hours after Mr. Moran said she left the Kingston Inn. Mr. Williams' attempt to discredit Mr. Moran's testimony is not persuasive. Mrs. McDougall said she and her husband were at the Kingston Inn from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. and she saw Mrs. Williams and Mr. Moran there. She did not state, as Mr. Williams argues, that she saw them there at 9:30. Her testimony is consistent with that of Mr. Moran. Mr. Williams also relies upon Mr. Moran's testimony that he talked with Mrs. Williams for what "seemed" like 2 hours. The fact that Ms. Eronson testified that she and Mrs. Williams returned to the bar at 8 p.m. (or 8:30, as she says in her affidavit) does not mean that Mr. Moran was mistaken about when the two of them left the bar or that he must have talked to Mrs. Williams until at least 10:30.
Mr. Williams also relies upon Dickinson's consideration of evidence of the amount of alcohol consumed by the defendant. However, in Dickinson, the defendant admitted drinking 15 to 20 drinks at the Red Lion; here, the evidence Mr. Williams wants considered is the testimony of expert
Davis that Mrs. Williams' blood alcohol level indicates she ingested at least 15 ounces of alcohol. Unlike Dickinson, there is no evidence here that Mrs. Williams was served those 15 ounces by the Kingston Inn.
Mr. Williams' argument that the expert's testimony is relevant was addressed by Justice Utter in a concurring opinion in Burkhart v. Harrod, 110 Wash. 2d 381, 392, 755 P.2d 759 (1988):
Even if expert testimony could establish the amount of alcohol consumed, the expert testimony here is not competent.
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