Baker v. Township of Mt. Lebanon

512 A.2d 71, 98 Pa. Commw. 422, 1986 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 2320
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJune 30, 1986
DocketAppeal, No. 82 T.D. 1985
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 512 A.2d 71 (Baker v. Township of Mt. Lebanon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Baker v. Township of Mt. Lebanon, 512 A.2d 71, 98 Pa. Commw. 422, 1986 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 2320 (Pa. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge MacPhail,

Delmas L. Baker (Appellant) appeals from an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County [424]*424which denied his motion for post trial relief by way of removal of the compulsory nonsuits entered in favor of the Sunken Cork, Inc. (Sunken Cork) and the Township of Mount Lebanon (Township). We reverse and remand in part and affirm in part.

Appellant filed a six-count complaint on March 17, 1981 naming as defendants Sunken Cork, the Township, and Medical Rescue Team South. The claims against Medical Rescue Team South were dismissed before trial. Appellant averred that agents of Sunken Cork, a business licensed to serve alcoholic beverages, served him liquor when he was visibly intoxicated and that he suffered injuries which were proximately caused by his intoxicated state. Appellant averred that police officers employed by the Township committed torts and violated his constitutional rights in arresting and imprisoning him.

The first issue raised in Appellants brief is whether the trial judge properly entered a compulsory nonsuit as to Sunken Cork.

Section 493(1) of the Liquor Code1 makes it unlawful

[f]or any licensee ... or any employe, servant or agent of such licensee ... to sell, furnish or give any liquor or malt or brewed beverages, or to permit any liquor or malt or brewed beverages to be sold, furnished or given, to any person visibly intoxicated. . . .

Id. If a licensee allows any of its agents to serve intoxicating liquor to one in a visible state of intoxication, it clearly has violated the law. If as a result of such intoxication the consumer of the intoxicants injures himself the licensee is liable in tort. Smith v. Evans, 421 Pa. [425]*425247, 219 A.2d 310 (1966); Connelly v. Ziegler, 251 Pa. Superior Ct. 521, 380 A.2d 902 (1977).

The trial court refused to remove the compulsory nonsuit entered in favor of Sunken Cork because, in its view,

[t]here . . . [was] no evidence as to the physical appearance of Baker while in the Sunken Cork from which it could reasonably be concluded that he was visibly intoxicated at anytime he was served a drink; neither is there any evidence as to his conduct or appearance after he left the Sunken Cork from which it could reasonably be inferred that he was visibly intoxicated when he was served the next to the last drink at the Sunken Cork.

Baker v. Township of Mt. Lebanon, (No. GD81-499C in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, filed January 9, 1985), slip op. at 18-19. We disagree with this assessment of the evidence.

According to Appellants testimony, on the afternoon of January 10, 1980, he consumed three or four gin and tonics at a Steak and Ale restaurant during approximately a one-hour period.2 About one-half to three-quarters of an hour later Appellant entered the Sunken Cork, an establishment he visited often.3 During the course of his stay at Sunken Cork, well over an hour, he consumed at least 4 to 6 more gin and tonics.4 Appellants visit was cut short, however, when after a trip to the bathroom he fell from a barstool while attempting to reseat himself, knocked over the drinks of some other customers, and hit his shoulder and head on the floor.5 [426]*426One of the other customers became indignant and the manager of the bar asked Appellant to leave.6 The manager and another employee escorted Appellant out of the bar.7 Appellant attempted to return to the bar, but he was told that if he did not leave the police would be called.8 When Appellant attempted to cross a street in front of the bar he saw traffic coming, backed up to get out of the way and fell backwards, striking his head and back.9 The police arrived and took him to the police station from where he was eventually taken to a hospital. Upon examination, it was determined that Appellant had suffered severe dislocation of his sixth and seventh cervical vertebrae which has caused paralysis of the middle and lower parts of his body.10

The evidence which Appellant points to which indicates that he was visibly intoxicated when served at the Sunken Cork includes his testimony as to how much alcohol he had consumed and a police report which indicated that a police officer on the scene “observed an odor of alcohol beverages” on Appellant, that his eyes were bloodshot, that his “speech was very slurred and incoherent,” that he was unable to answer questions coherently and that he was placed under arrest for public intoxication. 11 In addition, Appellant testified that he was drunk when he fell.12 Contrary to the Appellants assertions, there was no evidence presented that any agent of the licensee told the police that Appellant was drunk and disorderly. Further, the attorneys agreed at side bar that a hospital report taken five hours [427]*427after the incident, which showed that Appellants blood alcohol content was 0.16, would not be admitted into evidence unless Appellants attorney found it necessary to have it entered to rebut testimony Sunken Cork might present.13 Of course, Sunken Cork never presented its evidence because Appellant was nonsuited.

In a case in which the Superior Court was faced with a situation where a plaintiff, a third party injured by an intoxicated person, had been nonsuited for failure to present evidence that the licensee involved had served the intoxicated person while he was visibly intoxicated, that Court stated:

On appeal from a compulsory non-suit the plaintiff must be given the benefit of every fact and every reasonable inference of fact arising from the evidence, whether direct or circumstantial, and áll conflicts must be resolved in the plaintiffs favor. A compulsory nonsuit may be entered only in a clear case where the facts and circumstances lead unerringly to but one conclusion. Paul v. Hess Brothers, 226 Pa. Superior Ct. 92, 94-95, 312 A.2d 65, 66 (1973) (citations omitted). In a trespass case, a plaintiff need not exclude every other reasonable possibility that could have caused the accident. ‘It is not necessary, under Pennsylvania law, that every feet or circumstance point unerringly to liability; it is enough that there be sufficient facts for the jury to say reasonably that the preponderance fevors liability.’ Jones v. Treegoob, 433 Pa. 225, 230, 249 A.2d 352, 355 (1969).

Speicher v. Reda, 290 Pa. Superior Ct. 168, 171, 434 A.2d 183, 185 (1981) (emphasis in original), quoting Cornell Drilling Co. v. Ford Motor Co., 241 Pa. Superior Ct. 129, 135, 359 A.2d 822, 825 (1976).

[428]*428In reversing the trial court in Speicher the Superior Court said:

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Bluebook (online)
512 A.2d 71, 98 Pa. Commw. 422, 1986 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 2320, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/baker-v-township-of-mt-lebanon-pacommwct-1986.