Brown v. Hollywood Bar and Cafe

942 P.2d 1363, 1997 Colo. App. LEXIS 130, 1997 WL 282902
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 29, 1997
Docket96CA1713
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 942 P.2d 1363 (Brown v. Hollywood Bar and Cafe) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brown v. Hollywood Bar and Cafe, 942 P.2d 1363, 1997 Colo. App. LEXIS 130, 1997 WL 282902 (Colo. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge RULAND.

This is an action to recover damages for injuries sustained in an automobile accident. Defendant, Hollywood Bar and Cafe (Hollywood), appeals from the judgment entered on jury verdicts in favor of plaintiffs, Joseph H. Brown and Helen J. Roberson. We affirm.

Plaintiffs were injured when an intoxicated driver crossed the center line of a highway and collided with their vehicle. The record reflects that the driver spent the day, prior to the collision, consuming drugs and alcohol, including alcohol sold at Hollywood and the Sawmill Run Saloon. The accident took place at approximately 4:30 p.m., and the driver still had a blood alcohol content (BAC) *1365 of 0.242 grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood one hour later.

Plaintiffs sued the driver and the driver’s parents who owned the automobile involved in the collision. Plaintiffs also sued the Sawmill and Hollywood pursuant to § 12-47-128.5, C.R.S. (1991 Repl.Vol. 5B). Prior to trial, plaintiffs settled their claims with the driver, his parents, and the Sawmill.

Following presentation of the evidence, the jury found that Hollywood had willfully and knowingly sold beer to the driver while he was visibly intoxicated and that such was a cause of the injuries to plaintiffs. The jury also found that plaintiff Brown’s damages totaled $515,979 and that plaintiff Roberson’s damages totaled $141,645. The jury apportioned 50% of the fault to the driver, 25% to the Sawmill, and 25% to Hollywood. Judgment awarding damages consistent with this apportionment was entered, and this appeal followed.

I

Hollywood attempted to endorse four additional witnesses approximately 30 days prior to the trial in violation of the 80-day time limit specified in former C.R.C.P. 16(c). In response to a motion to strike the late endorsement, Hollywood withdrew its request as to two of the witnesses. The court ruled that the remaining witnesses could not be called.

Relying upon J.P. v. District Court, 873 P.2d 745 (Colo.1994), Hollywood now contends that the trial court erred in refusing to allow the remaining two witnesses to testify. In the alternative, Hollywood argues that the court should have granted its request to continue the trial so that plaintiffs could interview or depose the witnesses. We are not persuaded by either contention.

The trial court is vested with broad discretion to determine whether a party should be permitted to endorse witnesses after the date permitted by rule. See Nagy v. District Court, 762 P.2d 158 (Colo.1988). Here, unlike in J.P. v. District Court, supra, plaintiffs had not requested any prior continuances and the trial date had been set some 10 months earlier. Further, the names of the witnesses had been revealed in a deposition approximately 16 months before Hollywood filed its motion to endorse them.

Next, Hollywood asked to endorse these witnesses to testify regarding the driver’s appearance and conduct at the time he purchased beer from the establishment. However, Hollywood had already endorsed one of its employees to testify concerning this issue. And, Hollywood was permitted to call another witness to testify on this same issue who had only been endorsed in a disclosure statement from the Sawmill. Hence, the proffered testimony would have been cumulative.

Accordingly, based upon these circumstances, we conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in ruling that the witnesses in question would not be allowed to testify.

Finally, the decision whether to grant a motion to continue the trial is also an issue addressed to the discretion of the trial court. See Butler v. Farner, 704 P.2d 853 (Colo.1985). Here, because the only need for the continuance arose from Hollywood’s failure timely to endorse the witnesses in question, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the continuance.

II

Section 12-47-128.5(3), C.R.S. (1991 Repl. Vol. 5B) provides that a liquor licensee may be liable for an injury resulting from the sale of an alcoholic beverage, if the licensee “willfully and knowingly” serves a beverage to a person who was visibly intoxicated. Hollywood contends that because there was no direct evidence that it willfully and knowingly served alcohol to the driver when he was visibly intoxicated, the trial court erred in failing to grant its motions for summary judgment, directed verdict, and judgment notwithstanding the verdict. We disagree.

The denial of a motion for summary judgment may not be appealed following the trial. Feiger, Collison & Killmer v. Jones, 926 P.2d 1244 (Colo.1996). With reference to the remaining motions, a division of this court, in Christoph v. Colorado Communications Corp., — P.2d — (Colo.App. No. *1366 95CA1474, February 20, 1997) held that circumstantial evidence and the inferences from that evidence may be relied upon to prove that a licensee wilfully and knowingly served alcohol to a visibly intoxicated person. We agree with the analysis in Christoph and follow it here.

For the reasons stated in Christoph, we do not view either Dickman v. Jackalope, Inc., 870 P.2d 1261 (Colo.App.1994) or Forrest v. Lorrigan, 833 P.2d 873 (Colo.App.1992) as support for Hollywood’s contention.

Here, plaintiffs presented circumstantial evidence that the driver was visibly intoxicated at the time he was served beer by Hollywood. Specifically, one of the driver’s friends testified that he believed the driver was too intoxicated to drive and offered to drive him home approximately 50 minutes prior to the accident. Additionally, a bartender at Hollywood testified that after she served a beer to the driver at approximately 4:00 p.m., he poured the beer down the front of his shirt. Finally, testimony was presented that, immediately after the accident, the driver displayed visible signs of intoxication.

Viewing these facts in a light most favorable to plaintiffs, as we must, we conclude that the record supports the trial court’s rulings. See Ferguson v. Gardner, 191 Colo. 527, 554 P.2d 293 (1976).

Ill

Plaintiffs endorsed a toxicologist to testify regarding the amount of alcohol consumed by the driver as evidenced by his BAC. The toxicologist did not submit a written report. Instead, he was deposed by Hollywood. During his deposition, the toxicologist stated that he could not express an opinion regarding how noticeable the driver’s intoxication would have been on the day of the accident.

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Bluebook (online)
942 P.2d 1363, 1997 Colo. App. LEXIS 130, 1997 WL 282902, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-hollywood-bar-and-cafe-coloctapp-1997.