Delahoussaye v. Mary Mahoney's Inc.

783 So. 2d 666, 2001 Miss. LEXIS 39, 2001 WL 171331
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 22, 2001
Docket1999-CA-00047-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by43 cases

This text of 783 So. 2d 666 (Delahoussaye v. Mary Mahoney's Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Delahoussaye v. Mary Mahoney's Inc., 783 So. 2d 666, 2001 Miss. LEXIS 39, 2001 WL 171331 (Mich. 2001).

Opinion

783 So.2d 666 (2001)

John DELAHOUSSAYE
v.
MARY MAHONEY'S, INC.

No. 1999-CA-00047-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

February 22, 2001.
Rehearing Denied May 10, 2001.

*668 David C. Frazier, W. Harvey Barton, Skip Edward Lynch, Pascagoula, Attorneys for Appellant.

Michael F. Cavanaugh, Patti C. Golden, Biloxi, Attorneys for Appellee.

EN BANC.

WALLER, Justice, for the Court:

¶ 1. John Delahoussaye filed suit against Mary Mahoney's, Inc., a restaurant in Biloxi, Mississippi, alleging that it was responsible for injuries he sustained in an automobile accident. Specifically, Delahoussaye claimed that Mary Mahoney's illegally and in violation of Miss.Code Ann. § 67-3-53 (Supp.2000), served alcoholic beverages to Ronald Martin, the minor driver who caused the accident. Following a trial in the Jackson County Circuit Court, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Mary Mahoney's, and judgment was entered accordingly. Delahoussaye raises the following issues on appeal:

I. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN INSTRUCTING THE JURY THAT IT COULD FIND LIABILITY UNDER MISS. CODE ANN. § 67-3-53 ONLY IF IT FOUND THAT MARY MAHONEY'S SOLD ALCOHOL DIRECTLY TO RONALD MARTIN.
II. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN EXCLUDING TESTIMONY THAT OTHER MINORS HAD PURCHASED ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES AT MARY MAHONEY'S IN MARCH OF 1990, APPROXIMATELY ONE YEAR AFTER THE ACCIDENT.

STATEMENT OF THE FACTS

¶ 2. On the evening of March 18, 1989, John Delahoussaye, a resident of Gautier, took his newly purchased Volkswagen for a test drive around the City of Biloxi. As Delahoussaye returned home, heading eastbound on U.S. Highway 90, his car ran out of gas on the Biloxi/Ocean Springs bridge. Delahoussaye drove his car to the far right of the roadway where he got out and walked towards the bridge tender to telephone for assistance. As he walked, another motorist arrived and offered to push Delahoussaye's vehicle off the road. Delahoussaye agreed and inspected both cars to ensure that the "bumpers matched up." Delahoussaye concluded that the *669 bumpers were of equal height and began to get into his car. However, before he was able to do so, a third vehicle driven by minor Ronald Martin struck the second vehicle from behind. The second vehicle struck Delahoussaye's vehicle, and, as a result, Delahoussaye suffered severe injuries.

¶ 3. On December 19, 1989, Delahoussaye brought suit against Mary Mahoney's, Inc., in the Jackson County Circuit Court. Delahoussaye claimed that Mary Mahoney's had illegally served alcohol to Ronald Martin, a minor, in violation of Miss.Code Ann. § 67-3-53(b) (Supp.2000). At that trial, Martin and Tracy Collins, Martin's girlfriend and also a minor at the time of the accident, testified that Martin's intoxication was caused exclusively from drinking beer that was purchased at Mary Mahoney's during the St. Patrick's Day celebration held at that establishment. Scott Hammonds, a friend of Martin's, testified that Martin had been drinking beer from an ice chest in his truck and that Martin had smoked marijuana that same evening during the celebration. The jury returned a verdict in favor of Delahoussaye in the amount of $358,000. Subsequently, two witnesses came forward to claim that Martin had tossed an ice chest and beer over the bridge immediately after the accident. Martin ultimately pled guilty to perjury, admitting that he had not purchased any beer at Mary Mahoney's on the evening of the accident and that he had consumed beer stored in an ice chest in the back of his truck.

¶ 4. On February 18, 1992, the trial court granted Mary Mahoney's motion for a new trial. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Mary Mahoney's on December 14, 1994. The Court of Appeals affirmed, finding that there were no material facts in dispute and no evidence to support a claim that Mary Mahoney's sold or otherwise furnished beer to Martin. This Court reversed, see Delahoussaye v. Mary Mahoney's, Inc., 696 So.2d 689, 690 (Miss.1997), finding a genuine issue of material fact existed as to whether Mary Mahoney's illegally sold alcohol to Martin.

¶ 5. A new trial was held in November of 1998. Tracy Collins testified that she purchased alcohol from Mary Mahoney's that evening. She claims to have given a beer to Martin. Martin testified that he did not purchase any beer at Mary Mahoney's on the evening of the accident, and that he could not recall whether he had been given a beer that was purchased at Mary Mahoney's. The jury returned a verdict in favor of Mary Mahoney's, and judgment was entered accordingly. Delahoussaye appeals from that judgment.

DISCUSSION

I. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN INSTRUCTING THE JURY THAT IT COULD FIND LIABILITY UNDER MISS. CODE ANN. § 67-3-53 ONLY IF IT FOUND THAT MARY MAHONEY'S SOLD ALCOHOL DIRECTLY TO RONALD MARTIN.

¶ 6. This Court reviews the grant or denial of jury instructions with deference to the trial court which has discretion over the form and substance of jury instructions. If the instructions given, when read as a whole, fairly announce the law of the case and create no injustice, then this Court will not reverse a trial court's decision concerning jury instructions. Fielder v. Magnolia Beverage Co., 757 So.2d 925, 929 (Miss.1999); Splain v. Hines, 609 So.2d 1234, 1239 (Miss.1992).

¶ 7. Delahoussaye argues that over his objection the trial court improperly granted Instruction P-10 as modified by the trial court to read:

*670 The Court instructs the jury that the consumption of intoxicating liquor does not in and of itself constitute negligence by the driver of the vehicle. However, a person consuming intoxicating liquor is required to use the same degree of care of that required of a sober person. If you find from a preponderance of the evidence in this case, if any, that the Defendant, MARY MAHONEY'S, INC., was negligent be selling beer to Ronald Martin, a minor, under the age of 21 and that as a result of the consumption of the intoxicating liquor by that minor said minor driver was negligent in the operation of his automobile which caused or proximately contributed to cause the accident on March 18, 1989, whereby the Plaintiff was injured, and if you further find from a preponderance of the evidence in this case, if any, that the negligence of MARY MAHONEY'S, INC., in selling intoxicating liquors to Ronald Martin, a minor under the age of 21, either proximately caused or proximately contributed to cause the accident between said minor driver and the Plaintiff herein, then your verdict shall be for the Plaintiff against the Defendant, MARY MAHONEY'S, INC.

(emphasis added to show modifications). The trial court modified the instruction by inserting "Ronald Martin" before the phrase "a minor under the age of 21." Originally, the instruction provided that the jury could find Mary Mahoney's negligent by selling beer "to a minor under the age of 21."

¶ 8. Delahoussaye further argues that the trial court erred in refusing proposed jury instruction P-18, which provides:

Should you find from the evidence that Mary Mahoney's, Inc., sold beer to a person under the age of twenty-one (21) and that beer was provided to Ronald Martin then Mary Mahoney's, Inc. is guilty of negligence.

¶ 9.

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Bluebook (online)
783 So. 2d 666, 2001 Miss. LEXIS 39, 2001 WL 171331, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/delahoussaye-v-mary-mahoneys-inc-miss-2001.