Gresham v. Davenport

524 So. 2d 48, 1988 La. App. LEXIS 434, 1988 WL 26908
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 30, 1988
DocketNo. 19510-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 524 So. 2d 48 (Gresham v. Davenport) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gresham v. Davenport, 524 So. 2d 48, 1988 La. App. LEXIS 434, 1988 WL 26908 (La. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinions

FRED W. JONES, Jr., Judge.

Five teenage boys, following a beer party at a residence hosted by the absent resident’s minor daughter, left in an automobile and were involved in a one car accident. The driver was killed and two of the passengers were seriously injured. Parents of the latter two sued the mother of the deceased driver and her insured; the owner of the home where the party was held and his homeowner’s insurance company; and the adult who bought the beer and his insurer.

Judgment was rendered rejecting the demands and the plaintiffs appealed.

Sometime prior to October 1983 Thomas Davenport, Jr. and his wife were divorced. The mother was granted legal custody of the children, one of whom was Molly. The latter came to Ouachita Parish in 1982 to live with her father but the mother retained legal custody.

Davenport was to be out-of-town on the weekend of October 29, 1983 and understood that the 15 year old Molly would stay with neighbors. However, Molly decided to have a party at her home and had an 18 year old friend, Bryan Williams, purchase three cases of beer the day before and bring them to her house.

Sometime around 9:00 P.M. on the night of October 29, 1983, Molly’s 16 year old friend, James Ford, Jr., arrived at her house for the party and drank four or five beers. He then left and went to the Spur Station in West Monroe where he encountered 14 year old Jeffery Gresham, 14 year old Alton Hardwick, Jr., 15 year old Timothy Lowery, and 16 year old Jeffery Brewer. The latter was in his mother’s car. The boys decided to go in the Brewer vehicle to Molly’s party.

Arriving at the party, Ford and Brewer went into the house. A few minutes later the other three also went in. Each of the boys drank beer and played pool. Ford consumed a 6-pack for a total of some ten cans of beer between 9:30 P.M. and 11:20 P.M.

Becoming concerned about their midnight curfew, the five boys prepared to leave Molly’s house a little after 11:00 P.M. As they were leaving Molly offered them additional beer. They finished the cans they were drinking and took a couple of 6-packs with them. After a discussion between Ford and Brewer as to whom should drive, Brewer prevailed and the boys entered the car.

Ford was in the front seat with the driver. Gresham, Lowery and Hardwick were [50]*50seated in the rear. A few minutes after leaving the party and about a mile from the Davenport residence, the Brewer vehicle, traveling in a northerly direction, crested a hill and crashed into a tree on the west side of the road. Skidmarks indicated the car made a continuous swooping arc from a point near the right shoulder of the road at the crest of the hill, across the right lane of travel, then across the left lane of travel and across the west shoulder, before striking the tree. Brewer was killed upon impact and Hardwick and Gresham were seriously injured.

The parents of Gresham and Hardwick

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Related

Gresham v. Davenport
530 So. 2d 554 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1988)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
524 So. 2d 48, 1988 La. App. LEXIS 434, 1988 WL 26908, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gresham-v-davenport-lactapp-1988.