Hoffman v. Wiltscheck

379 N.W.2d 145, 1985 Minn. App. LEXIS 4827
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedDecember 17, 1985
DocketC1-85-1290
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 379 N.W.2d 145 (Hoffman v. Wiltscheck) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hoffman v. Wiltscheck, 379 N.W.2d 145, 1985 Minn. App. LEXIS 4827 (Mich. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

OPINION

FORSBERG, Judge.

This is an appeal from summary judgment entered for the respondents in an action for personal injury. The trial court determined that there was no reason for delay and directed entry of judgment. Minn.R.Civ.P. 54.02. We affirm.

FACTS

Appellant Ronald Hoffman suffered serious injuries, resulting in quadraplegia, when struck by a pickup truck on August 7, 1983, at approximately 4:00 a.m., while walking on Brown County Road 25. The pickup truck was driven by respondent Gene Wiltscheck. There is a factual dispute as to whether Hoffman, who admits he was intoxicated, was walking on the shoulder or on the right-of-way. Hoffman’s claim against Wiltscheck for negligence in operation of the truck, however, remains before the trial court and is not involved in this appeal.

The night he was injured, Hoffman was participating in a hayride which had stopped at the farm of Randy Wiltscheck, Gene’s brother. A sizable crowd had gathered at the Wiltscheck farm, where a large party was scheduled for the following day.

Hoffman brought claims against the following persons or entities:

1) Oscar Reinhardt, Dave Machou, and Courtland Truck Center, as owners of the pickup truck;
2) Robert Tauer, as owner of the tractor used in the hayride;
3) Roland Tauer and Fred Gareis, as, respectively, alleged supervisor and driver on the hayride;
4) Randy Wiltscheck, as owner of the farm and co-organizer of the “Gene Wilt-scheck Annual Birthday Party” which was to be held the following day;
5) Gene Wiltscheck, as co-organizer of the party; and
6) Danny’s Bar and Schell’s Brewery, as sellers of liquor to Roland Tauer.

The trial court granted summary judgment for all defendants except Gene Wiltscheck as driver of the truck, and the alleged owners of the truck.

Appellant Hoffman, respondent Roland Tauer, and a third person met at Danny’s Bar on August 5, 1983, to discuss plans for *147 a hayride the following evening. The riders would travel in a haywagon owned by Tauer’s father. They would leave from the Tauer farm, drive through New Ulm recruiting more riders and then drive through the countryside. There was no set route for the ride before the eventual' return to the Tauer farm.

On the evening of August 6, Hoffman drove to the Tauer farm, where he left his pickup truck, and the hayride set out., In New Ulm, they first picked up respondent Fred Gareis, who was to drive because he did not drink. They then went to a number of bars, including Danny’s, to recruit more riders. They also obtained ice for the keg beer to be picked up at the Schell’s Brewery warehouse in New Ulm. Roland Tauer had obtained an “open ticket” for keg beer at Danny’s Bar that afternoon.

The “open ticket” allowed a customer to obtain beer from the brewery warehouse and pay for the beer later at the local bar. The warehouseman at Schell’s provided Tauer the group’s second keg of beer sometime after 1:00 a.m., contrary to state law and company policy.

The hayriders, including Hoffman, had also been drinking at the bars while recruiting. They left Danny’s Bar after its 1 a.m. closing, and, after picking up the second keg and recruiting at two local restaurants, the hayride left town for the Randy Wiltscheck farm, where a preparatory party was underway.

The “Gene Wiltscheck Annual Birthday Party” had been held for eleven years. It was well-publicized in the area and well-organized, with food and T-shirts provided. Beer was dispensed from a refrigerated truck. The admissions price was $6 per person. The Wiltschecks did not obtain a permit or license for the party.

When the hayride reached the Wiltscheck farm, Hoffman and others got off and mingled with the approximately 50 to 100 people already there. The beer-dispensing truck had been set up. Members of a Chicago motorcycle gang had set up tents on the farm, and it was apparently due to the fears of some of the hayriders concerning this group that a decision was made to leave the farm. Events following this decision are largely in dispute, including the key issue of whether Hoffman was informed of the impending departure and given a chance to rejoin the group.

Sometime after the hayride left, Hoffman also departed, walking on County Road 25. Hoffman claims to have been walking on the shoulder of the road. A motorcyclist stated that he almost struck Hoffman, and that Hoffman was walking on the paved portion of the road. Wilt-scheck claims that Hoffman was walking on the paved roadway two feet from the fog line marking the shoulder.

ISSUES

1. Did the driver of the hayrack and the alleged supervisor of the hayride owe a duty of care to Hoffman at the Wiltscheck farm?

2. Was the farmowner liable, as a landowner, for Hoffman’s injury?

3. Were the organizers of the party on the farm liable under the Civil Damage Act or under the common law for injury allegedly caused by the liquor they provided?

ANALYSIS

I.

The trial court concluded that Roland Tauer and Fred Gareis had no duty to Hoffman to exercise due care for his protection. The court compared the facts of this case with those cases finding such a duty on the part of one who has charge of a person unable, for whatever reason, to take care for his own safety. In Regan v. Stromberg, 285 N.W.2d 97, 100 (Minn.1979), the court held that a jury question was presented as to whether the husband could be liable for leaving his intoxicated wife on a highway at night. In Depue v. Flatau, 100 Minn. 299, 305, 111 N.W. 1, 3 (1907) it was held that a farmer could be found liable for sending a cattle buyer, whom he had invited to his farm and who was suddenly taken ill, out into severe win *148 ter weather. The trial court here distinguished both cases based on the special relationship between the parties — husband- and-wife in Regan, and business invitee in Depue. The court also found no reasonably foreseeable risk of injury, as existed in Regan and Depue.

The court in Regan stated the following standard for a legal duty:

A determination that defendant was bound by a common-law duty of this nature requires findings that decedent was under a disability and that defendant was “in charge” of her.

285 N.W.2d at 100. Similarly, the court in Depue based its decision on a broad definition of duty towards a disabled person in the “charge” of another. 100 Minn. at 303, 111 N.W. at 2.

Regan indicates that intoxication is an incapacity or disability. 285 N.W.2d at 100. There is a factual issue as to Hoffman’s intoxication. The trial court’s memorandum, however, concluded that neither Gar-eis nor Tauer were “in charge” of Hoffman.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
379 N.W.2d 145, 1985 Minn. App. LEXIS 4827, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hoffman-v-wiltscheck-minnctapp-1985.