Treasure Bay Corp. v. Ricard

967 So. 2d 1235, 2007 WL 3293256
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 8, 2007
Docket2006-IA-00831-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by41 cases

This text of 967 So. 2d 1235 (Treasure Bay Corp. v. Ricard) 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
Treasure Bay Corp. v. Ricard, 967 So. 2d 1235, 2007 WL 3293256 (Mich. 2007).

Opinion

967 So.2d 1235 (2007)

TREASURE BAY CORPORATION d/b/a Treasure Bay Casino and Fire Dog, Inc. d/b/a Adventures Bar and Grill
v.
Sheila RICARD, individually, and on behalf of the wrongful death beneficiaries of Phillip Robinson, Deceased.

No. 2006-IA-00831-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

November 8, 2007.

*1236 Walter William Dukes, Je'Nell Blocher Gustafson, Cynthia Dianne Burney, Donald Rafferty, Gulfport, attorneys for appellants.

Tom P. Calhoun, III, Greenwood, Jackye C. Bertucci, attorneys for appellee.

EN BANC.

*1237 DICKINSON, Justice, for the Court.

¶ 1. This wrongful-death action alleges the defendants are liable for the wrongful death of Phillip Robinson. The suit is brought by Sheila Ricard, individually and on behalf of Robinson's statutory wrongful death beneficiaries, pursuant to Mississippi's Dram Shop Act, Mississippi Code Annotated Section 63-3-73 (Rev.2004). The defendants, Treasure Bay Corporation d/b/a Treasure Bay Casino and Fire Dog, Inc. d/b/a Adventures Bar and Grill, filed motions for summary judgment which the trial court denied in an order without opinion. This Court granted the defendants' joint petition for interlocutory appeal to clarify several issues raised by the parties concerning summary judgment. We find that the trial court's denial of summary judgment was proper.

BACKGROUND FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

¶ 2. In the early morning hours of October 23, 2002, Joshua Dillmon was driving along Highway 90 in Ocean Springs when he struck and killed Robinson. Dillmon left the scene of the accident before police arrived, but returned less than an hour later. At approximately 6:41 a.m., Dillmon was administered an intoxilyzer test by police, which revealed his blood alcohol content (BAC) was 0.088%. Later that morning, Dillmon was given a blood test which indicated a BAC of 0.07%. Dillmon also gave an unsworn statement to police after being arrested.

¶ 3. Dillmon told police he had been awake since approximately 5 a.m. on October 22, 2002, to get ready to be at work at 6 a.m. Dillmon worked that day until approximately 3 p.m. That night, he went to the Pirate's Den, a bar inside the Treasure Bay Casino, at approximately 10 p.m.[1] Dillmon stated that he drank four or five beers and left the Pirate's Den at approximately 11:30 p.m.

¶ 4. He then drove from Treasure Bay to Adventures. He claims that, while at Adventures, he consumed three beers before leaving at approximately 3:30 a.m. Dillmon said that he then drove to Casino Magic, where he ate a hamburger but had nothing else to drink. He stated that he knew he should not have driven from Adventures to Casino Magic but that he was hungry and needed to sober up.

¶ 5. Next, Dillmon left Casino Magic and traveled eastbound on Highway 90 at roughly 45 miles per hour. When he approached the intersection of Martin Luther King and Highway 90, he said that he looked down for two or three seconds to change the radio station as he went through the intersection. While passing through the intersection, he hit something that he thought was a construction barrel. After the collision, Dillmon pulled over into a parking lot approximately one-half mile away and stayed there for around one hour before returning to the scene. Upon returning and being administered the intoxilyzer test, Dillmon was arrested.

¶ 6. After filing suit against Treasure Bay and Adventures, Ricard deposed two Pirate's Den employees and three Adventures employees who worked during the time Dillmon claimed he was a patron at these establishments. None of the employees knew Dillmon or remembered serving Dillmon during the times in question.

¶ 7. Dr. Steven Hayne, Ricard's expert, provided an affidavit in which he opined that Dillmon would have been visibly intoxicated when he was served alcohol at the Pirate's Den and Adventures. When deposed by the defendants, Dr. Hayne confirmed his opinion that Dillmon was *1238 visibly intoxicated when he was served alcohol at the Pirate's Den and Adventures. Dr. Hayne testified that he was qualified to give his opinions concerning visible intoxication because he was board certified in anatomic pathology, forensic pathology, and forensic medicine. He held himself out as an expert in the interpretation of the effects of ethyl alcohol in human beings. Dr. Hayne based his opinions on Dillmon's intoxilyzer results indicating a BAC of 0.088%, his blood sample indicating a BAC of 0.07% and his statement to police.

¶ 8. In forming his opinion, Dr. Hayne accepted Dillmon's statement that he drank no alcoholic beverages after leaving Adventures, but rejected Dillmon's claim that he consumed only seven or eight beers between 10:30 p.m. and 3:30 a.m. Dr. Hayne opined that, if Dillmon were telling the truth about the amount of alcohol he consumed, he would have had a BAC of 0.00% when the intoxilyzer test was administered at 6:41 a.m. Dr. Hayne opined that because the intoxilyzer test administered to Dillmon at 6:41 a.m. revealed that his BAC was 0.088%, his blood alcohol content earlier would have reached a level of 0.14% to 0.15%. Such high levels of BAC, according to Dr. Hayne, could not be produced with seven or eight beers, and would have rendered Dillmon visibly intoxicated.

¶ 9. After the incident, Dillmon was indicted for manslaughter, and has refused to testify in this civil proceeding, claiming the privilege against self-incrimination granted to him under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Ricard relies exclusively on Dr. Hayne's testimony in arguing the existence of a triable issue of material fact. Both defendants claim they are entitled to summary judgment because Ricard has failed even to establish that Dillmon was present and drinking at their respective bars.

DISCUSSION

I.

¶ 10. This Court reviews denials of summary judgment de novo. Davis v. Hoss, 869 So.2d 397, 401 (Miss.2004). Summary judgment is granted "if the pleadings, depositions and answers to interrogatories and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." M.R.C.P. 56(c). The evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Flores v. Elmer, 938 So.2d 824, 826 (Miss.2006).

¶ 11. Ricard's suit against Treasure Bay and Adventures was brought pursuant to Mississippi's Dram Shop Act. Miss.Code Ann. § 67-3-73 (Rev.2004). Therefore, the claim must be analyzed under the statute. The Act provides limited immunity for those selling or furnishing intoxicating beverages and states, in pertinent part:

(1) The Mississippi Legislature finds and declares that the consumption of intoxicating beverages, rather than the sale or serving or furnishing of such beverages, is the proximate cause of any injury, including death and property damage, inflicted by an intoxicated person upon himself or another person.

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Bluebook (online)
967 So. 2d 1235, 2007 WL 3293256, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/treasure-bay-corp-v-ricard-miss-2007.