Professor M is very to-the-point:
Prof M: “In this case we have someone who gets drunk and dies in a night club.”
The case is: Soerries v. Dancause, 248 Ga. App. 374 (Ga. Ct. App. 2001)
The facts, viewed in a light most favorable to the jury’s verdict, show that Soerries was the sole shareholder of Chickasaw Club, Inc., which operated a popular nightclub in Columbus for 23 years until it closed in 1999.
At approximately 11:45 p.m. on July 31, 1996, 18-year-old Aubrey Lynn Pursley was intoxicated when she entered the Chickasaw Club. Although a Columbus ordinance prohibits individuals under 21 years old from entering nightclubs, it is undisputed that club employees did not check Pursley’s identification to establish her age.
A friend testified that Pursley already was intoxicated when she arrived at the club. Even so, friends testified that Pursley drank additional alcohol at the club and was visibly intoxicated when she left at approximately 3:00 a.m. on August 1, 1996. Security videotapes showed that she left the club with a beer in her hand.
Shortly thereafter, Pursley was killed when she lost control of her car and struck a tree.
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