You Be the Judge:Del Lago Partners, Inc. v. Smith[1]

Note:There are two reasons for using this case.First is to introduce students to the "You Be the Judge" feature.There is one such case in almost every chapter.The text provides the facts and issue and then, in place of the court's holding, gives competing arguments for the two sides.The text's authors wrote the arguments, often based on majority and/or dissenting opinions in the case.Since students do not have the "answer," they are forced to think for themselves.

An instructor can use these cases in many ways:

Divide the class in two and assign each side to argue for one of the parties.

Have students vote on the outcome before and after revealing the court's holding.

Require students to prepare a short paper giving their own "holding."

Have one or two students argue each side before the "court" (the professor and remaining students).

The second reason for using this case is that it builds on the issue of negligence introduced in the Kuehn v Pub Zone case, above. This time, the court confronts not only the question of whether a duty is owed, but also whether the injury was foreseeable.

Facts:It was late night at the Del Lago hotel bar. Bradley Smith and 40 of his closest fraternity brothers had been partying there for hours. Around midnight, guests from a wedding party made a rowdy entrance. One of Smith's friends brashly hit on a young woman in the wedding party, infuriating her date. Verbal confrontations ensued. For the next 90 minutes, the fraternity members and the wedding party exchanged escalating curses and threats, while the bartender looked on and served drinks.Until... the inevitable occurred. Punches were thrown. Before Smith knew it, someone placed him in a headlock and threw him against a wall.

As dozens fought, the bar manager fumbled to call hotel security, but realized he did not even have the phone number. When security eventually arrived, the free-for-all had ended ... and Smith had suffered a fractured skull, among other serious injuries.

Smith sued Del Lago for negligence. He argued that the hotel was liable because it knew that the brawl was imminent and could have easily prevented it by calling security or ejecting the angry drunks. The lower court agreed. The hotel appealed.

You Be the Judge:Did the hotel have a duty to protect Smith from imminent assault?

Argument for the Plaintiff-Appellant (Hotel):Your honors, my client did nothing wrong. The Del Lago staff did not create the danger. Smith was a grown man who drank voluntarily and joined the right knowing that he was at risk for injury. The hotel did not owe a duty to someone who engages in such reckless behavior. And let's face it: Accidents happen, especially at a bar late at night. Moreover, a bar owner cannot possibly monitor the words exchanged between patrons that may lead to a fight.

The law has developed sensibly. People are left to decide for themselves whether to jump into a dangerous situation. Smith made his decision, and Del Lago should not be held accountable for his poor choices.

Argument for the Defendant-Appellee (Smith):Your honors, Del Lago had a moral and legal duty to protect its guests from this obvious and imminent assault. When a business has knowledge of something that poses an unreasonable risk of harm to its patrons, it has a duty to take reasonable action to reduce or eliminate that risk. The hotel knew that a fight was going to break out, and should have taken the proper precautions to protects guests form that foreseeable danger.

During the 90 minutes of escalating tensions, the bar staff continued to serve alcohol, ignored the blatant risks, and did not even call security. When the bar staff finally decided to call for help, they did not even have the number. It was too little, too late. The establishment had already breached its duty of care to protects its guests from foreseeable harm.

Holding: The court of appeals affirmed the judgment of the Court of Appeals, upholding the decision of the jury.

Question: Did the hotel owe a duty to the patron who was injured?

Question: How did it breach this duty?

Question:What is the key issue in this civil suit?

Question: What factors impose a duty of care upon such an establishment?

Question: Did the hotel breach its duty?