JORGE GONZALEZ, AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ESTATE OF BEATRIZ GONZALEZ, APPELLANT,
v.
STONEYBROOK WEST GOLF CLUB, LLC, INC., APPELLEE

Fla. 5th DCA | 2017-07-14
No. Case No. 5D16-2680
ORFINGER and LAMBERT, JJ., concur.
225 So. 3d 891 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (2017) Positive Treatment
Cited by 3 cases

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Holding

The court held that the plaintiff presented sufficient evidence to create a genuine issue of material fact regarding the defendant's knowledge of the purchaser's habitual addiction to alcohol, precluding summary judgment.


Headnotes

[1] A vendor serving alcoholic beverages is not liable for damages resulting from a purchaser's intoxication unless the vendor serves the purchaser knowing that he or she is…

[2] Knowledge of a purchaser's habitual addiction to alcohol may be established by sufficient circumstantial evidence.

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Facts & Procedural History

Plaintiff sued a golf club for wrongful death after a patron, who had consumed alcohol at the club, caused a fatal car crash. The plaintiff alleged th…

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Opinion of the Court
HODGES, R.W., Associate Judge.

HODGES, R.W., Associate Judge.

Jorge Gonzalez (“Gonzalez”), as personal representative of the Estate of Beatriz Gonzalez (“the Decedent”), appeals from the final summary judgment entered in favor of Stoneybrook West Golf Club, LLC, Inc. (“Stoneybrook”). The standard of review of a trial court’s entry of final summary judgment is de novo. Volusia Cty. v. Aberdeen, at Ormond Beach, L.P., 760 So.2d 126, 130 (Fla. 2000). Summary judgment is proper if there exists no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Id. Because we find the existence of a genuine issue of material fact in this case, we reverse and remand.

Stoneybrook. is a golf club whose employees serve alcoholic beverages both inside the clubhouse and on the golf course. Nathan Hartman is a golfer who routinely played golf at Stoneybrook and purchased alcohol.from Stoneybrook employees..After playing a round of golf and consuming alcohol, Hartman caused an automobile crash that resulted in the death of the *892Decedent. At the time of the crash, Hartman had a blood alcohol content of .302. Gonzalez sought damages for the wrongful death of the Decedent against Stoneybrook pursuant to Florida’s reverse dram shop liability statute, codified at section 768.125, Florida Statutes (2014). This statute provides, in pertinent part, that a vendor serving alcoholic beverages is not liable for damages resulting from a purchaser’s intoxication unless the vendor serves the purchaser knowing that he or she is habitually addicted to alcohol. Id.

Stoneybrook filed a motion for final summary judgment, contending that there was no competent evidence of record that Hartman was habitually addicted to alcohol or, if so, that Stoneybrook had any knowledge of his alleged addiction. The trial court agreed and granted summary judgment.

Gonzalez had responded to the motion for summary judgment by filing the depositions of Hartman, a friend of Hartman named David Ziglar, and the relevant Sto-neybrook employees. The depositions established that Hartman had played golf at the club approximately seventy to eighty times over a three-year period prior to the crash. Ziglar testified in his deposition that Hartman was intoxicated virtually each time they played together at Stoneybrook. He added that Hartman normally started the day by drinking two strongly poured whiskey and Cokes in sixteen-ounce Styrofoam cups poured by bartenders who were familiar with Hartman. At the turn at the midpoint of the golf round, Hartman normally went to the Stoneybrook clubhouse and purchased another strongly poured sixteen-ounce whiskey and Coke and would often buy additional drinks from the “cart girl, a Stoneybrook employee.” Zig-lar testified that, on the day of the crash, Hartman had four such drinks, including approximately eight ounces of straight alcohol poured by the “cart girl” on the course. In addition, Gonzalez filed an affidavit from Dr. William Hearn, the former Laboratory Director of the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner’s Department, in which he opined that Hartman’s blood alcohol content when he left Stoneybrook was over .27.

As this court previously noted in Evans v. McCabe 415, Inc., the Florida Supreme Court has found that under the habitual drunkard exception the plaintiff must present evidence that the vendor knew that the alcohol purchaser was a habitual drunkard. 168 So.3d 238, 239 (Fla. 5th DCA 2015) (citing Ellis v. N.G.N. of Tampa, Inc., 586 So.2d 1042, 1048 (Fla. 1991)). This knowledge element may be met by the presentation of sufficient circumstantial evidence. Ellis, 586 So.2d at 1048-49 (citing Sabo v. Shamrock Commc’ns, Inc., 566 So.2d 267, 269 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990), approved sub nom. Peoples Rest. v. Sabo, 591 So.2d 907 (Fla. 1991)). As stated in Ellis, “serving an individual a substantial number of drinks on multiple occasions would be circumstantial evidence to be considered by the jury in determining whether the vendor knew that the person was a habitual drunkard.” Id. at 1048.

Based on our review of the record, we conclude that Gonzalez offered sufficient evidence to raise a factual dispute not resolvable by summary judgment as to whether Hartman was habitually addicted to alcohol and, if so, whether Stoneybrook knew of his addiction. Therefore, we reverse the summary judgment and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

REVERSED and REMANDED.

ORFINGER and LAMBERT, JJ., concur.


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  • Hayes Robertson Grp., Inc. v. Cherry, 260 So. 3d 1126 (Fla. 3d DCA 2018)
    …drunkard or person providing written notice is being injured] shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree ...." § 562.50. Murphy v. S. Mut. Mgmt. Corp., 936 So. 2d 786 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006) ; Gonzalez v. Stoneybrook W. Golf Club, LLC, Inc., 225 So. 3d 891 (Fla. 5th DCA 2017). The jury also returned a verdict of no liability on the negligence claim of allowing Mira to leave Hayes Robertson's premises "in an intoxicated condition" the night of the accident. It was undisputed that Mira was "off the clo…
  • Hayes Robertson Grp. v. Cherry (Fla. 3d DCA 2018)

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