Quote:
Originally posted by madmax
Ivy. Since you are a lawyer I have a Q.
If a fraternity serves a guest and the guest drives to a bar and wrecks the fraterntiy gets sued. If the guest is at a bar and the bar serves the same person and he leaves the bar and drives to a fraternity house and wrecks, the fraternity still gets sued. What is the deal? Shouldn't the bar be responsible for the person they served and the fraternity responsible for the person they served?
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The answer to your question is that you sue both because there is joint and several tort liability. Black's Law Dictionary defines "joint and several liability" as the liability of joint tortfeasors (i.e., liability that an individual or business either shares with other tortfeasors or bears individually without the others). When you are a plaintiff's attorney you are going after the deep pockets and you bring the action against anyone you have evidence of having liability under your theories.
If the action is for negligence then the bar or fraternity will most likely have the standard defenses of contributory negligence, assumption of risk and comparitive negligence (based on state law). How successful those defenses will be varies based on state.