I'LL DRINK TO YOUR PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

Here's another Stella Award:

Amanda Jax, 21, celebrated her birthday the way many 21-year-olds do:
by going out to drink legally. As she partied at a Mankato, Minn.,
restaurant on October 29, 2007, her friends bought her drinks to
celebrate her milestone anniversary. Unfortunately, Jax, who was studying
nursing, drank herself to death, with a blood-alcohol content of 0.4594
percent. Whose fault is that? According to Jax's family, her friends are
to blame. In February her parents filed suit in Blue Earth County
District Court against not only the Sidelines Bar and Grill, which served
her, but five of her friends, since Jax was "in the care" of her friends
and couldn't care for herself, as she was "an obviously intoxicated
person." The suit argues they "created an unreasonable risk of causing
physical harm" to their adult friend, and "failed to exercise reasonable
care" in preventing harm from coming to her. Jax, the suit says, was
"particularly vulnerable and dependent" on her companions, who "held
considerable power" over her well being. That's right: she had no duty to
protect herself as she slugged down drink after drink, the lawsuit
argues; others had that duty. The adult drinker with a medical background
isn't responsible for a thing; her friends are. Those two drunk-driving
arrests prior to her birthday? Irrelevant! The suit seeks "an amount in
excess of $50,000" in damages. Binge drinking is certainly a problem in
our society. Yes, as a licensed facility the bar has some liability here.
Other than that, drinkers need to be held accountable for their own
actions, rather than demanding others to take responsibility for them.

SOURCE: "Family Sues Friends Who Partied with Jax", Minneapolis Star
Tribune, 28 February 2008
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