Northside Equities Inc. v. Hulsey

Scientific evidence of a driver's blood alcohol level can create a factual question as to whether the driver was noticeably intoxicated.

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The issue in this Dram Shop Act case is whether the plaintiff produced sufficient evidence to avoid the award of summary judgment to the defendant. The trial court ruled that the plaintiff had not sufficiently countered the evidence offered by the defendant in support of its motion for summary judgment, but the Court of Appeals reversed. Hulsey v. Northside Equities, Inc., 249 Ga. App. 474 2 548 SE2d 41 2001. This Court granted certiorari to consider whether scientific evidence of a driver’s blood alcohol level, adduced in opposition to direct eyewitness testimony that the driver was not noticeably intoxicated, can create a question of fact whether the driver was noticeably intoxicated.

The suit arose from the death of the plaintiff’s daughter who was struck by a car driven by Rebecca Greene, an employee at an adult entertainment establishment owned by Northside Equities, Inc. Greene, who had consumed five or six drinks during her work day and was on her way home when her car struck the victim, had a blood alcohol content of .18 grams percent two hours after leaving work. In support of Northside’s motion for summary judgment in the suit filed by the victim’s mother, it submitted affidavits from several of its employees averring that Greene was not noticeably intoxicated while at work. The importance of that evidence is that a defendant will not be liable for serving alcohol unless the consumer of the alcohol is noticeably intoxicated when served. OCGA § 51-1-40 b. To counter Northside’s evidence, the plaintiff submitted the affidavit of an expert concerning the absorption and metabolism of ethyl alcohol by persons who drink alcoholic beverages. The expert calculated Greene’s probable blood alcohol level at the time of the collision with the victim as being as much as .21 grams percent and opined that various manifestations of intoxication would appear at that level and that those manifestations would vary with the person’s history of drinking.

Northside Equities Inc. v. Hulsey

Scientific evidence of a driver's blood alcohol level can create a factual question as to whether the driver was noticeably intoxicated.

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