Opinion ID: 1736762
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: what was v.f.w.'s duty to mabeline?

Text: We have never considered the duty of one selling alcohol on the premises to protect its patrons from assaults by other patrons. However, we have considered the duty of the owner of a fast-food restaurant to protect its patrons from being attacked in the restaurant's parking lot. In Kelly v. Retzer and Retzer, 417 So.2d 556 (Miss. 1982), we concluded that such an establishment owes its patrons a duty to exercise reasonable care for their safety. 417 So.2d at 560. Kelly, however, did not involve the sale of alcoholic beverages. In the instant case, the V.F.W. usually sold beer and was in fact selling it the night of the assault. Moreover, patrons of the V.F.W. were allowed to bring their own bottles; indeed, Hazel Grisham had a bottle of whiskey with her on the night in question. Numerous jurisdictions have considered the duty of a bar keeper or tavern keeper to protect patrons from assaults, and in almost all of those decisions the duty has been described as follows: the keeper of a bar or tavern, though not an insurer of his guests' safety, has a duty to exercise reasonable care to protect them from reasonably forseeable injury at the hands of other patrons. Annotation at 43 A.L.R. 4th 281 and cases collected therein. Authorities indicate, however, that the owner can be liable only where he had cause to anticipate the wrongful or negligent act of the unruly patron. C.J.S. Negligence 63(118) and 63(127). The requisite cause to anticipate the assault may arise from 1) actual or constructive knowledge of the assailant's violent nature, or 2) actual or constructive knowledge that an atmosphere of violence exists in the tavern. Sucanick v. Clayton et al., 152 Ariz. 158, 730 P.2d 867 (Ct.App. 1986); Hall v. Billy Jack's, Inc., 458 So.2d 760 (S.Ct.Fla. 1984). The V.F.W., though not an insurer of Mabeline's safety, had a duty to exercise reasonable care to protect her from reasonably forseeable injury at the hands of another. Assuming, without deciding that Mabeline made a showing sufficient to establish that the assault was forseeable and that the V.F.W. therefore had a duty to prevent it, we nevertheless conclude that she has made absolutely no showing of proximate cause. The proximate cause of an injury is that cause which in natural and continuous sequence unbroken by any efficient intervening cause produces the injury, and without which the result would not have occurred. Thompson v. Mississippi Cent. R. Co., 175 Miss. 547, 166 So. 353 (1936). Proximate cause arises when the omission of a duty contributes to cause the injury. Clayton v. Thompson, 475 So.2d 439, 445 (Miss. 1985). It is in light of this standard that we consider Mabeline's evidence. When asked how the presence of more lights at the door would have prevented the attack, Mabeline responded that Hazel might have thought somebody would have seen her plainer and would identify her. Mabeline admitted, however, that both she and her companion recognized Hazel even in the lighting which Mabeline claimed was inadequate. Similarly, as to her claims that the V.F.W. should have provided better lighting, hired security guards, and maintained a less violent atmosphere, Mabeline has made absolutely no showing that any of those omissions was the proximate cause of the attack. Mabeline has utterly failed to make any showing as to an essential elements of her claim, proximate cause. Therefore, under the rule set forth in Galloway and Celotex, summary judgment in favor of the V.F.W. was appropriate.