Del Lago Partners, Inc. v. Smith

Staff at Del Lago's (defendant) resort bar continued serving alcohol to two groups of patrons engaged in 90 minutes of escalating yelling, cursing, and shoving before a brawl erupted, during which Smith (plaintiff) was seriously injured after being pulled into the fight; although the resort maintained a trained security force, no one called security until after the fight had already begun, by which point it was over by the time guards arrived. A jury found the resort 51% at fault and Smith 49% at fault, awarding him nearly $1.5 million, and the resort appealed, arguing it owed no duty to protect Smith from another patron's criminal assault.