Fast Eddie's v. Hall
Court of Appeals of Indiana
688 N.E.2d 1270 (1997)
Teresa Hall met Michael Lamb and John Schooley at Fast Eddie's (defendant), a bar known for roughness; staff knew Lamb was carrying a gun and that alcohol heightened his sex drive. When the bar manager noticed Hall was very intoxicated, he asked Lamb to remove her, and Schooley instead drove her home and left her passed out in his car. Lamb later found Hall there, moved her to his own car, drove her elsewhere, sexually assaulted her, and shot her dead; he pleaded guilty to murder. Hall's estate (plaintiff) sued Fast Eddie's for negligence, and the trial court denied the tavern's summary judgment motions but certified the issue for interlocutory appeal.
Whether a tavern may be held liable for a patron's death at the hands of another patron when the killing resulted from an unforeseeable, intentional criminal act and the tavern never assumed a duty to protect her.