Hartfield v. The Getaway Lounge & Grill Inc

Decision Date26 July 2010
Docket NumberNo. 26836.,26836.
CourtSouth Carolina Supreme Court
PartiesJon E. HARTFIELD, by and through his Conservator, Haskell L. Hartfield and Haskell L. Hartfield, Individually, Respondents,v.The GETAWAY LOUNGE & GRILL, INC., Shou Mei Morris, individually and as President of The Getaway Lounge & Grill, Inc., Appellants.

C. Rauch Wise, of Greenwood, for Appellants.

Jon Eric Newlon, of McCravy Newlon & Sturkie Law Firm, of Greenwood, for Respondents.

Chief Justice TOAL.

After visiting a number of bars one night in July 2003, Hoyt Helton (Helton) drove his vehicle across the center line and struck a car in which John Erik Hartfield (Hartfield) was a passenger. Helton died at the scene and a South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) toxicologist recorded his blood alcohol content (BAC) at .212. Hartfield, who suffered serious injuries, and his father (Respondents) filed suit against three bars Helton visited that evening. Respondents were awarded a $10 million verdict against The Getaway Lounge & Grill (The Getaway).1 The trial court also granted Respondents' motion to pierce the corporate veil of The Getaway. We certified this case for review pursuant to Rule 204(b), SCACR.

Facts/Procedural History

At trial, Helton's wife testified that her husband would typically start drinking around noon and would usually leave home around 4:00 or 4:30 p.m. to go to his favorite bars. She had no recollection of her husband drinking at home on the day of the accident.

Other testimony established that Helton's first stop the day of the accident was Williams Package and South End Pub (South End Pub), one of his regular stops. Robert Cockrell (Cockrell), owner and operator of the South End Pub, testified that Helton arrived around 4:00 or 4:15 p.m. and stayed inside until 5:30 p.m., when he became angered by another person at the bar and walked out. Helton's friend, Brad Harrison (Harrison), found Helton sitting outside the entrance to the South End Pub when Harrison arrived around 6:00 or 6:15 p.m. Later, Cockrell saw Helton on the bench when he closed the establishment at 7:00 p.m. Cockrell testified that Helton was not served a beer that day, Helton did not show up with a beer, and Helton was not drinking a beer when Cockrell saw him on the bench as he was closing up. Cockrell also testified that when Helton arrived at the bar, he did not appear to be intoxicated, though he talked about being sick and was seen sitting at a table, leaning over, and holding his stomach.

Helton's second stop was The Getaway where he arrived between 7:15 and 7:30 p.m. Dianna Bice (Bice), one of the owners of The Getaway, testified she was at the bar that night, never saw Helton drinking, and he did not appear intoxicated. Harrison testified that when he arrived at The Getaway at approximately 8:00 p.m., Helton was sitting at the bar drinking a beer. He recalled that Helton had three beers while at The Getaway and did not appear intoxicated. Harrison and Helton left The Getaway at the same time, which Harrison testified was before 9:30 p.m. Trooper Tony Keller (Keller), who investigated the accident, testified that Harrison told him he left The Getaway between 9:30 and 10:00 p.m.

Helton's final stop the evening of the accident was the Carolina Drive-In. Billy McDonald (McDonald) was tending bar that evening and testified that Helton arrived around 10:00 p.m. According to McDonald's trial testimony, Helton stayed at the Carolina Drive-In only ten or fifteen minutes and did not have a beer. However, Keller testified that McDonald informed him that Helton had one beer at the Carolina Drive-In. McDonald stated that he did not recognize any problems in the way Helton walked into the bar. Helton departed Carolina Drive-In around 10:10 or 10:15 p.m. After leaving Carolina Drive-In, Helton placed a cell phone call to his wife and left a voice message. Keller testified that, after listening to the message, he had no doubt that Helton was intoxicated.

The crash occurred at approximately 10:51 p.m. Helton died at the scene and Hartfield was seriously injured. Keller arrived at the scene shortly after the accident and stated that he found no cups or alcohol containers. Fluid samples revealed Helton's BAC to be .212 at the time of the collision. Keller testified that paramedics extracted Hartfield from the car and transported him from the scene by helicopter. Hartfield's father explained that his son spent approximately ten months in the hospital following the accident. For roughly six months, Hartfield was in a coma. Today, Hartfield still requires care, wears a leg brace, is unable to drive, and has problems with short term memory.

At trial, Respondents called Dr. William Brewer (Brewer), a chemistry instructor at the University of South Carolina, who teaches forensic chemistry. Brewer was previously a toxicologist at the Clemson Veterinary Diagnostic Center and with SLED. Beginning with Helton's BAC at the time of death, Brewer used a method called “retrograde extrapolation” to determine how many beers Helton would have to have consumed over the hours preceding the accident to reach a .212 BAC. Brewer testified that, based on his calculations, Helton must have consumed more than the amount of beer testimony had suggested in order to reach a .212 level. Brewer also stated that Helton's approximate BAC during the time he was at The Getaway would have been between .18 and .20, and that Helton would have been grossly intoxicated and exhibiting symptoms of intoxication.

The jury returned a verdict for Respondents in the amount of $8,000,000 for Hartfield and $2,000,000 for Hartfield's father. The court then conducted a hearing to determine whether the corporate veil of The Getaway could be pierced. The trial court issued an order piercing the corporate veil thereby making Shou Mei Morris and The Getaway (Appellants) liable in the amount awarded by the jury. This appeal followed.

Issues
I. Did the trial court err in admitting the testimony of Brewer?

II. Did the trial court err in failing to direct a verdict in favor of The Getaway?

III. Did the trial court err in charging the jury statutory inferences from the criminal statute on driving under the influence?
IV. Did the trial court err in failing to charge the jury that the plaintiff must prove Helton was visibly intoxicated at The Getaway?
V. Did the trial court err in instructing the jury that The Getaway is liable if employees should have known Helton was intoxicated?
VI. Did the trial judge err in piercing the corporate veil of The Getaway?
Law/Analysis
I. Brewer's Testimony

Appellants argue the trial court erred in admitting the testimony of Brewer. We disagree.

The admission of evidence is within the sound discretion of the trial judge and will not be reversed absent a clear abuse of discretion. See Hofer v. St. Clair, 298 S.C. 503, 513, 381 S.E.2d 736, 742 (1989). “An abuse of discretion occurs when the ruling is based on an error of law or a factual conclusion without evidentiary support.” Conner v. City of Forest Acres, 363 S.C. 460, 467, 611 S.E.2d 905, 908 (2005). Where a party calls an expert, the expert may testify as to his opinion, but his opinion must be based upon facts proven at trial. See Gathers By and Through Hutchinson v. S.C. Elec. & Gas Co., 311 S.C. 81, 82-83, 427 S.E.2d 687, 688-89 (Ct.App.1993). A party may ask a hypothetical question of an expert, but the hypothetical must be based on facts supported by the evidence. Id. at 82, 427 S.E.2d at 688.

At trial, Appellants objected to the introduction of Brewer's testimony as speculative. Appellants contend that Hartfield did not establish sufficient facts for the expert to give an opinion as to Helton's sobriety when he was at The Getaway. The court of appeals addressed a similar argument in Gathers. In Gathers, the plaintiff was electrocuted when he touched a copper water pipe under his home, and plaintiff's counsel called an expert who, based on a hypothetical question, theorized that a defect in the defendant's service line caused the pipe to become electrified. Id. The defendant argued that the testimony should have been excluded because there was not a sufficient factual foundation upon which to base the opinion. Id. The court of appeals found no error in admitting the testimony stating:

[C]ounsel may rely upon circumstantial evidence to prove an essential fact in framing a hypothetical question. Deciding whether a conclusion assumed in the hypothetical is at least reasonably supported by circumstantial evidence is a question of law for the court. If circumstantial evidence reasonably supports the assumptions, whether the evidence actually establishes the assumed facts becomes a question of fact for the trier of fact.

Id. at 83, 427 S.E.2d at 688-89.

In the present case, the circumstantial evidence presented by Respondents was sufficient to support Brewer's opinions. As outlined above, Respondents established a general timeline of Helton's activities on the day of the accident. Respondents introduced evidence showing Helton's BAC at the time of the accident and elicited testimony that Helton left a voice message just prior to the accident in which he sounded intoxicated. Respondents also called witnesses who testified concerning the approximate time Helton left The Getaway and the amount of alcohol he consumed between leaving The Getaway and the time of the wreck. We find that this evidence provided reasonable support for Brewer's testimony. Though Respondents' case was based on circumstantial evidence, Respondents sufficiently developed the facts to form the basis of Brewer's testimony. Hence, the trial court did not err in admitting Brewer's testimony.

II. Directed Verdict

Appellants argue Respondents did not meet their burden to establish that the employees of The Getaway “knowingly” sold beer to an intoxicated person. Consequently, Appellants c...

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