Del Lago Partners, Inc. v. Smith

in which Chief Justice JEFFERSON, Justice O’NEILL, Justice MEDINA, Justice GREEN, and Justice GUZMAN joined.

This appeal concerns a bar owner’s liability for injuries caused when one patron assaulted another during a closing-time melee involving twenty to forty “very intoxicated” customers. The brawl erupted after ninety minutes of recurrent threats, cursing, and shoving by two rival groups of patrons. The jury heard nine days of conflicting evidence from twenty-one witnesses and found the owner fifty-one percent hable. The court of appeals affirmed the roughly $1.48 million award: “A…