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Carter v. Abbyad

Appellants were stabbed at a party by a drug-addled companion of appellees. Texas common law is fundamentally premised on individuals' responsibility for their own actions. The exceptions to that rule all involve situations where the defendant either had a recognized legal obligation to control the other person's conduct or the right to do so. There is no legal obligation for appellees to protect party guests from coming into contact with their drug-addled companion. Austin Court of Appeals, No. 03-07-00251-CV, 11-04-2009

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OPINION

This is an appeal from the dismissal of appellants’ negligence suit. Appellants Jennifer Carter and Eleanor Draughn were stabbed at a party by Dustin McManus, a companion of appellees Ramzi Abbyad, Jason Nuckolls, and Travis McLemore. The stabbing victims and their parents–Bonnie Carter, Scott Carter, Andrew Draughn, and Susan Draughn*fn1–argue that they have alleged facts that, if proven, would demonstrate that appellees owed them a duty of care to have prevented the drug-addled and threatening McManus from coming into contact with unsuspecting guests at a party that the appellees attended. Appellees contend that the trial court correctly determined that the companions of an individual under the influence of behavior-altering drugs had no duty, based on the circumstances as alleged in this case, to protect others from that individual. Guided by case law constraining the recognition of legal duties to control the actions of others, we affirm.

This case was dismissed based on the pleadings. Consequently, the following description of events underlying this case is drawn from appellants’ allegations in their petition. While at the home of former co-defendant Tyler Hunkin, appellees provided McManus with and/or watched him consume excessive amounts of illegal drugs including marijuana and hallucinogenic mushrooms in celebration of McManus’s completion of a probation term. It is alleged that appellees knew that McManus consumed more than three times the “normal dose” of hallucinogenic mushrooms and knew that he had a knife. Appellants also assert that appellees knew that McManus’s behavior grew more bizarre, threatening, and unpredictable as time passed, that he was having a “bad trip,” and that he was a danger to himself and others. Appellants also allege that appellees were under the influence of illegal drugs and alcohol as well.

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