(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this automobile accident/personal injury case and its proceedings.)
DEFENDANT STACY GREENE CONSPIRED WITH EL MEXICANO RESTAURANT TO VIOLATE BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONS CODE SEC. 25602.1
Plaintiff’s Third Cause of Action alleges that Defendant Stacy Greene conspired with El Mexicano Restaurant and Bar to violate Business & Professions Code Sec. 25602.1. Conspiracy is a legal doctrine that imposes liability on persons who, although not committing a tort themselves, share with the immediate tortfeasors a common plan or design in its perpetration. By participation in a civil conspiracy, a co-conspirator effectively adopts as his or her own the torts of other co-conspirators within the ambit of the conspiracy. (Applied Equipment Corp. v. Litton Saudi Arabia Ltd. 7 C.4th 503,510,511 (1994))
The elements of an action for civil conspiracy are the formation and operation of the conspiracy and damage resulting to plaintiff from an act or acts done in furtherance of the common design… (Applied Equipment Corp. v. Litton Saudi Arabia Ltd supra. 7 C.4th at 511) DefendantStacy need not share the same duty as a licensed purveyor to sell alcohol to engage in a conspiracy to violate Business & Professions Code Sec. 25602.1 as defendant’s have erroneously argued. Defendant’s reliance on Doctors’ Co. v. Superior Court 49 Cal.3d 39, 47 (1989) is misplaced. There has never been an allegation that Stacy was acting as an agent for El Mexicano. Doctors’ Co. held that an alleged conspirator to an agreement was not personally bound by the duty if he was acting only as the agent or employee of the party who did have that duty. (Doctors’ Co. v. Superior Court supra. 49 Cal.3d at 47) El Mexicano, a corporation, is liable because the acts of selling or furnishing alcoholic beverages to an obviously intoxicated minor were ratified and approved by a corporate officer. (See Part 8 of 8.)
For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.