Torres v. JAI Dining Services
Annotate this Case
The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the trial court in Plaintiffs' favor on their common law negligence claims and their dram shop liability claim against JAI Dining Services (Phoenix) Inc., holding that the trial court properly submitted to the jury the question of whether JAI was relieved from liability from overserving alcohol.
After spending the evening drinking and socializing at a club in Phoenix, Cesar Villanueva, while intoxicated, drove his truck home. Villanueva fell asleep for a short time before he agreed to take a friend home. Villanueva, however, was still intoxicated and struck a vehicle, killing two people. Villanueva was convicted of two counts of manslaughter and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Plaintiffs, the victims' families, sued JAI, which owned the club, alleging negligence-based claims for over serving alcohol to Villanueva. The jury returned a verdict in favor of Plaintiffs. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that a jury could reasonably have concluded that Villanueva’s act of driving while intoxicated, even after he reached home, was nevertheless foreseeable by someone in the club’s position and not extraordinary in hindsight.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.