The Arizona Court of Appeals has reversed an $800,000 judgment against a bar, holding the state’s statutory framework for determining dram shop liability expressly preempts the plaintiffs’ common law negligence claims in a fatal drunken driving case.
In November 2015, Cesar Aguilera Villanueva was kicked out of the Jaguar Club, owned by JAI Dining Services Inc., and drove home to briefly sleep before taking a friend home. On his way back to his residence, a still-intoxicated Villanueva reached speeds of over 80 mph when his truck crashed into another vehicle, killing its occupants, Guadalupe Gastelum Suarez and Jesus O. Torres Guillen, the opinion said.
