Parrington v Hotelcorp Pty Ltd & Ors [2003] NSWSC 734

New South Wales Supreme Court

CITATION : Parrington v Hotelcorp Pty Ltd & Ors [2003] NSWSC 734 HEARING DATE(S) : 29, 30 & 31 July 2003 JUDGMENT DATE : 18 August 2003

JUDGMENT OF : Cripps AJ DECISION : Judgment for the defendants. The plaintiff to pay the defendants' costs.

CATCHWORDS : Negligence - service of alcohol in a hotel - accident caused by inebriation - liability of hotel. Desmond v Cullen (2001) 34 MVR 186; Johns v Cosgrove (1997) 27 MVR 110; CASES CITED : Jordan House Ltd v Menow (1973) 38 DL (3d) 105; Mayfield Investments Ltd v Stewart (1995) 121 DLR (4th) 222; Reynolds v Katoomba All Services Club Pty Ltd (2001) 53 NSWLR 43. Tweed Heads Rugby League Football Club v Cole (2002) 55 NSWLR 13; Francine Parrington - Plaintiff Hotel Corportion Pty Ltd - First Defendant PARTIES : Peter George Calligeros - Second Defendant Colin Picton - Third Defendant Kim Picton - Fourth Defendant FILE NUMBER(S) : SC 20803/01 COUNSEL : G B Hall QC & J R Wilson - Plaintiff G Inatey SC & B McManus - Defendants SOLICITORS : Lamond Howard & Associates, Goulburn - Plaintiff Collin Biggers & Paisley - Defendants

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COMMON LAW DIVISION

CRIPPS AJ

Monday 18 August 2003

20803/01 PARRINGTON v HOTELCORP PTY LTD & ORS

JUDGMENT 1 HIS HONOUR: At about 8.20 pm on 10 November 2000 the plaintiff was seriously injured when a car driven by her collided with a tree on the southern side of Carlisle Street, Yanderra. As a result of the accident the plaintiff was seriously injured and lost her right arm. At the time of the accident she was 34, married and the mother of three children. She has since been divorced 2 While in hospital and two or three hours after the crash her blood was analysed and found to have an alcoholic concentration of .118 gms per 100 mls. That reading placed her well above what has been referred to as the "legal limit". It is an offence for a person to drive a car having a blood alcohol concentration in excess of .05 gms per 100 mls. 3 It appears to be accepted by the two pharmacologists who gave evidence that at 8.20 pm the reading would have been higher because although she had nothing to drink after the accident she was in a state of shock which would have lowered the rate of alcoholic metabolism and she had lost blood containing alcohol and had it replaced with alcohol free blood. But as Professor Starmer, called on behalf of the plaintiff, has said "How much higher it might have been is open to question" and Dr Dauncey, called on behalf of the defendants, thought "at a rough guess" it would have been between .13 and .14 gms per 100 mls. 4 On 21 September 2001 the plaintiff commenced proceedings in the Supreme Court against Hotelcorp Pty Ltd (the owner of the Bargo Hotel), Peter George Calligeros (the licensee) and Colin Picton and his wife Kim Picton (the managers). It was alleged that all defendants owed "a general duty of care to those people coming upon their hotel premises for their safety and wellbeing and similarly owed the same duty of care to patrons when they had been on the hotel". 5 Relevant to the existence and scope of the duty allegedly owed by the defendants to the plaintiff as well as to allegations of breach was the circumstance, as alleged by the plaintiff, that she was lent money "by the hotel" which she used to consume "a large amount of alcohol". 6 Particular breaches of duty alleged were that the defendants -