Gary West v. East Tennessee Pioneer Oil

Gary L. West and Michell B. Richardson ("Plaintiffs") sued East Tennessee Pioneer Oil Co., d/b/a Exxon Convenience Store ("Defendant") asserting claims based on negligence, negligent entrustment, and negligence per se. Plaintiffs allege that Brian Lee Tarver ("Tarver") was visibly intoxicated when he stopped at Defendant's store to purchase beer and gasoline. Pursuant to company policy, Defendant's employees refused to sell Tarver beer because he was intoxicated, but did sell him $3.00 of gasoline. One or more of Defendant's employee then assisted Tarver with operating the gasoline pump. Shortly after leaving Defendant's store, Tarver was involved in an automobile accident resulting in serious personal injuries to Plaintiffs. Plaintiffs offered expert proof that had Tarver not obtained the $3.00 worth of additional gasoline, he would have run out of gas before reaching the accident site. The Trial Court granted Defendant's motion for summary judgment on all three of Plaintiffs' claims. We affirm the grant of summary judgment on Plaintiffs' claims for negligent entrustment and negligence per se. We reverse the grant of summary judgment on Plaintiffs' negligence claim.