{"id":3239,"date":"2003-01-08T09:44:24","date_gmt":"2003-01-08T14:44:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/?p=3239"},"modified":"2003-01-08T09:44:24","modified_gmt":"2003-01-08T14:44:24","slug":"designated_driv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/01\/08\/designated_driv.html","title":{"rendered":"Designated driving"},"content":{"rendered":"

My first impression in reading the the blurb for this story<\/a> was annoyance. After reading the details, I’m not so sure.<\/p>\n

Sarah and Jasmine go out for a night on the town. Sarah is underage to drink. Jasmine offers to be the designated driver. Sarah gets drunk. Jasmine drives the car only as far as her own house, then gives the drunken, underage Sarah the keys.<\/p>\n

Sarah then proceeds to plow into Doris, who will probably never fully recover.<\/p>\n

Doris suing Sarah and Jasmine. But, more importantly, Sarah is suing Jasmine for backing out on her commitment to be a designated driver.<\/s> UPDATE: My mistake. Doris is doing the suing. The same principles pertain, though.<\/small><\/p>\n

Now, frankly, if the facts are as presented (and I suspect we’re hearing here mainly Doris’ side of things), I don’t think either Sarah and Jasmine have much ethical standing in the argument. <\/p>\n

But legally, aside from taking out the underage Sarah for drinks, how much responsibility does Jasmine have to live up to a verbal agreement to be a designated driver? And is that responsibility just to Sarah, or to anyone that Sarah might harm?<\/p>\n

Because the thing is, once we make that commitment to be a legally binding contract, it makes the whole designated driver thing a lot more problematic, both in cases like this and in others. <\/p>\n

Let’s say I’m going out with friends, and I agree to be the designated driver. Then, while we’re eating, I say, “Hell with it, I’m going to have a glass of wine.” Nobody objects. Then, on the way home (and after more than a single glass), I get us in an accident.<\/p>\n

Can I be sued for being a bad designated driver?<\/p>\n

If they knew I was drinking and didn’t object, did we all agree to void the contract?<\/p>\n

If Bob egged me on to have “just one drink,” does he lose his standing to sue me for his injuries?<\/p>\n

What if I get separated from the others, look around for a while, and then go home — and they get into an accident. Am I still liable? <\/p>\n

Given that I know they’ve been drinking, I know their capacity for judgment is diminished — to what degree have I placed myself as their guardian, responsible for what they do?<\/p>\n

Yeah, in terms of what’s right and wrong, it’s a lot clearer. But in terms of what we want to make legal and tortious … I’m not so sure.<\/p>\n

Because what the end result may be is nobody agreeing to be a designated driver, just in case they later change their mind or circumstances change. And that would be a shame, because the designated driver concept is one that’s been a real boon, I think.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My first impression in reading the the blurb for this story was annoyance. After reading the details, I’m not so sure. Sarah and Jasmine go out for a night on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-law"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":50239,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/05\/02\/bougainvillea-agapanthus-star-jasmine.html","url_meta":{"origin":3239,"position":0},"title":"Bougainvillea, agapanthus, star jasmine..","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 2-May-15 9:42am","format":false,"excerpt":"Bougainvillea, agapanthus, star jasmine.. there are things I miss about Southern California. View on Twitter","rel":"","context":"In "~Tweets"","block_context":{"text":"~Tweets","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/tweets"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3376,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/12\/09\/princess_brides.html","url_meta":{"origin":3239,"position":1},"title":"Princess Brides","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 9-Dec-02 2:54pm","format":false,"excerpt":"At the Princess Breakfast this morning, there were Snow White, Mary Poppins (who is not usually considered a princess, but who knows?), Belle, Jasmine, and Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty). The...","rel":"","context":"In "Animation \/ Cartoons"","block_context":{"text":"Animation \/ Cartoons","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-cartoons"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8123,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/05\/14\/random_thoughts-2.html","url_meta":{"origin":3239,"position":2},"title":"Random thoughts","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 14-May-05 12:28pm","format":false,"excerpt":"As collected during a business trip. There Oughta Be a Law about what sort of stereo equipment is on rental cars. Fifty percent odds that a rental car (at least...","rel":"","context":"In "Disney\/Pixar"","block_context":{"text":"Disney\/Pixar","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/franchises\/disney"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41938,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/10\/plants-i-miss.html","url_meta":{"origin":3239,"position":3},"title":"Plants I miss","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 10-May-14 4:49pm","format":false,"excerpt":"There's not a lot about Southern California that I miss living in Denver, but there are a few things in the garden:- Bougainvillea (as an outdoor plant)- Agapanthus (Lily of the Nile)- And, especially this time of year, when they are so aromatic, Star JasmineNot enough to make me want\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/700_star-jasmine-vine-1%5B1%5D.jpg.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":129534,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/01\/21\/stephen-colbert-on-sarah-palin-its-magical.html","url_meta":{"origin":3239,"position":4},"title":"Stephen Colbert on Sarah Palin: It's Magical","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 21-Jan-16 6:45pm","format":false,"excerpt":"If listening to the full Palin endorsement of Trump takes too long or kills too many brain cells, Colbert has the short form version (\u201cSarah Palin just guaranteed Trump the evangelical vote because I think she was speaking in tongues!\u201d) -- and then gives his own rendition of other endorsements\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":137403,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/10\/30\/hiding-the-enemies-of-the-people.html","url_meta":{"origin":3239,"position":5},"title":"Hiding the Enemies of the People","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 30-Oct-18 12:15pm","format":false,"excerpt":"A good point here raised by Jim Acosta to Sarah Huckabee Sanders: \u201cIf the president is going to say the \u2018fake news\u2019 media are the enemy of the people and if you\u2019re going to stand there and continue to say that there are some journalists, some news outlets in this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3239\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}