28 S.E.2d 329 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1943
1. It was not actionable negligence at common law, or is it under statute, for one to supply money to a person noticeably intoxicated for the purpose of purchasing and drinking whisky. The petition in this case alleged a chain of negligent acts, a combination of which allegedly caused *380 the death of the petitioner's husband. One of the vital links in the chain was the furnishing of money to the deceased by the defendant on the day of his death for the purpose of buying more whisky. Since this link in the chain was not negligence, the drinking of the whisky on the day of the death must be held to have been the proximate cause of the death, and the other alleged acts too remote to authorize recovery.
2. The petition was defective in failing to affirmatively allege the cause of the death.
The court sustained the special demurrer to that portion of paragraph 15 of the original petition which was added by amendment alleging that the deceased had been promised a position with the State of Georgia, and overruled the other demurrers. The exception here is to the overruling of the demurrers of the defendant.
1. This is a common-law action based not upon one act of negligence, but upon a series of acts, a combination of which allegedly caused the injury complained of. It will not be necessary to examine all the acts of negligence. We shall put our finger on one alleged act which breaks the chain. When the chain is broken the question whether the remaining acts of negligence proximately caused the injury is one of speculation and conjecture and falls within the provisions of the Code, § 105-2008, which provides: "If the damages are only the imaginary or possible result of the tortious act, or other and contingent circumstances preponderate largely in causing the injurious effect, such damages are too remote to be the basis of recovery against the wrong doer." At common law there *386
was no right of recovery for selling or furnishing intoxicating liquor to an intoxicated person. Belding v. Johnson,
2. The petition is also defective in that it does not affirmatively allege that the death was attributable to scalding. The allegation that Dr. Marion C. Pruitt pronounced the deceased dead from burns from scalding is a hearsay allegation.
The special demurrers, except as indicated by the above rulings on the general demurrer, were properly overruled, so far as questions considered and decided are concerned.
The court erred in overruling the general demurrer.
Judgment reversed. Stephens, P. J., and Sutton, J., concur.