The plaintiff, John L. Stock, brought this action, to recover damages for personal injuries sustained in a two-car collision in Framingham on October 10, 1977. Named as defendants were, the driver of the other car, Thomas J. Fife, and the three passengers in his car, James C. Driscoll, Robert A. Fuller, and Steven C. Kretchman.
1
The passengers were sued on the sole theory that they had en
*76
gaged with the driver in a joint enterprise which made them equally responsible for the driver’s negligence. One of the passengers, Driscoll, brought a motion for summary judgment, Mass.R.Civ.P. 56(b),
Taking the undisputed facts and viewing them in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, see
O’Hanley
v.
Ninety-Nine, Inc.,
On October 9, 1977, at approximately 6:00 p.m. , Thomas Fife spoke with the other three defendants by telephone, and they “made plans to go out.” Driving his father’s car (with permission to do so), Fife picked up each of his friends at their homes between 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. Fife had half a case of beer in the car, and the four “drove around” Need-ham for a while, drinking the beer. They “talked about where [they] wanted to go,” and they “all decided” to drive *77 to a nightclub called Timothy’s Too in Framingham. Each of the defendants drank “two to three” beers on the way, and they arrived at the nightclub sometime after 8:00 p.m.
At Timothy’s Too, each of the defendants bought at least one round of drinks. In this manner, they each drank four or five beers or mixed drinks, although Fife, the driver, drank only beer. The defendants left the nightclub sometime before midnight, and Fife drove back toward Need-ham to drop the others off at their homes. Kretchman was in the front seat, with Driscoll in the back seat on the passenger side, and Fuller in the back seat on the driver’s side. At least Kretchman and Driscoll continued drinking beer, in the car.
About midnight, the defendants, travelling east on Route 9 in Framingham, reached an intersection with a traffic light. At that point, Fuller “dropped ... a bottle” in the back seat. Fife, hearing the bottle drop and fearing that beer had spilled in the car, turned around to his right to see what had happened. 4 When Fife turned back to the road, he saw the plaintiff’s car entering the intersection from his right, and Kretchman warned him that the traffic light was red. He applied the brakes but could not stop, and the front of his car struck the driver’s side of the plaintiff’s car, injuring the plaintiff. It appears that Fife was subsequently convicted of failing to stop for a red light, and charges of driving under the influence of alcohol and driving to endanger were continued without a finding.
*78 The plaintiff argues that the foregoing facts would warrant a jury in finding that the occupants of the Fife car were engaged in a joint enterprise, thereby requiring the denial of the passenger Driscoll’s motion for summary judgment. We disagree.
As it exists in the law of tort, the doctrine of joint enterprise is narrowly defined and narrowly applied. 5 The black letter law does not permit a finding of joint enterprise in the use of an autоmobile unless the proof shows (1) an agreement, express or implied, (2) for a common purpose, (3) such that each member has an equal right to direct and control the operation of the automobile. See Prosser, Torts § 72, at 477 (4th ed. 1971); Harper & James, Torts § 26.13, at 1414 (1956); 4D Frumer & Friedman, Personal Injury § 1.02[1], at 158-159 (1971). See also Restatement (Second) of Torts § 491, Comment c, at 548 (1965) (requiring that common purpose involve a “pecuniary interest”). Although a minority of jurisdictions holds that a joint enterprise may be found from mere association for a common purpose, “ [sjuch decisions [are] condemned as in effect a restoration of discarded fictions of imputed contributory negligence . . . since it is seldom that some element of common purpose cannot be found when two persons are travеlling together in a private vehicle.” Prosser, supra at 477. As a result this position is “now almost entirely discredited,” id., and the overwhelming majority of courts which have considered the question require a showing of the element of control before *79 a finding of joint enterprise can be made. Id. at 478; Harper & James, supra.
Massachusetts follows the majority rule. Under our law, the presence of an agreement and a “community of interest” are elements to be considerеd.
Barry
v.
Harding,
*80
The plaintiff correctly points out that the essence of the control requirement is not the actual exercise of control, but merely the right to control the operation of the vehicle. See Prosser,
supra
§ 72, at 478-480. This case, however, involves none of the factors which have traditionally been considered sufficient to establish such a right of control. Here, the car was not owned by Driscoll or any other passenger, see
Hutchings
v.
Vacca,
In the absence of these or other factors manifesting a right to control, the plaintiff’s case for a joint enterprise lacks substance. Essentially, it rests on four facts which considered alone or together are insufficient to establish a joint enterprise. First, there is the parties’ agreement to go out for the evening, their later agreement to drive to the night
*81
club, and their understanding that Fife would ultimately drive them all home. Agreements for a common social purрose might be sufficient to establish a claim in a few jurisdictions, but they do not make out a joint enterprise in Massachusetts. Our cases have long specifically held that “ [t]he fact that persons ride together in the relation of host and guest is not sufficient .... The common purpose of riding together for pleasure does not alone establish a joint enterprise.”
Barry
v.
Harding,
Second, there is the fact that the parties were drinking together throughout the course of the evening. We are aware, of course, that drinking on the part of the driver, Fife, may have contributed to the occurrence of the accident. There was no showing, however, that the passengers forced, pressured, or induced Fife to drink, or that his drinking was anything but an act of independent volition.
9
*82
The fact that all the occupants of the car were drinking does not make the excursion a joint enterprise. See
West
v.
Soto,
Third, there is the fact that Fuller dropped a bottle in the back seat, which distracted Fife’s attention from the road thereby precipitating the аccident. This purely fortuitous event adds nothing to the argument for a joint venture. Al
*83
though Fuller, by dropping the bottle, was able, in an abstract sense, to exert a measure of control over the driver’s behavior, the fact that he did so by accident obviously detracts from any conclusion that the passengers were “equal promoter[s] and manager[s]” of the operation of the cаr on the excursion. See
Adams
v.
Swift,
Fourth, and finally, there is the fact that Kretchman warned Fife that the traffic light was red immediately prior to the accident. Warnings of this sort have been present in several joint enterprise cases, see, e.g.,
Barry
v.
Harding,
*84 As a final argument, the plaintiff criticizes the control requirement enunciated by our cases, characterizing it as a judicial fiction, the application of which only serves to protect a wrongdoer from the natural consequences of his acts. He urges us to conclude that Driscoll and the other passengers should be held liable based on the “fact[s] that all of their decisions were collectively made, and that each was a free and willing participant in the group.” It is somewhat tempting to use the facts of this case as a tool to fashion a broad civil remedy which might be used to deter the carnage wrought by intoxicated drivers. But to do so (by holding a passenger liable) would undermine the premise that liability in tort rests on a breach of duty, by imposing a duty on someone who lacks the ability to take meaningful action to control the circumstances in which he finds himself. A passenger who does not own the vehicle can refuse to ride with an intoxicated driver, or express concern over the driver’s condition, but he cannot take or seize control of the automobile. Accеptance of the quantum of proof suggested by the plaintiff to establish a joint enterprise would make passengers of virtually any group engaged in a pleasure trip liable for the negligence of the driver irrespective of their ability to control or insure against the driver’s actions. A deluge of lawsuits inviting unpredictable results would surely follow. The Massachusetts law of joint enterprise in tоrt addresses these concerns — essentially on a policy level — by placing primary responsibility on the driver and by restricting the liability of the passengers in the absence of a true right to exercise control.
Judgment affirmed.
Notes
At the time of the accident, at least Fife and Driscoll were in their teens, and all four of these defendants lived in Needham. Also named as defendants were James R. Fife, Thomas’s father and the owner of the car, and Timothy’s, Inc., d.b.a. Timothy’s Too, a nightclub which served alcoholic beverages to Thomas and his three friends on the evening of the accident.
It was within the judge’s discretion to order the early entry of final judgment under rule 54(b) in the present circumstances. The plaintiff’s theory of liability is the same as to all three passengers, and turns on a question of law. The judge could рroperly have concluded that the early resolution of this question in an appeal of the claim against Driscoll would “simplify, shorten or expedite” the trial of the claims against the other passengers, see
J.B.L. Constr. Co.
v.
Lincoln Homes Corp.,
In addition to the complaint and Driscoll’s answer, the record before us includes the depositions of all three passengers, answers to interrogatories by Driscoll, Fuller and the driver, two statements given by Driscoll to insurance investigators, and Driscoll’s affidavit in support of his motion for summary judgment.
This account of the precipitating cause of the accident, given by Driscoll, is the evidence most favorable to the plaintiff. See O’Hanley v. Ninety-Nine, Inc., supra. Fuller stated, however, that the sound which caused Fife to turn around was that of “empty bottles on the floor [of the back seat] rolling around.” In addition, both Fuller and Kretchman stated that Fife later told them he was distracted when “[h]e heard bottles” in the back seat.
The plaintiff’s original theory as to the cause of the accident was that “a beer was being passed from the front seat into the back seat and . . . Fife . . . turned his head in so doing.” In depositions, however, Driscoll expressly denied making a statement to that effect following the accident, and Kretchman denied passing a beer across the front seat to Fife.
For background on the joint enterprise theory, see Prosser, Torts § 72, at 476 (4th ed. 1971); Harper & James, Torts § 26.13, at 1414 (1956). From those authorities, the scope of the doctrine appears as follows. Joint enterprise is a theory аpplied almost exclusively in negligence cases involving automobile accidents. Once established, its practical effect is to impute the negligence of a driver to a passenger in the same vehicle. It has usually been invoked defensively, to establish contributory negligence on the part of a plaintiff passenger who sues a party outside the enterprise (typically, the driver of the other vehicle in the accident). On occasion, however, the doctrine has also been used in an offensive posture where, as here, a party outside the enterprise seeks to recover from a defendant passenger based on the imputed negligence of the driver.
Although we find no recent case in which this rule is repeated, it is clear that thе joint enterprise doctrine and the control requirement quoted above are still considered good law in this Commonwealth. See Nolan, Tort Law § 268, at 435 (1979); Martin & Hennessey, Automobile Law and Practice § 339, at 257 (2d ed. 1967); Bouchard, Apportionment of Damages Under Comparative Negligence, 55 Mass. L. Q. 125, 135 & n.53 (1970); Note, Doctrine of Imputed Negligence, 33 B. U. L. Rev. 90, 98-99 (1953). Cf.
Bessey
v.
Salemme,
As to most of these factors, the only direct evidence appears in a statement given by Driscoll to an insurance investigator. When asked by the investigator whether any of the passengers “gave [Fife] any money for gas,” whether they told Fife “which direction to take,” and whether they gave him “any directions on . . . how to drive,” Driscoll answered “no” to all questions. In addition, Driscoll’s affidavit in support of his motion for summary judgment contains similar avermеnts, and the plaintiff has placed nothing in the record which controverts them. See Mass.R.Civ.P. 56(e),
As has been noted, the current Restatement test for joint enterprise is stricter than our own, requiring that the common purpose of the trip involve a “pecuniary interest.” See
Easter
v.
McNabb,
In fact, as noted,
supra,
there was evidence that Fife had half a case of beer in his car at the time he picked up his friends at their homes, and that evidence is uncontradicted. Driscoll asserted in his statement to the insurance investigator that “we persuaded Tom Fife tо only drink beer because we knew that he would be driving,” and that evidence is also uncontradicted. See Mass.R.Civ.P. 56(e),
We also conclude that the facts do not permit recovery under § 876(b) of the Restatement (Second) of Torts. That section provides that one may be liable for the tortious conduct of another if he “knows that the other’s conduct constitutes a breach of duty and gives substantial assistance or encouragement to the other so to conduct himself.” This theory has been applied only once before in Massachusetts, on facts rather remote from those presented here. See
Nelson
v.
Nason,
In reaching our conclusion, we have carefully reviewed the cases cited by the plaintiff and find them distinguishable. Although those cases allowed recovery against a passenger under an offensive use of the joint entеrprise theory, see note 6,
supra,
the defendant in both cases was a parent who allowed a minor child to drive despite the child’s age and lack of driving experience. See
Adams
v.
Swift,
It is worth observing as well (see
West
v.
Soto,