Amanda Jax celebrated her 21st birthday by going out to drink legally. As she partied at a Mankato, Minn., restaurant on October 29, 2007, her friends bought her drinks to celebrate her milestone anniversary. Unfortunately, Jax, who was studying nursing, drank herself to death, with a blood-alcohol content of 0.4594 percent. Whose fault is that? According to Jax’s family, her friends are to blame. In February her parents filed suit in Blue Earth County District Court against not only the Sidelines Bar and Grill, which served her, but five of her friends, since Jax was “in the care” of her friends and couldn’t care for herself, as she was “an obviously intoxicated person.” The suit argues they “created an unreasonable risk of causing physical harm” to their adult friend, and “failed to exercise reasonable care” in preventing harm from coming to her. Jax, the suit says, was “particularly vulnerable and dependent” on her companions, who “held considerable power” over her well being. That’s right: she had no duty to protect herself as she slugged down drink after drink, the lawsuit argues; others had that duty. The adult drinker with a medical background isn’t responsible for a thing; her friends are. Those two drunk-driving arrests prior to her birthday? Irrelevant! The suit seeks “an amount in excess of $50,000” in damages.

SOURCE: “Family Sues Friends Who Partied with Jax”, Minneapolis Star Tribune, 28 February 2008.