Calrow

Plaintiffs appeal from a judgment of nonsuit entered pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 581c.

Plaintiffs'were injured in an automobile accident involving their car and a vehicle driven by defendant Richard Norman Beaudoin (hereafter Beaudoin). Beaudoin was intoxicated at the time of the accident. The case as to Beaudoin was settled out of court. However, plaintiffs also sought to impose liability upon Beaudoin’s employer, respondent herein, Appliance Industries, Inc. (hereafter Appliance), on the theory that Appliance furnished or caused to be furnished an alcoholic beverage to Beaudoin prior to the accident, and that Beaudoin was an habitual drunkard and/or was obviously intoxicated at that time. (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 25602; Brockett v. Kitchen Boyd Motor Co., 24 Cal.App.3d 87 [ 100 Cal.Rptr. 752 ].)

After plaintiffs’ attorneys had presented their opening statements to the jury, defendant Appliance made a motion for nonsuit on the ground that plaintiffs failed to show that they would produce evidence sufficient to establish that defendant Appliance had breached any duty with respect to plaintiffs or that defendant Appliance had furnished, given or caused to be…