Fuller

The problem is whether damage liability may be imposed upon an automobile service station operator for selling gasoline to a recognizably intoxicated motorist who then injures a third person.

The minor plaintiff was injured and his father, mother, sister and brother were killed in a collision with an automobile driven by Herschel Baker, a defendant. In the second count of his complaint plaintiff names as defendants Standard Stations, Inc., operator of a service station near Vacaville, and Associated Oil Company, owner of a station in the nearby community of Winters. He alleges that on the day of the accident both service station operators supplied ‘1 chattels ’ ’ to Baker “knowing or having reason to know that because of [his] intoxicated condition” he would use “said chattels” in a manner involving the unreasonable risk of physical harm to others. The gasoline retailers filed a general demurrer, which the trial court sustained without leave to amend. Plaintiff appeals from the judgment.

Both in the trial court and in their briefs on appeal the parties have indicated that the “chattels” consisted of gasoline supplied to Baker’s automobile.

The complaint is obviously modeled…