Alex Price v. Larry Halstead, Bobby Gillenwater, and Timmy Clay

Summary

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia affirmed in part and reversed in part a Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal of claims against three passengers whose driver, intoxicated on alcohol and marijuana they allegedly helped supply, crossed the centerline and killed Kenneth C. Wall and seriously injured his family. The court held that the joint venture and joint enterprise theories fail as a matter of law because the alleged drinking-and-joy-riding outing involved no business purpose and no common right of control over the vehicle, and that a guest passenger's duty to remonstrate with a reckless driver, rooted in contributory negligence, cannot be converted into a duty of care owed to third parties. The court nevertheless announced a new rule under Restatement (Second) of Torts § 876(b): a passenger may be liable where the driver's alcohol or drug impairment proximately caused the accident and the passenger substantially encouraged or assisted that impairment, and it held the complaint stated that claim. The dismissal of the fourth count was therefore reversed and the case remanded.