Reagan v. Vaughn
Texas Supreme Court
804 S.W.2d 463 (1990)
- Written by Josh Lee, JD
Facts
David Reagan (plaintiff) was a 22-year-old, unemployed man. Reagan was a regular at K-Jacs Saloon and had a four-year-old daughter. One day, Reagan came in and began drinking at about 4 p.m. and continued drinking until the bar closed at 2 a.m. Reagan was upset because he was about to finalize his divorce. After the bar closed, Reagan got into a confrontation in the parking lot. Reagan was aggressive and started a fight. Reagan then refused to break up the fight and continued to try to hit others in the parking lot. Eventually, the bar manager hit Reagan with a baseball bat. The hit landed on Reagan’s head and resulted in a severe brain injury. Reagan’s mental capacity was reduced to that of a six- or seven-year-old child. Reagan and his daughter sued the bar manager and the two owners of the bar (defendants). After a trial, the jury awarded Reagan damages in the amount of approximately $2.4 million and awarded approximately $400,000 in damages to Reagan’s daughter for loss of parental care, nurture, and guidance. The bar manager and owners appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Gonzalez, J.)
Dissent (Hecht, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
