Justice
In the lawsuit, McCormick's lawyer argued the Pearsons owed McCormick a duty of care, which they breached by allowing the teen to become intoxicated on their property and by failing to stop him from leaving.
The judge said McCormick's side was proposing that the Pearsons had to meet a standard of perfection when it came to monitoring the partying teens' drinking and ensuring they all had safe ways to get home.
"That is simply not the way the world works. The duty is to act reasonably, not to act perfectly," Hinkson wrote in his ruling released last week. "It is never possible to eliminate all risks and the Pearsons were not required to do so."
Hinkson found the Pearsons did enough to try to keep the partygoers safe. They arranged for the collection of car keys and Hinkson said there was no evidence that any guests drove away from the party while impaired, other than the two involved in the crash.
The vehicle that crashed was a
Hinkson found McCormick and the driver,
McCormick's side argued the theft of the vehicle was foreseeable because it's not uncommon for cars to remain unlocked with their keys inside on
"I find this was a common practice precisely because these residents did not foresee theft of their cars," Hinkson wrote.
McCormick's lawyer,
"There was the case we heard going in and there was evidence of some pretty wild partying and heavy drinking going on and we thought we heard evidence of two adults running this thing who didn't do very much," he said.
But the defence presented a very different case and "it was that case that seems to have been accepted by the trial judge."
"We see here a finding that there was no duty of care owed, which we find remarkable and surprising," Wilhelmson said.
McCormick suffered a traumatic brain injury and continues to experience cognitive impairments. He has been staying at an assisted living facility in
McCormick had already settled with the Couplands and Plambeck's estate for undisclosed amounts.
This report by
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