Former Texas Supreme Court Justice Sued
Former Texas Supreme Court Justice Tom Phillips (and his family) were sued yesterday over an automobile accident that followed a party last year at the Phillips’ home in Bastrop, Texas just outside Austin. A 17-year old girl became intoxicated at the party, held in the garage apartment of the Phillips’ son. Mrs. Phillips ordered everyone attending the party to leave when the noise level rose: the car accident happened as the girl drove away. The Phillips’ are being sued under social host liability: that they knowingly permitted alcohol to be served to a minor at their home, and that the minor became intoxicated as a result.
Houston lawyer Dax Faubus contends in the lawsuit on behalf of the parents of Audrey King, the 17-year-old who died in a drunken car crash shortly after leaving the party, that Tom and Lynn Phillips were “well aware that minors were getting drunk in their back yard.” Through their attorney, the Phillips say they didn’t even know a party was taking place in their son’s quarters in a carriage house behind their home.