Problem
Michael's Bicycle Shop is a sole proprietorship owned exclusively by Michael Thomas. He has 9 employees. December is the business's busiest time of the year because of Christmas and the demand for bicycles. 2021 was a great year for the business. Mr. Thomas decided to close the store at 5:00 p.m. and have a celebration for his employees. He told the employees that the store would close at 5:00 p.m. and that at 5:30 p.m. a celebration would commence in the back room. The employees were told that food would be served as part of the celebration.The celebration began as scheduled. Light Hors d'oeuvres were served. Also served were soft drinks, water, and wine coolers. Rachel Goodman is an employee of Michael's Bicycle Shop. She is 19 years old. At the celebration, she had a few of the Hors d'oeuvres. She saw the wine coolers and was interested in trying one. She was not accustomed to drinking liquids that contained alcohol. She read the ingredients and saw that the wine cooler contained 4% alcohol. She was concerned about the effect the alcohol might have on her and she knew she would be driving home. She saw Michael Thomas and asked him about the drink. He said it had minimal alcohol in it, less than a beer. He encouraged her to try one. Since she had previously had beer to drink and did not have any feelings of being intoxicated, she thought she would try one.
Later, she ran into Mr. Thomas again. He saw that she had the wine cooler in her hand, and he asked her how she liked it. She said it was very refreshing and this was her second one. She finished her drink. Soon thereafter, she left the celebration to go home. On her way home, she swerved out of her lane of traffic and struck another car driven by Helen Brown. Helen's car was hit and pushed into the medium concrete barrier and totaled. Helen was seriously injured. Rachel's car was also totaled, and she suffered bruised ribs and whiplash. Rachel was cited for failure to maintain her lane, driving recklessly, and driving under the influence. Her blood alcohol was above the legal limit. In investigating the case the police discovered that the wine cooler was mislabeled. Instead of 4% alcohol, it contained 14% alcohol.
1) Who can sue whom?
2) What are the legal grounds for each possible lawsuit?
3) Explain those grounds and how they apply factually in this hypothetical case
4) What type of damages can each potential plaintiff be awarded?
5) State any possible defenses that might apply to any possible defendant.