Ex-Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Phillips sued (for allowing minors to drink alcohol)

[mike r]

Source: Associated Press

A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Phillips and his wife, accusing the couple of allowing minors to drink alcohol at their home before the 2009 death of a teenager. The lawsuit against Phillips and his wife, Lyn, was filed in Bastrop by Cheryl and Bobby King, whose daughter, Audrey, 17, died in the single-vehicle wreck.

The suit, filed Tuesday, alleges the Phillipses routinely allowing teens to drink at their Bastrop home. Their son Daniel, then 20, allegedly held parties at the home, which the lawsuit claims was "well known in the Bastrop community as the location of frequent underage drinking parties."

"Mr. and Mrs. Phillips were home during the party and were well aware that minors were getting drunk in their backyard," said the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages. "The kids made no effort to conceal the beer or the fact that they were drinking."...

Audrey King and three female friends had intended to spend the night at the Phillips home to avoid driving after drinking, but Lyn Phillips awoke when the party grew loud and confronted the teens, ordering everyone to leave "even though they had been drinking for hours and were clearly intoxicated," according to the lawsuit...

Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/7185224.html

[Lightning Count]

1. I honestly think we need to be more like Europe and significantly lower the drinking age. nt

[ladywnch]

2. do we know if this is more proof of the 'Christian family values' party?

throwing drunk kids out into the night.....yeah

[Loki]

3. Republican family values

I'm not at all surprised this happened. I live in Texas in North Houston, and many of the families up here and their fucking phony family values "christian" facade let their children have these parties and let their friends drive home with obvious horrendous consequences, but they, of course, have no responsibility in this behavior. Put these shitholes in jail.........that's where they belong.

[comtec]

4. Drinking age in most of europe is 16 for beer, and under 9(?)% stuff

at 18 they can drink the harder stuff.

Granted im in holland, where limited, small, amounts of pot is not illegal, nor is owning 3 seeds/plants for personal use.

remember that' NOT illegal, NOT legal.

it's a strange way the law, or lack of same, works here.

as long as you aren't waving it about, no one cares, for the most part.

it's a hell of alot more sensible than in the US, i am very sorry to say.

Mind you they all have parliamentary system here, and a queen, so go figure.

[h8okra]

5. A common rationalization

Sadly, many parents rationalize that allowing teens to drink at home will keep them from drinking and driving elsewhere. I have lived in many communities in the past 30 years and have seen this type of story in local papers in all of them. The story always seems to involve middle income or well to do families which makes me wonder if it is a Class issue versus a Family Values issue.

[gvstn]

6. It should be a simple legality issue

You are allowed to let your kids drink in your home. You are not allowed to let other people's kids drink in your home.

It is basically common sense yet you are correct it happens all the time. I don't get why parents would want a bunch of drunk teenagers in their home? A glass of champagne or wine on special occasions might be appropriate but letting kids drink to excess at anytime teaches them nothing. IMO

[Hepburn]

7. My parents and my best friend's parent when we were in H.S. allowed us to drink at home.

My friend and I lived across a golf course fairway from each other, so there was no need to travel between our homes in a vehicle.

What was the result? Neither of us ever went out of our homes to drink. It was of no interest. We also were allowed to smoke at home. My friend never smoked although I did pick up the habit. Both my parents were smokers and this was the 1960s when EVERYONE smoked!

Another result was that our drunk H.S. friends would call us to come and get them because they were too drunk to drive. We did that and we would have to clean some of them up from the vomit before we loaded them into one of our VW bugs.

Drinking held no interest for either of us because it was not forbidden and we saw what our drunken pals looked like and acted like. Nothing like being an asshole covered with vomit.

My dad was a bartender in college and he could really mix a drink. He used to ask me if I wanted a Martini ~~ I always asked for soda instead even when he handed me a Martini.

I did the same with my son when he was in H.S. I also added that he could smoke at home and I meant both regular cigarettes and weed. He would have a beer maybe once a month. Would rather have a chocolate milkshake. Smoked weed maybe about half as much. Those things held NO interst for him for the same reason that I found when I was a teenager. It was not forbidden.

I could never say my mother was a cool or even a good Mom...but I do have to give her credit for not being a complete asshole about drinking and smoking.

JMHO