The Michigan Daily-Thursday, August 14, 1980-Page 9
~Wife can
sue, bar
for spouse
10
inur
LANSING (UPI)-A woman whose husband fell
and hurt himself ina bar scuffle has a right to sue the
establishment for giving him too much to drink, the
Michigan Court of Appeals ruled yesterday.
The decision overturned a Houghton County Circuit
Court ruling dismissing the women's claim that she
suffered loss of support, marital relations, and other
damages because of her husband's injuries.
THE CLAIM, ONE count of a suit against the bar,
charged the husband hurt himself when he stumbled
and fell after being pushed by another bar patron.
The state's Dramshop Act allows persons injured
by drunks to sue any bar which served them after
they were visibily intoxicated.
The appeals court, in reinstating the suit, said a
requirement that the intoxicated person be named in
such suits does not apply when it is impossible to do
so.
"IN THE PRESENT case the woman could not
retain her husband as a party defendant because
there is no precedent for allowing a suit by a wife
against her husband, where the parties' marriage is
intact, for damages arising out of the husband's
negligent infliction of injury upon himself," the court
said.
"Accordingly, we hold that under the circumstan-
ces of this case a wife may maintain a cause of action
pursuant to the dramshop act without naming her
husband as a party defendant."
In another case, the court ruled a man cannot be
ruled ineligible for workers' compensation benefits
merely because he incorrectly told his employer
when applying for a job that he had no history of back
trouble.
The appeals court said in the Jackson County case
the employee's minor misstatement did not justify
denial of benefits when he was not required to un-
dergo a physical exam and was later rehired after
having a physical.
U.S. public
'overkilled'?
(Continued from Page 3)
"THE NETWORK commentators
drag out interviews and engage in
aimless chit-chat with politicians when
the time could be used more effectively
discussing the party's visions of
America, world politics, and human
nature," he said.
Schwartz said the networks should
reduce coverage by showing hour-long
wrap-ups at the end of the evening with
occasional cut-ins to newsworthy even-
ts such as the rules fight on the open
convention.
"Then the networks could reallocate
money to respectable shows like ABC's
20/20 or (CBS's) 60 minutes to enhance
their appeal," he said.
"THE MONEY that goes to waste
really bothers me," said the ABC
spokeswoman. "I wouldn't be surprised
to see the networks rotate convention
coverage in the future." Other network
officials, however, said this possibility
was highly unlikely.
A consequence of such extensive
media coverage, according to Schwar-
tz, is that television ceases its role as a
reporter and instead becomes an in-
fluential actor.
"The networks allowed the Ford-
Reagan story to run away with them at
the Republican convention," he said.
"They were pushing and jumping at the
story and influenced the way the
decision was made by putting undue
pressure on Reagan to make a quick
decision."
NBC Director of -Political News
Coverage Al Chambers defended the
networks' coverage . of the
Ford/Reagan deal. While he admitted
that CBS and ABC may have gone
overboard by suggesting that a deal
between Reagan and Ford had been
made, he said television reports on a
minute-by-minute basis and has to rely
on what its sources state.
"There exists, because of all the
pressures involved, a greater chance
for error," Chambers said. "You must
also remember that Ford said on the air
that a deal was in the works. It had the
possibility of panning out."
SHORT or LONG
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Men and Women
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I Mud wrestling
Nightclub owners following the trend of giving patrons more for their money than just a drink have added women mud-
wrestlers to their nightly entertainment packages. Wearing bikinis, the women at this Los Angeles bar climb into the
mud pit and go at each other as customers look on-
PROSECUTOR CLAIMS ME RCY KILLING INTENTIONAL:
Nurses plea innocent
NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (AP) -
Three nurses pleaded innocent yester-.
day to charges-of murdering a 51-year-
old woman cancer patient who a
prosecutor says was "intentionally
killed in the hospital" by a drug over-
dose.
Ann Capute, a 42-year-old licensed
practical nurse from Plympton, and
registered nurses Nancy Robbins, 26, of
Taunton, and Judith Foley, 26, of Fox-
boro, entered the pleas to charges of
murder and distributing and ad-
ministering a controlled substance,
morphine sulphate.
Each was released on $5,000 personal
recognizance. A pretrial hearing was
set for Sept. 5.
The charges stem from the May 18
death of Norma Leanues, a Taunton
woman who died at Morton Hospital
following surgery for a cancerous
tumor on her spine.
District Attorney Ronald Pina said
the three were charged with ad-
ministering a drug overdose to
Leanues.
"The instrument of death was mor-
phine sulphate," he said.
Pina declined to describe the death as
a mercy killing.
"Looking at it very basically, it is a
homicide," he said. "It's the conclusion
of the grand jury that the woman was.
intentionally killed in the hospital."
The county grand jury handed down
the indictments following an in-
vestigation that began June 17. The in-
vestigation was interrupted last month
when Pina went to court to obtain the
testimone of Maureen Costello, a
hospital administrator who conducted
an internal investigation into Leanues'
death.
Published excerpts from that in-
vestigation included statements by an
unnamed nurse who said she injected
Leanues with enough morphine "to kill
an elephant."
But the nurse said she was not trying
to kill the woman, just ease her suf-
fering.
Edward Dangel, a Boston attorney
representing Foley, said he would seek
a change of venue in the trial, citing ex-
tensive pretrial publicity.
"I'm very surprised by the severity
of the charges," he said. "My client is a
widow with a nine-year-old son. This is
a great tragedy in her life."