MARIA THERESA VERDUZCO and GUSTAVO MENDOZA, individually and as guardians ad litem on behalf of their injured children EDWIN MENDOZA, GUSTAVO MENDOZA, JR., GISSELL MENDOZA; JAVIER VELASQUEZ and DORA VERDUZCO, as successors in interest to their deceased son, EDGAR VELASQUEZ, Plaintiffs/Appellants, v. AMERICAN VALET, an Arizona business entity; DANIEL CASEY, an individual as an employee of AMERICAN VALET; 7277 SCOTTSDALE HOTEL, LLC, an Arizona limited liability company, Defendants/Appellees., 240 Ariz. 221

Summary

ISSUE: Whether, as a pleading matter, a family properly alleged Arizona common law negligent entrustment against bailees. HOLDINGS: [1]-The superior court erred in granting the bailees' motion to dismiss because the allegations in the complaint properly stated a claim for negligent entrustment; [2]-The complaint put the bailees on notice of the family's claim because it alleged that a driver was high on drugs and behaving erratically, that his use of alcohol and drugs meant he was not able to drive safely, and that the bailees should have known he could not drive safely given his impairment; [3]-Given the nature of an Arizona common law negligent entrustment claim and the State's liberal pleading standard, Ariz. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2), to survive a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, the family was not required to allege more detail about the driver's actions than they did.