I. BACKGROUND
{3} Plaintiff Franklin J. Morris, as Personal Representative of the Wrongful Death Estate of Marcellino Morris, Jr., originally filed his complaint in the District Court of the Navajo Nation. The district court found on summary judgment that Plaintiff’s complaint was barred because the Navajo Nation’s two-year statute of limitations for personal injury had lapsed.
[1] Plaintiff filed a parallel action in the New Mexico Eleventh Judicial District Court alleging, in part, that Defendant, Giant Four Corners, negligently entrusted gasoline to an intoxicated driver who subsequently killed Plaintiff’s son in an auto accident. Defendant removed the case to the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico.
A. The Accident
{4} In his pleadings before the United States District Court, Plaintiff provided the following factual background of the events in question. On December 29 and 30, 2011, during a night of drinking extending into the early morning, Andy Denny drove his automobile until it ran out of gasoline near Tohatchi, New Mexico. Denny and his passenger walked to Defendant’s gas station in Tohatchi to purchase gasoline so that Denny could continue driving. Upon arrival at the gas station, both Denny and his passenger were intoxicated.
{5} While at the gas station, Denny learned that there were no empty gas cans for sale. Denny and his passenger decided to purchase a gallon of water and empty it to use as a container for gasoline.
Initially, because they were intoxicated, the clerk working at the gas station would not sell anything to Denny or his passenger, but the clerk ultimately sold the gallon of water and a gallon of gasoline to Denny. After filling the gallon container with gas, Denny and his passenger left on foot and walked back to Denny’s vehicle. Denny and his passenger then drove back to the gas station and purchased an additional nine gallons of gasoline for Denny’s car.
