On May 28, Blake Barnes walked across the stage and received his diploma at Desert Vista High School’s graduation. Six days earlier, he hit the parents of one of his classmates with a lawsuit over a “Senior Ditch Day” party held at their house.
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Barnes got so drunk at that party, he claims in the suit, that he had to go to the hospital. Now he’s seeking damages from the classmate’s parents, Brandon and Megan Spencer. The lawsuit claims that the Spencers “were aware that their son was having a Senior Ditch Day party” at their house and that Brandon Spencer had admitted to knowing. The suit does not offer evidence for those claims.
An attorney for Barnes was not available for comment. In an email to Phoenix New Times, Brandon Spencer said the lawsuit contains “a lot of false information” and that he’d filed an insurance claim and will be hiring an attorney. He did not immediately respond to follow-up questions.
According to the lawsuit, the party in question occurred at the Spencers’ Ahwatukee home on April 13. Barnes — who is now 18, per the suit, though it’s unclear whether he was a minor at the time of the party — received an invitation to the party on Snapchat six days earlier. The Snapchat post, which appeared on the account of the Spencers’ son, included a photo of their home and their address. It advertised a Senior Ditch Day party and said “byo alc” — which, as the lawsuit helpfully notes, “also means ‘Bring Your Own Alcohol.’”
(New Times is not naming the Spencers’ son, as it is not clear whether he is still a minor.)
Barnes, who was a senior at Desert Vista, attended along with roughly 60 other high schoolers, the complaint says. The lawsuit also says that “alcohol was provided (…) by the owners and occupants” of the house, which would appear to contradict the “byo alc” nature of the festivities.
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Whoever provided the alcohol, Barnes apparently drank a lot of it. The complaint says that he “was injured at the Property and was taken by ambulance to the hospital where his blood alcohol level was tested and determined to be .114,” which is about 1.5 times the legal limit for impaired driving. It isn’t clear what injury he suffered and if it was alcohol-related. The complaint also does not specify who provided the alcohol that Barnes consumed or whether he brought it himself.
The public calls-for-service database for the Phoenix Fire Department shows a call for service at 1:17 p.m. on April 13 at an address that matches that of the Spencer home, though the last two digits of the street number are redacted. New Times requested calls-for-service records for that day and address from the department but has not received them.
Barnes’ suit claims that the Spencers “did not monitor or control the consumption of alcohol at the party” or the “reckless activities of the minors” that ensued, which included “jumping off the house roof into the swimming pool.” It’s not clear if that’s how Barnes suffered an injury, but if he did, it would be the second lawsuit this year filed by a Valley partygoer who injured themselves jumping off a roof.
Barnes is suing on counts of negligence, premises liability and negligent supervision and conduct of a social gathering. Specifically, he’s claiming that the Spencers owed Barnes a duty to “exercise reasonable care for his safety as a social guest,” which they failed to do by allowing alcohol to be consumed. Barnes is seeking a variety of damages in the suit. He wants damages for medical expenses; for “past and future pain, suffering, and emotional distress;” and “for loss of enjoyment of life.”
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The Spencers have not yet responded to the suit in court.