Steele v. Rogers
| Citation | 306 S.C. 546,413 S.E.2d 329 |
| Decision Date | 11 November 1991 |
| Docket Number | No. 1749,1749 |
| Parties | Mark Stephen STEELE, Appellant, v. Michael ROGERS, David Jackson, and Smith-Rogers Oil Company, Inc., of whom Smith-Rogers Oil Company, Inc., is Respondent. . Heard |
| Court | Court of Appeals of South Carolina |
Haigh Porter, Gena Phillips Ervin and D.M. McEachin, Jr. of Porter & McEachin, Florence, for appellant.
Michael M. Nunn of Coleman, Aiken & Chase, Florence, for respondent.
This is an action in tort for personal injury allegedly arising out of the illegal sale of alcohol to a minor. Mark Stephen Steele sued Michael Rogers, David Jackson, and Smith-Rogers Oil Company, Inc., seeking damages for injuries from a gunshot wound. The complaint alleged, among other things, that the Oil Company sold two six packs of beer to Rogers, who was seventeen years of age, and, as a result, Steele was shot with a sawed off shotgun. After answering the complaint, the Oil Company moved for summary judgment. The circuit court granted the motion. Steele appeals. We reverse and remand.
Summary judgment should be granted only when there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. In ruling on a motion for summary judgment, the evidence and inferences to be drawn therefrom must be viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Davis v. Piedmont Engineers, Architects and Planners, P.A., 284 S.C. 20, 324 S.E.2d 325 (Ct.App.1984).
Viewed in the light most favorable to Steele, the evidence was as follows. On the evening of May 12, 1984, Steele met three friends, David Jackson, Michael Rogers, and Clay Baldwin, at a skating rink in the Pee Dee Community of Marion County, South Carolina. All four were teenaged minors at the time. While they were at the rink, they sneaked outside to drink a beer from someone's car. When they were ready to leave the rink, they got into Steele's car. They decided to purchase more beer and go to Rogers' house to drink it. Rogers said he knew a lady at Tiger Mart, a convenience store operated by the Oil Company, where he could probably "get by" with purchasing the beer.
Steele drove to the Tiger Mart. Rogers went into the store and purchased two six packs of beer while the other three sat in the car and watched. They could see the cashier from the car. When Rogers returned to the car with the beer, he handed it to Baldwin, who passed it out. Baldwin, Rogers, and Jackson began drinking beer in the car on the way to Rogers' house, a two or three minute drive from the Tiger Mart. At the house, the group went in, watched television, and continued drinking beer.
While they were drinking, they began talking about guns. After they consumed two or three beers apiece, Rogers went to another room and brought back a sawed off shotgun. It was passed around the group. They decided to go outside and fire the gun. Rogers again left the room and returned with ammunition and a .22 caliber rifle. He gave two or three shotgun shells to Jackson, who was holding the shotgun. As they left the house, Jackson, with the shotgun in hand, was following Steele across a screened porch. The shotgun accidentally discharged, wounding Steele in the leg. There was evidence that at the time of the accident, the group could feel the effect of the alcohol and that, although no one was falling down drunk, they had "a little buzz on" from drinking the beer.
Steele stated two causes of action against the Oil Company: one based on negligence per se and one based on public nuisance. In the order granting summary judgment, the circuit court assumed for the purpose of deciding the motion that the Oil Company knowingly sold beer to a person under eighteen years of age. The court found the sale violated statutes and regulations in effect at the time and that these violations constituted negligence per se and a public nuisance. The court then held Steele must additionally prove the injuries from the accidental shooting were the proximate result of the Oil Company's conduct. Turning to the question of proximate cause, the court stated:
In the present case, there is no evidence that any of the youth [sic] involved became intoxicated or impaired as a result of the Defendant's alleged sale of alcohol. Intoxication or at least some impairment would be essential to establish proximate cause in the present case. The mere placing of alcoholic beverages into the flow of commerce by selling them to a minor does not render the vendor strictly liable for every ensuing act.
The court correctly held the sale of alcoholic beverages to a minor does not render the vendor strictly liable for every ensuing act. Moreover, even if the sale constitutes negligence per se, the plaintiff must still show a causal connection between the defendant's negligence and his own injury to recover damages. See Scott v. Greenville Pharmacy, Inc., 212 S.C. 485, 48 S.E.2d 324 (1948). Violation of the statute is not conclusive of liability. Whitlaw v. The Kroger Company, 410 S.E.2d 251 (S.C.Sup.Ct.1991). The plaintiff must prove the violation of the statute was causally linked, both in fact and in law, to the injury. Id.
The circuit court erred, however, in finding there was no evidence that any of the youths in this case became intoxicated or impaired as a result of the Tiger Mart's selling alcohol to Michael Rogers. There was evidence that the group drank the beer sold to Rogers and that they were feeling the effect of the alcohol at the time of the accident. Giving Steele the benefit of the favorable inferences from the evidence, there were genuine issues of fact as to whether the beer had impaired the boys' inhibitions, impaired their judgment about the danger of playing with firearms and live ammunition, or impaired their physical coordination and reflexes in a manner that contributed to the accident. Summary judgment was inappropriate.
The circuit court also stated Steele submitted no affidavit or deposition of any officer or employee of the Oil Company which would suggest the injury was foreseeable. The court concluded the Company could not reasonably have foreseen that the sale of beer to a minor would result in another minor being accidentally shot.
To establish proximate causation, the plaintiff must prove both causation in fact and legal cause. Bramlette v. Charter-Medical-Columbia, 302 S.C. 68, 393 S.E.2d 914 (1990).
Causation in fact is proved by establishing the injury would not have occurred "but for" the defendant's negligence. Legal cause is proved by establishing foreseeability. Although foreseeability of some injury from an act...
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