Craig v. Driscoll

• Decision Date: 04 February 2003
• Docket Number: (SC 16608).
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: VALERIE P. CRAIG ET AL. v. STEVEN DRISCOLL ET AL.

262 Conn. 312

813 A.2d 1003

VALERIE P. CRAIG ET AL. v. STEVEN DRISCOLL ET AL.

(SC 16608).

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued September 12, 2002

officially released February 4, 2003

Sullivan, C. J., and Borden, Katz, Palmer and Zarella, Js. Patrick J. Walsh, with whom, on the brief, was Richard P. Hastings, for the appellants (defendant David L. Davis et al.).

Christopher G. Wall, for the appellees (named plaintiff et al.).

Antonio Ponvert III and Richard A. Bieder filed a brief for the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association et al. as amici curiae.

Opinion

KATZ, J.

Connecticut's Dram Shop Act, General Statutes § 30-102 (act),¹ authorizes a cause of action against a person who sells alcoholic liquor to an intoxicated person who causes injury to another person as a result of his or her intoxication. The principal issue in this certified appeal is whether, notwithstanding the act, the common law recognizes a cause of action for negligent infliction of emotional distress on a bystander against a purveyor of alcoholic liquor for injuries caused by an intoxicated adult patron. The defendants David L. Davis and Hawk's Nest, Inc. (Hawk's Nest),² appeal from the Appellate Court's judgment reversing the trial court's partial judgment for the defendants, which was rendered following the granting of their motion to strike certain counts of the amended complaint of the plaintiffs Valerie P. Craig and Samuel Craig.³Craig v. Driscoll, 64 Conn. App. 699, 781 A.2d 440 (2001). The defendants claim that the Appellate Court improperly concluded that the allegations in the plaintiffs' complaint stated a cause of action for negligent infliction of bystander emotional distress and reckless infliction of bystander emotional distress. We affirm the judgment of the Appellate Court.

The plaintiffs' amended complaint alleged the following relevant facts, as set forth in the Appellate Court opinion.⁴ "[B]etween 8:30 p.m. and midnight on May 21, 1996 ... Steven Driscoll was a patron of The Pub and Restaurant (The Pub), a business located in Norfolk, which is owned by [Hawk's Nest].... Davis was the president of [Hawk's Nest] and the permittee of The Pub. The defendants, through their agents, servants and employees, invited the public to enter The Pub and sold alcoholic beverages to its patrons. At the time in question, Driscoll was intoxicated when the defendants sold him alcoholic beverages, although they knew, or should have known, that Driscoll was an alcoholic who would operate a motor vehicle after leaving The Pub.

"At 12:10 a.m. on May 22, 1996, Sarah Craig was a pedestrian on the west shoulder of Route 272 near its intersection with Route 44 in Norfolk. At that time, Driscoll, who had left The Pub, was operating a motor vehicle south on Route 44 when he caused the vehicle to veer off the roadway and strike Craig. Very shortly thereafter, Valerie P. Craig, the mother of Sarah Craig, and Samuel Craig, the brother of Sarah Craig, arrived at the scene of the accident and viewed Sarah Craig before a substantial change in her condition or location had taken place. Sarah Craig died on May 24, 1996, of the injuries she sustained in the accident. As a result of having witnessed Sarah Craig's severe and substantial injuries, the plaintiffs sustained severe emotional injuries." Id., 702.

On the basis of these alleged facts, the plaintiffs filed an amended sixteen count complaint. In counts three through six, the plaintiffs alleged that the defendants negligently and recklessly had inflicted emotional distress on them as bystanders. In counts seven through twelve, the plaintiffs alleged that the defendants negligently and recklessly had caused loss of consortium. Thereafter, the defendants filed a motion to strike counts three through twelve, which the trial court granted.⁵ Specifically, the trial court determined that it was required to grant the motion with respect to counts three through six, pursuant to this court's decision in Quinnett v. Newman, 213 Conn. 343, 345-46, 568 A.2d 786 (1990), in which this court stated that negligence in selling alcohol was not a viable action at common law because, "the subsequent injury has been held to have been proximately caused by the intervening act of the immoderate consumer whose voluntary and imprudent consumption of the beverage brings about intoxication and the subsequent injury." Thereafter, the plaintiffs moved for judgment on counts three through twelve in order to challenge on appeal the trial court's decision granting the defendants' motion to strike.⁶ The trial court rendered judgment in accordance with the motion and the plaintiffs thereafter appealed from the judgment to the Appellate Court with respect only to counts three through six, the counts alleging the negligent and reckless infliction of bystander emotional distress.

In the Appellate Court, the plaintiffs claimed that the trial court improperly had granted the defendants' motion to strike, contending, among other things,⁷ that: (1) the allegations in their complaint satisfied the bystander emotional distress test, as set forth by this court in Clohessy v. Bachelor, 237 Conn. 31, 52-54, 675 A.2d 852 (1996); (2) our case law supports the recognition of a common-law cause of action against a seller of alcoholic liquor for negligent service; and (3) their allegations beyond negligent service, including service of alcoholic liquor to a known alcoholic who lacked the capacity to understand fully the risks associated with intoxication, supported an action at common law. Craig v. Driscoll, supra, 64 Conn. App. 701 and 701-702 n.3. The defendants contended in response that: (1) Connecticut does not recognize a cause of action against third parties for bystander emotional distress; (2) Connecticut does not recognize a common-law action against a seller of alcoholic liquor for negligent service, and that the act provides the only remedy against a seller for negligent service of alcoholic liquor; and (3) the plaintiffs' allegations are insufficient to state a cause of action for wanton and reckless conduct.

The Appellate Court concluded that the plaintiffs' complaint stated a cause of action for both negligent and reckless infliction of bystander emotional distress. Id., 718, 722. With respect to the plaintiffs' negligence counts, the Appellate Court first noted that the defendants had conceded that the facts alleged in the plaintiffs' complaint satisfied the four part test for establishing negligent infliction of bystander emotional distress under Clohessy v. Bachelor, supra, 237 Conn. 52-54.⁸ Craig v. Driscoll, supra, 64 Conn. App. 707. Accordingly, the Appellate Court turned to the issue of whether the defendants owed a duty of care to the plaintiffs and whether the facts alleged established causation. Id., 707-13. After noting the significant number of injuries resulting from drunk driving, the Appellate Court determined that "it is foreseeable to a purveyor of alcoholic beverages who serves liquor to an intoxicated person who will operate a motor vehicle that the victim's relatives will witness an accident or its immediate aftermath." Id., 710. The court therefore concluded that the defendants owed a duty of care to the plaintiffs. Id.

The Appellate Court next focused on the question of whether the furnishing of alcohol to an intoxicated person or a known alcoholic can be the proximate cause of injuries inflicted by that person as a result of the intoxication. Id., 710-13. The Appellate Court reasoned that both the act and this court's case law creating exceptions to the common-law rule against liability; see Bohan v. Last, 236 Conn. 670, 674 A.2d 839 (1996); Ely v. Murphy, 207 Conn. 88, 540 A.2d 54 (1988); Kowal v. Hofher, 181 Conn. 355, 436 A.2d 1 (1980); undermined the argument that the negligent or reckless furnishing of alcohol to an intoxicated person or a known alcoholic cannot be the proximate cause of an ensuing injury to an innocent third party. Craig v. Driscoll, supra, 64 Conn. App. 713. In particular, the Appellate Court noted that, in Bohan v. Last, supra, 681, and Ely v. Murphy, supra, 95, this court rejected the notion that a minor's consumption of alcoholic liquor is an intervening act that breaks the chain of causation between the furnishing of alcoholic liquor and the injury. Craig v. Driscoll, supra, 714-15. The Appellate Court reasoned that alcoholics, like minors, are a separate class of persons who are unable to deal responsibly with the effects of alcohol. Id., 716. As support for this conclusion, the court pointed to General Statutes § 30-86, which imposes criminal penalties on a purveyor "who sells or delivers alcoholic liquor to any minor, or to any intoxicated person, or to any habitual drunkard, knowing the person to be such an habitual drunkard...." (Emphasis added.) See Craig v. Driscoll, supra, 716-17. The Appellate Court also rejected the notion that the act preempted the plaintiffs' ability to recover under the common law, noting that this court expressly had stated in Kowal v. Hofher, supra, 358-59, that the legislature did not intend for the act to be the exclusive remedy against a purveyor of alcoholic liquor. Craig v. Driscoll, supra, 715 and 715-16 n. 14. In light of these conclusions, the Appellate Court determined that "the allegations of a complaint against purveyors of alcohol who serve liquor to alcoholics or habitual drunkards who are intoxicated when the purveyor knew or should have known that the alcoholic would operate a motor vehicle are sufficient to state a negligence cause of action and, therefore, to survive a motion to strike." Id., 718.

Finally, with respect to the plaintiffs' counts alleging reckless infliction of bystander emotional distress, the Appellate Court rejected the defendants' contention that these counts merely restated the plaintiffs' negligence allegations. Id., 722. The court noted, inter alia, that, in the counts alleging recklessness, the...