KR v. Sanford, No. C2-98-1377.

• Decision Date: 03 February 2000
• Docket Number: No. C2-98-1377.
• Parties: K.R., Respondent, v. Brandon SANFORD, et al., Defendants, The Committee, Inc., d/b/a First Avenue & 7th St. Entry, petitioner, Appellant.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

605 N.W.2d 387

K.R., Respondent, v. Brandon SANFORD, et al., Defendants, The Committee, Inc., d/b/a First Avenue & 7th St. Entry, petitioner, Appellant.

No. C2-98-1377.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

February 3, 2000.

Arthur, Chapman, Kettering, Smetak & Pikala, P.A., Paul A. Banker, Bassford, Lockhart, Truesdell, & Briggs, P.A., Minneapolis, for appellant.

Messerli & Kramer, P.A., James C. Wicka, Susan M. Coler, Minneapolis, for respondent.

Heard, considered and decided by the court en banc.

OPINION

RUSSELL A. ANDERSON, Justice.

In this appeal from summary judgment, we review the legal issue of whether a plaintiff, allegedly complicit in the illegal sale of alcohol, is barred from suit under the Civil Damages Act (CDA or Damages Act),¹ or whether such complicity is fault to be compared under the Comparative Fault Act (CFA).² We hold that the complicity of a plaintiff in the illegal sale of alcohol does not bar plaintiff's suit for damages under the CDA but, rather, such complicity is a fault to be compared and apportioned under the CFA.

Respondent K.R. filed suit under the Damages Act against appellant, The Committee, Inc. (The Committee),³ alleging that she was sexually assaulted and injured by three intoxicated defendants, Sergio Vargas, Brandon Sanford, and Douglas Schneider, and that The Committee caused their intoxication by illegally selling alcoholic beverages to Vargas. The sale allegedly violated Minn.Stat. § 340A.504, subd. 4(4) (1998), which prohibits both after hour sales and the sale of alcoholic beverages for off-premises consumption unless the vendor has an off-sale license.

The district court granted The Committee's motion for summary judgment, concluding that K.R. did not have standing to bring the lawsuit against The Committee because of her complicity in the illegal sale of the alcohol. The court of appeals concluded that the district court erred because, under the 1990 amendment to the CFA, complicity is now a comparative fault and not a bar to suit. See K.R. v. Sanford, 588 N.W.2d 545, 549 (Minn.App.1999)

. We affirm.

We review summary judgment to determine (1) if there are genuine issues of material fact and (2) if the district court erred in its application of the law. See Offerdahl v. University of Minn. Hosps. & Clinics, 426 N.W.2d 425, 427 (Minn.1988)

. When, as in this case, the issue is one of law involving statutory construction, our review is de novo. See Sorenson v. St. Paul Ramsey Med. Ctr., 457 N.W.2d 188, 190 (Minn.1990). We consider the evidence in a light most favorable to the nonmoving party, in this instance K.R. See Fisher v. County of Rock, 596 N.W.2d 646, 651 (Minn.1999).

After several months of working in security at First Avenue, K.R. began training as a bartender. First Avenue trained its bartenders to recognize signs of intoxication and to stop serving drinks after hours, but it was a regular practice for managers to sell employees and select customers closed bottles of alcohol after hours and for off-premises consumption in violation of Minn.Stat. § 340A.504, subd. 4(4).

At about midnight on December 21, 1996, while working at First Avenue, K.R. was approached by Vargas, a regular customer and former co-worker. Vargas asked K.R. to purchase for him a bottle of Absolut Kurrant Vodka and gave K.R. $20 for the purchase. Vargas offered K.R. a ride home in exchange for the favor.

At the end of her shift, at approximately 4 a.m., K.R. went to her manager, told him she needed a bottle of vodka "for Sergio" and gave her manager the $20 Vargas had given her for the purchase. Her manager later met her at one of the club's exits and gave her the bottle of vodka. She phoned Vargas and requested the ride home that he had promised and at approximately 5 a.m. Vargas arrived at the club, accompanied by Sanford and Schneider. After stopping briefly at a party, K.R., Vargas, Sanford and Schneider went to Sanford's apartment. K.R. was told they were stopping for a quick drink before taking her home. Using the liquor Vargas purchased through K.R., Vargas and Schneider made vodka and grape juice drinks for themselves. K.R. mixed a drink with one shot of vodka and grape juice for herself. Both Vargas and K.R. inhaled a small line of cocaine.

Vargas and Schneider each mixed and consumed at least two more drinks. By 7 a.m., Vargas appeared intoxicated and K.R. became concerned that he was too intoxicated to drive. Approximately an hour later, the three men went into another room and returned a few minutes later. Vargas told K.R. that they were going to "crash" at the apartment. He then offered her a "ruffie" (a street name for the drug Rohypnol). He told her it would help her sleep and that each of the men had already taken a pill. After taking the pill, K.R.'s perception became blurred and she began to experience, in her words, a "dream-like state," with moments of lucidity. She remembers coming to and seeing the three men sexually assaulting her.

We turn now to the legal issue of whether a plaintiff's complicity in the illegal sale of alcohol bars her suit under the Damages Act, as the district court ruled, or whether such complicity is fault to be compared under the Comparative Fault Act, as the court of appeals held. We first examine the relevant history of the CDA and the origin of the doctrine of complicity in our case law. In that context, we then construe the 1990 legislative amendment which added "the defense of complicity under section 340A.801" to the definition of "fault" under the CFA, Minn.Stat. § 604.01,⁴ with particular focus on the origins of the amendment in recommendations to the legislature from the Minnesota Injury Compensation Study Commission. We then apply our analysis to the arguments of The Committee and the facts of this case.

At common law, no cause of action existed against a vendor for injuries resulting from the sale of intoxicating beverages. See Koehnen v. Dufuor, 590 N.W.2d 107, 109 (Minn.1999)

. In 1911, the Minnesota legislature first imposed liability on liquor vendors for injuries resulting from the illegal sale of alcoholic beverages. See Minn. Laws 1911, ch. 175, § 1 (codified as Minn.Stat. § 3200 (1913)).⁵ Since then, we have consistently recognized that, because the legislature created the cause of action authorized by the CDA, the legislature is free to expand or reduce the rights provided by the CDA. See Hollerich v. City of Good Thunder, 340 N.W.2d 665, 668 (Minn.1983). Our role is to give effect to the language of the CDA when its meaning is plain, and when the language of the statute requires our interpretation, to ascertain and effectuate the intent of the legislature. See Minn.Stat. § 645.16 (1998).

Since our 1968 decision in Turk v. Long Branch Saloon, Inc., we have consistently recognized and applied the doctrine of complicity to the CDA, barring recovery to a plaintiff injured by an intoxicated person when the plaintiff "participate[d] knowingly and affirmatively in the illegal sale" that contributed to the intoxication. 280 Minn. 438, 442, 159 N.W.2d 903, 906 (1968); see also Martinson v. Monticello Mun. Liquors, 297 Minn. 48, 56, 209 N.W.2d 902, 907 (1973)

; Heveron v. Village of Belgrade, 288 Minn. 395, 401, 181 N.W.2d 692, 695 (1970). In Turk we held that "the protection to the public afforded by [the CDA] was not intended by the legislature to be extended to persons who participate knowingly and affirmatively in the illegal sale * * * ." Turk, 280 Minn. at 442, 159 N.W.2d at 906.⁶ We so held despite a previous determination that other forms of contributory negligence would not bar recovery under the CDA. See, e.g., Beck v. Groe, 245 Minn. 28, 36, 70 N.W.2d 886, 892 (1955).

In 1969, the Comparative Fault Act was enacted and comparative fault replaced the doctrine of contributory negligence in tort claims.⁷ In 1977, the legislature amended the Damages Act to specifically reference the Comparative Fault Act:

Actions for damages based upon liability imposed by this section shall be governed by [the Comparative Fault Act]. The provisions of [the Comparative Fault Act], as applied under this section, however shall not be applicable to actions brought by a husband, wife, child, parent, guardian or other dependent of an intoxicated person.

Act of June 2, 1977, ch. 390, § 1, 1977 Minn. Laws 887. Then, in 1985, we were asked to decide whether the 1977 amendment eliminated complicity as a complete defense. See Herrly v. Muzik, 374 N.W.2d 275 (Minn.1985)

. We concluded that the legislature did not intend by the 1977 amendment to supplant our previous decisions holding that the Damages Act was intended solely to "protect innocent third persons." Id. at 278.⁸

If our interpretation of the interplay between the Damages Act and the Comparative Fault Act had not come to the legislature's attention before Herrly was decided, it was certainly brought to the legislature's attention in 1990. In 1988, the legislature established the Minnesota Injury Compensation Study Commission. See Act of April 12, 1988, ch. 503, § 4, 1988 Minn. Laws 378. The Commission's goal was to evaluate the tort recovery system and make recommendations that would "perpetuate a fair and balanced approach to the sometimes incompatible goals of the tort system, accountability and compensation." Minnesota Injury Compensation Study Commission, Report to the Legislature, 4 (1990).

The Commission's first recommendation concerned the Comparative Fault Act. The Commission recommended that the definition of "fault" be amended in four ways, the last of which read, "[t]he defense of complicity in actions brought under the Civil Damages Act, section 340A.801, should no longer be a complete defense but should be subject to apportionment under section 604.01, the Comparative Fault Act." Id. at 5. The Commission identified the complicity doctrine, identified its origins in case law and explained why, in the view of the Commission members, the doctrine should not act as an...