Phillips v. Derrick, 8 Div. 944
| Decision Date | 02 October 1951 |
| Docket Number | 8 Div. 944 |
| Citation | 54 So.2d 320,36 Ala.App. 244 |
| Parties | PHILLIPS v. DERRICK et al. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Appeals |
Patrick W. Richardson, Huntsville, for appellant.
Claude H. Pipes and Jas. H. Butler, Huntsville, for appellees.
By a plea in short by consent issue was joined in the court below on the following count in plaintiff's complaint: 'Plaintiff claims of defendant the sum of $500 as damages for that heretofore on, to-wit, the 15th day of August, 1949, the defendants, who were then the owners and/or operators of an establishment licensed for the sale of alcoholic beverages in or near the City of Huntsville, in Madison County, Alabama, in violation of law sold or furnished to one J. T. Hughes, who was then a minor aged 17 years, and who was then employed by plaintiff as driver of plaintiff's delivery vehicle, a quantity of alcoholic beverages from the drinking of which the said J. T. Hughes became intoxicated and wrecked plaintiff's said delivery vehicle, a 1946 Jeep Station Wagon, greatly damaging same, and plaintiff avers that the said injury to his said vehicle was proximately caused by the aforesaid intoxication of said J. T. Hughes, and plaintiff further avers that the aforesaid intoxication of the said J. T. Hughes was proximately caused by the defendant's aforesaid sale of intoxicating beverages to the said J. T. Hughes, contrary to law, as aforsaid.'
For the plaintiff one J. T. Hughes testified that in August 1949 he was 18 years of age, and was employed by the plaintiff as driver of a delivery truck.
During the morning of 15th day of August 1949, he visited the Stephens Cafe in Huntsville on three occasions. Each time he consumed three bottles of beer, and each time was served by the defendant Derrick.
His third visit to the cafe was made during his noon lunch hour. When he left the cafe after this visit he could not see clearly, could not walk straight, and was drunk.
He got into the delivery truck, drove about three blocks up the street, turned around and started back down the street. When he reached a point sixty feet beyond the cafe the truck turned over, swapped ends, and was damaged. This witness did not know how fast he was driving when this happened.
Plaintiff also introduced evidence tending to show that the truck was damaged in the amount of $500 by the wreck.
At the conclusion of the plaintiff's case the court granted the defendants's motion to exclude the evidence presented by the plaintiff. From the argument of defendants' counsel in support of said motion we gather that the basis of the motion was that the plaintiff had failed to offer any evidence tending to show that the defendants were licensees for the sale of alcoholic beverages, as averred in the complaint, and thus 'not within the meaning of the law which makes it unlawful for a licensee to sell intoxicating beverages to a minor.'
The court granted the defendant's motion to exclude the plaintiff's evidence, and this ruling is the sole question involved in this appeal.
It is our opinion that the lower court erred in granting the motion to exclude the evidence so far as concerns the defendant Derrick.
The right of the plaintiff, if any, must be deemed to spring from Section 121, Title 7, Code of Alabama 1940, which provides: 'Every wife, child, parent, or other person who shall be injured in person, or property, or means of support by any intoxicated person, or in consequence of the intoxication of any person, shall have a right of action against any person who shall be selling giving or otherwise disposing of to another, contrary to the provisions of law, any liquors or beverages, cause the intoxication of such person, for all damages actually sustained, as well as exemplary damages.'
The above section evidences a policy on the part of the law-making body to discourage the illegal sale of alcoholic beverages. Further, by the very terms of the enactment the...
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Olsen v. Copeland, 77-626
...others have concluded that no common-law cause of action exists apart from the provisions of their dram shop acts. Phillips v. Derrick, 36 Ala.App. 244, 54 So.2d 320 (1951); Nelson v. Steffens, 170 Conn. 356, 365 A.2d 1174 (1976); Keaton v. Kroger Co., 143 Ga.App. 23, 237 S.E.2d 443 (1977);......
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Miller v. Moran, 16717
...others have concluded that no common-law cause of action exists apart from the provisions of their dram shop acts. Phillips v. Derrick, 36 Ala.App. 244, 54 So.2d 320 (1951); Nelson v. Steffens, 170 Conn. 356, 365 A.2d 1174 (1976); Keaton v. Kroger Co., 143 Ga.App. 23, 237 S.E.2d 443 (1977);......
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Haafke v. Mitchell
...Store, 269 F.2d 322 (7th Cir.1959) (sale in violation of criminal statute held to be basis for common-law claim); Phillips v. Derrick, 36 Ala.App. 244, 54 So.2d 320 (1951) (illegal sale to minor); Nazareno v. Urie, 638 P.2d 671 (Alaska 1981) (sale violated minor-sale statute); Vesely v. Sag......
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Martin v. Watts
...is ... unlawful whether made by a licensee in a wet county, or by a nonlicensee in any territory in this State." Phillips v. Derrick, 36 Ala.App. 244, 54 So.2d 320 (1951). The trend in recent decisions of other jurisdictions is to allow causes of action where adults have assisted in furnish......