Pucci v. Amherst Restaurant Enterprises, Inc.

• Decision Date: 08 February 1993
• Docket Number: No. 91-P-777,91-P-777
• Citation: Pucci v. Amherst Restaurant Enterprises, Inc., 605 N.E.2d 309, 33 Mass.App.Ct. 779 (Mass. App. 1993)
• Parties: George PUCCI v. AMHERST RESTAURANT ENTERPRISES, INC.
• Court: Appeals Court of Massachusetts

Page 309

605 N.E.2d 309

33 Mass.App.Ct. 779

George PUCCI v.AMHERST RESTAURANT ENTERPRISES, INC.

No. 91-P-777.

Appeals Court of Massachusetts Hampshire.

Argued Oct. 20, 1992.

Decided Dec. 31, 1992.

Further Appellate Review Denied Feb. 8, 1993.

Amy M. Soisson, Boston, for plaintiff.

John D. Lanoue, Adams, for defendant.

Before SMITH, GILLERMAN and PERRETTA, JJ.

GILLERMAN, Justice.

While drinking beer on the premises of Charlie's Saloon, ¹the plaintiff was struck in the face and injured by another patron.The ensuing complaint alleged that the defendant(i) negligently failed to provide adequate security at its premises (the tavern), and (ii) negligently served alcoholic beverages to intoxicated patrons; that, as a consequence of the negligence of the defendant, a melee broke out, and the plaintiff was struck repeatedly, and seriously injured by patrons who had been drinking at the tavern and had become intoxicated.²

General Laws c. 231, § 60J, as inserted by St.1985, c. 223, § 17, and renumbered by St.1987, c. 465, § 60, provides, in part, that in every action "for negligence in the distribution, sale or serving of alcoholic beverages ... to an intoxicated person ... [t]he plaintiff shall file, together with his complaint, or at such later time not to exceed ninety days thereafter, an affidavit setting forth sufficient facts to raise a legitimate question of liability appropriate for judicial inquiry.Any party may make a motion for summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56 of the Massachusetts Rules of Civil Procedure."³The plaintiff failed to file the required affidavit either with the complaint or within ninety days thereafter.

Approximately six months later, the defendant filed a motion to dismiss the complaint, setting up the plaintiff's failure to file the required affidavit.The plaintiff's opposition to the motion acknowledged the failure to file an affidavit but pressed the argument that the complaint, insofar as it alleged the negligent failure to provide adequate security at the tavern, should survive the motion to dismiss.Shortly thereafter, the plaintiff filed a supplemental opposition to the defendant's motion to dismiss, to which he attached the affidavit required by § 60J.

The supplemental opposition, while conceding that the plaintiff did not originally oppose the dismissal of the claim for the negligent service of alcohol, asserted that the plaintiff had now filed the required affidavit.The plaintiff did not seek or obtain leave to file the affidavit late, however.SeeCroteau v. Swansea Lounge, Inc., 402 Mass. 419, 421-423, 522 N.E.2d 967(1988)(court has discretion to grant a motion to enlarge the time for the filing of the required affidavit upon such conditions it deems appropriate, failing which the action may be the subject of a motion for summary judgment).Thus the judge was correct in concluding that the complaint, insofar as it alleged a claim based on negligence in the sale and service of alcoholic beverages to an intoxicated person, was insufficient as matter of law.The judge then entered judgment for the defendant, foreclosing the plaintiff's claim to relief based upon the defendant's alleged negligence in failing to provide the plaintiff with adequate security.

We do not doubt that the defendant tavern keeper " 'owed a duty to ... [the plaintiff] to use reasonable care to prevent injury to him by third persons whether their acts were accidental, negligent, or intentional.' "Sweenor v. 162 State St., Inc., 361 Mass. 524, 526-527, 281 N.E.2d 280(1972), quoting fromCarey v. New Yorker of Worcester, Inc., 355 Mass. 450, 452, 245 N.E.2d 420(1969)(emphasis added in Sweenor ).This duty of care arises out of the particular relationship between a tavern keeper and its patrons.SeeMullins v. Pine Manor College, 389 Mass. 47, 53 n. 9, 449 N.E.2d 331(1983)("The concept of a duty of care arising out of a particular relationship between the parties is ... embedded in our law").This principle--that, where the particular relationship of tavern owner and patron exists, there may be an affirmative duty to act with reasonable care in order to prevent harm to another caused by a third person--is described as "well settled" in Irwin v. Ware, 392 Mass. 745, 757, 467 N.E.2d 1292(1984), with citation to numerous decisions at 760.⁴Our decision as to whether the judge in this case was correct in entering judgment for the defendant does not turn on the scope of a tavern keeper's duty to its patrons, however, but rather on whether the scope of § 60J is broad enough to foreclose the plaintiff's claim that the defendant negligently failed to provide him with adequate security.

The threshold question is the standard of review.Even though the plaintiff filed answers to the defendant's interrogatories, as well as an affidavit of his counsel setting forth the facts of the plaintiff's claim and purporting to comply with § 60J, the judge's order for judgment recites that he considered only the "pleadings, briefs filed and argument of counsel...."⁵By referring to the "pleadings," the judge presumably meant only the complaint and the answer.SeeMass.R.Civ.P. 7(a), 365 Mass. 748(1974);Nolan, Civil Practice§ 212 (2d ed. 1992).

The judge's limited review of the case is entirely consistent with the procedure mandated by § 60J; that section permits a hearing on a motion for summary judgment"promptly after issue is joined as to any party, unless the court enlarges the time for discovery."⁶The issue had been joined upon the filing of the complaint and the answer, seeMass.R.Civ.P. 12(a), 365 Mass. 754(1974), and the plaintiff did not seek to enlarge the time for discovery.Thus, the substance of what the judge did was to test the defendant's "motion to dismiss" as though it were a motion filed under Mass.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), 365 Mass. 755(1974).On that basis, the allegations in the complaint are deemed to be true, the plaintiff is entitled to all favorable inferences, and the complaint may be dismissed only if it appears that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts which would entitle him to relief.SeeGeneral Motors Acceptance Corp. v. Abington Cas. Ins. Co., 413 Mass. 583, 584, 602 N.E.2d 1085(1992).

The complaint alleges two separate acts of negligence: the negligent failure to provide adequate security at the tavern and the negligent service of alcoholic beverages to intoxicated patrons.The complaint then proceeds to allege that, "[a]s a result of the defendant's carelessness and negligence, a melee broke out ... and the plaintiff was struck repeatedly [and seriously injured] by patrons who had been drinking and had become intoxicated at the defendant's premises."Thus we must decide whether the allegation that the plaintiff was struck by patrons who had become intoxicated at the tavern is, without more, sufficient to bring the entire complaint within the sweep of § 60J.We conclude that it is not.

The purpose of § 60J, see note 3, supra, is to reduce the incidence of frivolous claims for injuries caused by the negligent distribution, sale or service of alcohol to intoxicated persons.The complaint states a claim for negligent service of alcoholic beverages, and that claim, as we have said, is not now enforceable.The complaint also alleges that the defendant negligently failed to provide adequate security in the tavern and that, in consequence of the alleged inadequate security, the plaintiff was struck and injured by patrons who had been drinking at the tavern and who had become intoxicated.While the claim for inadequate security includes the allegation that intoxicated patrons struck him, that claim does not include the allegation that the patrons who struck and injured the plaintiff became intoxicated because the defendant negligently served them alcoholic beverages.Moreover, the inference that the intoxicated condition of those patrons was the result of the negligent service of alcoholic beverages by the defendant may not, in the procedural circumstances of this case, be drawn to the disfavor of the plaintiff.

We find nothing in § 60J that requires us to draw that inference.We have seen that a tavern keeper's duty of care to its patrons is well established in this Commonwealth, and we have no reason to believe that the Legislature intended, by the enactment of § 60J, to include the entire doctrine of a tavern keeper's duty of care within the sweep of a statute which speaks only to the negligent provision of alcoholic beverages to intoxicated persons.Other jurisdictions have reached the same result.SeeLessner v. Hurtt, 55 Ill.App.3d 195, 13 Ill.Dec. 430, 371 N.E.2d 125(1977)(plaintiff struck and injured by an intoxicated patron in a tavern; summary judgment for the tavern under the State's dramshop act reversed; "It is our view that regardless of whether a person obtains, purchases, or consumes liquor at a dram shop, the owner or operator of such a business may be negligent and consequently be liable by failing to protect its patrons from physical harm by a person on the premises").See alsoGolden v. O'Neill, 366 N.W.2d 178(Iowa1985)("we hold that the dram shop civil liability statute does not preempt plaintiff's common law causes of action against a licensee based upon assault and battery and negligent failure to keep the premises safe for a patron").

The defendant's argument fails to recognize that a tavern keeper's duty of care to its patron extends beyond the duty not to serve alcoholic beverages negligently to intoxicated customers.SeeSweenor v. 162 State St. Inc., 361 Mass. at 526-527, 281 N.E.2d 280(plaintiff injured when another patron in the bar, who was boisterous and drinking alcoholic beverages, fell off a stool onto the plaintiff's leg; held, it was open to the jury to find that the defendant violated its duty to the plaintiff"by failing to restrain or remove the boisterous patron, " as well as by continuing to serve him...