Runge v. Watts, 14313
| Decision Date | 15 January 1979 |
| Docket Number | No. 14313,14313 |
| Citation | 180 Mont. 91,589 P.2d 145 |
| Parties | Thomas Kent RUNGE, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Cecil T. WATTS, Jr., as Special Administrator of the Estate of David AllenWatts, Deceased, Cecil T. Watts, Jr., Individually Marlene Watts, his wife, andDoris M. Poppler, Defendants and Respondents. |
| Court | Montana Supreme Court |
Krutzfeldt & Haker, Miles City (William J. Krutzfeldt, Miles City, argued), for appellant.
Moulton, Bellingham, Longo & Mather, Billings, Charles R. Cashmore, argued, McNamer, Thompson & Cashmore, Billings, for defendants and respondents.
Plaintiff brought this action in the District Court of the Thirteenth Judicial District in Yellowstone County alleging negligence on the part of defendant in serving alcohol to a minor whose intoxication allegedly resulted in a car accident causing plaintiff's injury. Plaintiff appeals from an order and judgment dismissing his complaint against defendant Poppler on the ground that it fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.
On April 26, 1975, David Allen Watts, then a minor, attended a party at the home of defendant, Doris Poppler, and drank some beer, allegedly furnished by defendant. Plaintiff, Thomas Runge, left the party with Watts and was subsequently injured when Watts' car left the road and struck a utility pole.
The issue presented for review is whether the District Court erred in dismissing plaintiff's claim against defendant, Doris M. Poppler. Stated another way, does Montana recognize a claim for relief against one furnishing liquor to a minor in favor of those injured as a consequence of the minor's intoxication?
Plaintiff seeks to impose liability upon defendant Poppler on the basis of common law principles of negligence and negligence Per se. Defendant argues that in the absence of a special dramshop act specifically creating a civil remedy and civil cause of action against the social purveyor of intoxicants, no remedy or cause of action can be maintained.
In recent months this Court has had two opportunities to address the issue of the liability of one furnishing alcoholic beverages to a person who subsequently sustains injuries by virtue of the resulting intoxication. Swartzenberger v. Billings Labor Temple Association (1978), Mont., 586 P.2d 712, 35 St.Rep. 1625; Folda v. City of Bozeman (1978), Mont., 582 P.2d 767, 35 St.Rep. 1019. In each of those cases, however, the plaintiff's recovery was barred by his own contributory negligence. In contrast the instant case involves injury to a third party. Contributory negligence on the part of Watts, then, does not bar recovery by a third party.
A similar question to the one presented in the instant case arose in a commercial context in Deeds v. United States (D.Mont.1969), 306 F.Supp. 348. In Deeds the Honorable William J. Jameson held, under the particular circumstances of that case, that "the sale and serving of liquor to Tanberg in violation of Montana law was a proximate cause of the accident and resulting injuries to plaintiff." 306 F.Supp. at 361. However, we do not find Deeds controlling in the instant case. Rather, we follow the general rule:
". . . in the absence of a statute to the contrary . . . there can be no cause of action against one furnishing liquor in favor of those injured by the intoxication of the person to whom it has been . . . furnished . . . so long as the person to whom the liquor was sold or given was not in such a state of helplessness . . . as to be deprived of his willpower or responsibility for his behavior." 45 Am.Jur.2d, Intoxicating Liquors § 554.
The problem we face in so deciding is a difficult one. Montana law does provide sanctions to discourage furnishing alcoholic beverages to minors. First, section 4-3-306(1)(a), R.C.M.1947, provides:
By virtue of section 4-6-404, R.C.M.1947, violation of this provision is a misdemeanor. While this...
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