Taylor v. Ruiz

• Decision Date: 27 October 1978
• Citation: 394 A.2d 765
• Parties: Deborah Ann TAYLOR, Plaintiff, v. Maria RUIZ and George A. Rhoades, Inc., a Delaware corporation, t/a "GG's" and "Crystal Palace", Defendants.
• Court: Delaware Superior Court

Page 765

394 A.2d 765

Deborah Ann TAYLOR, Plaintiff, v. Maria RUIZ and George A. Rhoades, Inc., a Delaware corporation, t/a "GG's" and "Crystal Palace", Defendants.

Superior Court of Delaware, Kent County.

Submitted Oct. 16, 1978.

Decided Oct. 27, 1978.

On the motion of Defendant George A. Rhoades, Inc. for Summary Judgment. Denied.

Harold Schmittinger and John R. Williams of Schmittinger & Rodriguez, Dover, for defendant.

Richard A. Zappa of Young, Conaway, Stargatt & Taylor, Wilmington, for plaintiff.

OPINION

TEASE, Judge.

The plaintiff was a pedestrian on a highway fronting a night club owned by defendant George A. Rhoades, Inc. (hereinafter "Rhoades") when she was struck by a patron of Rhoades who was leaving its establishment. The patron had been served alcoholic beverages by Rhoades just prior to leaving the corporation's parking lot and the plaintiff claims that the defendant Rhoades is liable for her injuries because it, as an establishment licensed to sell and serve alcoholic beverages, dispensed such beverages to an intoxicated person, the defendant Ruiz.

Rhoades has moved for summary judgment on the basis that there is no common law or statutory duty which could hold it liable in damages for the dispensing of alcoholic beverages to an intoxicated person.

The plaintiff argues that (1) the common law creates a duty on a dispenser of alcoholic beverages relative to sales to intoxicated persons in certain fact situations and (2) 4 Del.C. §§ 711 and 713 create a statutory liability.

The defendant motor vehicle operator had been a patron of Rhoades' establishment during the evening in question, arriving at about 9 o'clock p. m. and leaving at approximately 1 o'clock a. m. after consuming some 10 mixed drinks served to her by an employee of Rhoades. The accident and injury occurred as the plaintiff was leaving the same night club on foot and the defendant Ruiz was leaving the club in her automobile.

The plaintiff claims that Rhoades was negligent in serving the codefendant alcoholic beverages at a time when it knew or should have known that she was intoxicated and that such negligence was a proximate cause of her injuries. For the purposes of this motion only Rhoades assumes that such facts are true.

At common law the dispenser of alcoholic beverages could not be held liable for injuries or damages resulting from the acts of intoxicated persons to whom beverages were sold while sober, on the underlying theory that the proximate cause of the injury or damage was the drinking of the alcohol and not the sale or service of the beverage by the dispenser. 48 C.J.S. Intoxicating Liquors § 430; 45 Am.Jur.2d, Intoxicating Liquors, § 553; 75 A.L.R.2d 833 (1961). The common law rule is succinctly stated in the oft-quoted passage from State for Use of Joyce v. Hatfield, 197 Md. 249, 78 A.2d 754, Md.App. (1951) as follows:

"Apart from statute, the common law knows no right of action against a seller of intoxicating liquors, as such, for 'causing' intoxication of the person whose negligent or wilful wrong has caused injury. Human beings, drunk or sober, are responsible for their own torts. The law (apart from statute) recognizes no relation of proximate cause between the sale of liquor and a tort committed by a buyer who has drunk the liquor."

The law governing the sale of alcohol to normal, able-bodied men, drunks, minors, the mentally ill and others, is aptly and concisely summarized in §§ 553 and 554 of 45 Am.Jur.2d, Intoxicating Liquors, supra. It would serve no purpose, for reasons which appear below, to repeat and analyze the cases cited in the text or the briefs of counsel. If called upon to rule on the common law liability of a tavern this writer would surely adopt what he considers to be the logical, modern, common-sense view that one who furnishes alcoholic beverages to any person who already appears to be under the influence can be held liable in tort for negligence for any damages proximately caused by the patron as a result of such intoxication.

However, the question of common law responsibility is academic.

Delaware has, like a growing number of states, statutes regulating the sale of alcoholic beverages to undesirable persons and those unable to reasonably control their appetites.

The persuasive trend of modern tort law in this area of statutory regulation is best illustrated in the well-reasoned opinion of Chief Judge Baselon in Marusa v. District of Columbia, 157 U.S.App.D.C. 348, 484 F.2d 828, D.C.Cir. (1973).

In Marusa the court held that regulations governing the sale of alcoholic beverages in the District were enacted to enhance the public safety. In that case the statute made it a criminal offense for a licensed dispenser to serve an alcoholic beverage to an intoxicated person or one who appears intoxicated. 25 D.C.Code §§ 121, 132. The court set out the criteria for determining whether violation of a criminal statute can create civil liability as follows:

"Generally, the law or regulation should be one designed to promote safety; the plaintiff must be 'a member of the class to be protected' by the statute and the defendant must be a person upon whom the statute imposes specific duties."

The court reasoned that the legislative purpose was to impose a duty on the dispenser of alcoholic beverages which was owed to the community at large; that, therefore, the injured third party was within the class to be protected by the statute and had a cause of action in negligence for the breach of that duty owed to the community.

Though they may not yet be in the majority, several state courts have adopted the view of Marusa. ¹

In Delaware a statute similar to those enacted elsewhere appears in 4 Del.C. § 711, forbidding a licensed dispenser of alcoholic beverages to sell or serve such beverages to a person who is intoxicated or appears to be intoxicated. A violation of that statute is a criminal offense. ²

Although 4 Del.C. § 711 has never been previously construed, its general purpose would appear to be the protection of an individual from the evils of intoxication and the protection of the community at large from the possible contact with an inebriated person. This construction of our statute is consonant with the construction given similar statutes in other jurisdictions and I find it most persuasive. ³

Some insight into the construction of 4 Del.C. § 711 may be found in Judge Terry's opinion in Wilmington Country Club v. Delaware Liquor Commission, 8 Terry 352, 91 A.2d 250, Del.Super. (1952). In construing the Liquor Control Act found in the 1935 Code, Judge Terry said that the dual purpose of the act was to make alcoholic liquor available to the inhabitants of the State and that the business of distributing those liquors, often looked upon as a source of evil, should at all times be rigidly controlled in the interest of the general welfare.

The control act commented upon by Judge Terry contained the...