Opinion ID: 1966392
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: APPLICATION OF THESE PRINCIPLES IN MANUEL v WEITZMAN AND BROWDER v INT'L FIDELITY

Text: In Manuel, supra, both a cause of action for dramshop liability and a cause of action for negligence in failing to maintain safe premises for business invitees arose out of the same incident. This Court found that the following allegations would support the plaintiff's negligence claim if proven: the defendant knew that the intoxicated person had engaged in a fight in a bar at some time before the attack, the bartenders on duty did not take sufficient measures to eject him after he became obstreperous and disruptive, and, after the attack, the bartenders did not act immediately to protect the plaintiff from injury. These allegations indicate that the negligence claim was not predicated on the defendant's furnishing of intoxicating liquor. The claim, therefore, did not fall within the common-law rule barring a claim for the furnishing of liquor. Rather, the cause of action was predicated on the responsibility to protect a business invitee. The duty to exercise reasonable care in the supervision of his patrons' conduct upon the proprietor's premises arose from the relation existing between plaintiff and the defendant, Prosser & Keeton, Torts (5th ed), § 33, and was unaffected by the common-law rule regardless of when, where, and how the patron became intoxicated. See Nolan v Morelli, 154 Conn 432; 226 A2d 383 (1967). Therefore, in Manuel, the plaintiff's negligence claim existed independent of the conduct which was subject to the dramshop act and was allowed to coexist with a dramshop claim. [4] In Browder v Int'l Fidelity Ins Co, supra , after filing a dramshop action against the Grapevine Lounge, the plaintiff filed suit against the Fidelity Insurance Company as surety on the bond issued to the lounge. However, the plaintiff's claim against the insurance company was barred by the two-year period of limitation provided in the dramshop act. The plaintiff sought to circumvent the two-year period of limitation by insisting that her cause of action was founded in contract on a third-party beneficiary theory and was therefore controlled by a six-year period of limitation. See MCL 600.5807(8), 600.5813; MSA 27A.5807(8), 27A.5813. This Court disagreed, finding that the Legislature intended the tort action remedy under the dramshop act to be the exclusive remedy for `any action' arising under dramshop-related facts.... Id., 616. Therefore, accelerated judgment in favor of the defendant on that claim was appropriate. See also Jones v Bourrie, supra . These precedents illustrate both that preexisting independent common-law claims have not been abrogated by the dramshop act and that the dramshop act abrogates only those common-law claims against a liquor licensee having for a basis breach of a duty which is subject to the dramshop act and only as to those parties who fall within the act's purview. Such a construction does not confer on liquor retailers an additional protection not accorded to others, nor does it lessen the common-law duties owed by a liquor licensee to the general public. The act embodies a new remedy which did not otherwise exist and therefore imposes a duty and potential liability which thus far is peculiar to liquor licensees. [5] Rowan v Southland Corp, 90 Mich App 61, 68; 282 NW2d 243 (1979); see also Guitar v Bieniek, 402 Mich 152; 262 NW2d 9 (1978). Moreover, the Legislature has created this remedy through a comprehensive and thoroughly considered scheme which carefully balances each party's rights and liabilities. Given the careful consideration the Legislature has given the act, its purposes and intendments, we hold that the remedy provided in the dramshop act is the exclusive remedy for injuries caused by a licensee's negligence in selling, giving, or furnishing alcoholic liquor.