Opinion ID: 3184455
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Case law concerning the 1979 legislation

Text: This court has reviewed the legislative history of the 1979 legislation on several previous occasions in an effort to determine the legislative intent with respect to its various provisions. In Sager v. McClenden, 296 Or 33, 672 P2d 697 (1983), the question was whether former ORS 30.950 (1979) created a claim for the estate of an intoxicated patron against a tavern for fatal injuries that the decedent had sustained in a fall after being served alcohol while he was visibly intoxicated. Id. at 35. After reviewing the committee hearing minutes concerning HB 3152, this court determined that the purpose of former ORS 30.950 (1979) was to limit the liability of taverns and other commercial alcohol providers to third parties. Id. at 37. The court stated that section 1 of HB 3152 initially “was proposed to limit the holding in Campbell”; the court described Campbell as holding that “a tavern keeper is liable to third parties who are injured in an automobile accident that results from serving a visibly intoxicated customer because it is reasonably foreseeable that when the customer leaves the premises, he or she will drive an automobile.” Sager, 296 Or at 38. According to the court, once the gross negligence standard was removed from HB 3152, section 1 of the bill, as finally approved, “codified the holding in Campbell.” Id. at 38-39. The court further stated that a “thorough reading of the minutes of the committee hearings on HB 3152 fail[ed] to reveal a single mention of creating a [new] claim in favor of injured patrons[,]” and, in fact, the discussion throughout the hearings centered on limiting a licensee’s liability to third parties. Id. at 39. Moreover, because the text of former ORS 30.950 (1979) was written in a way that logically limited liability rather than expanding it, the court held that former ORS 30.950 (1979) did not create a claim in favor of injured patrons against a tavern who served them when visibly intoxicated. Id. at 39-40 (citation omitted) (“[Former] ORS 30.950 only provides the condition under which a commercial alcoholic beverage server becomes liable to one who already has a claim. In light of the legislative history, we [ ] read [former] ORS 30.950 as imposing a limitation on the liability originally created by judicial decision.”). The court in Sager also stated that section 3 of HB 3152, the 780 Deckard v. Bunch section concerning service to minors, “was proposed to limit the holding in Davis” and, as finally approved, it restricted third party liability for licensees and social hosts who serve alcohol to minors “by replacing the negligence per se rule of Davis with a reasonable person standard.” Id. at 39. Two years later, this court again examined former ORS 30.950 (1979) in Chartrand, a common-law negligence action against a tavern for serving alcohol to a visibly intoxicated patron who injured the plaintiff in a head-on vehicle collision. Chartrand, 298 Or at 691. In that case, the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff, and the tavern appealed. Id. This court reversed the judgment for the plaintiff based on instructional error. Id. at 695. In dictum, the court went on to say that, on remand, the plaintiff could proceed under one or more of three theories: (1) common-law negligence, as recognized in Campbell; (2) negligence per se for violation of ORS Chapter 471, as recognized in Davis; and (3) statutory liability under former ORS 30.950 (1979), as recognized in Nearing. Chartrand, 298 Or at 695. Elaborating on the statutory liability theory, the court said, “The legislature by stating, or implying in reverse language, that a tavern owner will be held liable for the acts of a person who has been served alcoholic liquor while visibly intoxicated, resolved the foreseeability issue as a matter of law. Thus, a plaintiff protected by such a statute need not resort to any concepts of negligence. Negligence is irrelevant. The sole question is whether the defendant engaged in acts prohibited by the statute and whether the violation of the statute resulted in injury.” Id. at 696. The court then discussed the historical process that had resulted in the enactment of former ORS 30.950 (1979). In contrast to this court’s description of the legislative history in Sager, the court in Chartrand described the legislation as expanding the liability of commercial alcohol providers beyond the limits established by Campbell and Davis. Chartrand, 298 Or at 696. Quoting an analysis of the legislative history from a student law review comment, the court stated that, after HB 3152 was amended to remove the Cite as 358 Or 754 (2016) 781 gross negligence standard, the purpose of the bill changed from limiting liability to third parties to expanding it. Id. at 696-97 (quoting Comment, Review of Oregon Legislation, 16 Willamette L Rev 191, 192-93 (1979) (“After numerous amendments by the House Judiciary Committee, the bill lost its liability reducing impact, yet retained the support of commercial host lobbyists.”).13 The court then stated that the final version of the bill resulted in two sections— former ORS 30.950 (1979) and former ORS 30.955 (1979)— that created liability for commercial and social hosts for injuries caused by intoxicated persons that are served while visibly intoxicated, “with no reference to proof of any form of negligence.” Id. at 697. After Chartrand, this court considered former ORS 30.950 (1979) or former ORS 30.955 (1979) on four more occasions. In Gattman, the question was whether former ORS 30.950 (1979) provided a remedy to a third party against a tavern that served alcohol to a visibly intoxicated patron who later stabbed the plaintiff off-premises. To answer that question, this court reviewed the decisions that led 13 In support of that conclusion, the comment cited statements made by Representative Rutherford at a work session on June 28, 1979. Elizabeth Lee Fancher, Commercial and Social Host Liability for Dispensing Alcoholic Beverages, 16 Willamette L Rev 191, 192 n 10 (1979) (citing Tape Recording, House Committee on Judiciary, HB 3152, June 28, 1979, Tape 98, Side 1 (statement of Rep Rutherford)). We find no support for that conclusion in the comments of any legislator, including Representative Rutherford, at the June 28 work session. As noted, the subject of that work session was an amendment to limit the holding of Davis by prohibiting recovery against an alcohol provider for damages caused by a minor in the absence of proof that a reasonable person would have requested proof of age or would have determined that the identification provided was false. House Committee on Judiciary, HB 3152, June 28, 1979, Tape 98, Side 1. Representative Rutherford’s position is best captured in the following statement that he made at the June 26 hearing: “Since we are talking about legislative [intent], it seems to me that people who serve liquor certainly should be responsible for their negligence, if any, as that term is commonly understood.” Tape Recording, House Committee on Judiciary, HB 3152, June 26, 1979, Tape 98, Side 1. The actual substantive basis for the law review comment’s conclusion may have been the author’s belief that, in adopting “the rule of law formulated    in Campbell[,]” the legislature provided a statutory standard of care in HB 3152 that would support a negligence per se claim. See Fancher, 16 Willamette L Rev at 198-99. Whatever may be the merit of that proposition, it does not support this court’s dictum in Chartrand that former ORS 30.950 (1979) created a statutory liability claim against persons who serve visibly intoxicated patrons or guests. 782 Deckard v. Bunch to the enactment of the 1979 legislation, and then extensively quoted this court’s review in Sager of the history of that legislation. Gattman, 306 Or at 16-22. The court stated that “[m]embers of the 1979 legislature would be surprised to hear that in attempting to limit the liability of servers of alcoholic beverages to the standard stated in Campbell, they instead created licensee and permittee liability for all actions of an intoxicated customer” after service to a visibly intoxicated person. Id. at 22 (emphasis added). Noting that it would be unusual to create statutory liability by providing that “no person is liable unless,” id. at 23 n 11, the court reiterated that the legislative history set out in Sager established that former ORS 30.950 (1979) may have been proposed as a limitation on server liability, but it became “a legislative codification of this court’s decision in Campbell   .” Gattman, 306 Or at 23. The court in Gattman acknowledged that Chartrand provided “some support” for the assertion that the statute did provide a statutory liability claim for the plaintiff’s situation in Gattman. Gattman, 306 Or at 23. However, the court distinguished Chartrand as involving the exact situation that the legislature was concerned with—drunk driving— and declined to hold that former ORS 30.950 (1979) created statutory liability in an assault case. Id. at 23-24. The court also noted that the statement in Chartrand that the plaintiff there could proceed on a statutory liability theory was dictum, id. at 23, and that that dictum had been the subject of academic criticism. Id. at 24 n 12 (citing Caroline Forell, The Interrelationships of Statutes and Tort Actions, 66 Or L Rev 219, 266-67 (1987) (noting that Chartrand court did not consider wisdom of creating additional statutory action where common law claim existed or whether legislature intended statutory action to preempt common law claim)). Later the same year, this court considered whether, under former ORS 30.955 (1979), a tavern could maintain a third party claim based on statutory liability against a private host who bought his visibly intoxicated friend drinks at the tavern before the friend drove negligently and injured the plaintiff in an automobile accident. Solberg v. Johnson, 306 Or 484, 487-88, 760 P2d 867 (1988). Noting that former ORS 30.955 (1979) also originated in HB 3152, the court Cite as 358 Or 754 (2016) 783 reasoned that, if former ORS 30.950 (1979) “was designed to hold liable for damages licensees who serve liquor to visibly intoxicated patrons[,]” then former ORS 30.955 (1979) was designed to hold private hosts liable for serving alcohol to visibly intoxicated guests. Solberg, 306 Or at 489. The court concluded that the statute was “specifically adopted to provide a remedy” against private hosts. Id. We note that the third-party plaintiff tavern in Solberg pleaded a single claim in which it alleged that the host was “negligent” in serving alcoholic beverage[s] to someone who was visibly intoxicated in violation of [former] ORS 30.955. In Solberg, the court did not cite Chartrand, nor did it indicate whether foreseeability was material to a statutory liability claim under former ORS 30.955 (1979). In short, neither the court nor the parties addressed whether, and if so, how, the elements of a statutory liability claim differed from those of a negligence claim. In a case involving an off-premises assault similar to Gattman, the plaintiff asserted claims based on commonlaw negligence, negligence per se under ORS 471.410(1), and statutory liability under former ORS 30.950 (1979). Hawkins v. Conklin, 307 Or 262, 264-65, 768 P2d 66 (1988). In Hawkins, this court affirmed its holding in Gattman that former ORS 30.950 (1979) does not provide a statutory remedy in favor of plaintiffs injured in an assault.14 Id. at 265. The court then discussed the “operation of [former] ORS 30.950 in common law negligence actions[.]” Id. at 266. As background for its discussion of how the statute affected common-law claims, the court in Hawkins again reviewed the legislative history of former ORS 30.950 (1979). Id. at 267-68. Citing Sager, the court stated that, despite the restaurant and beverage industry’s desire to “roll back” the law to its status before Campbell, “the statute as enacted codified the holding of Campbell.” Id. The court also concluded that “the legislative history did [not] indicate an intent to distinguish between the types of risks associated with intoxication.” Id. at 268 n 6. Noting that the “purpose 14 The court also reaffirmed its decision in Stachniewicz that former ORS 471.410(3) (1971), renumbered as ORS 471.410(1) (1977) is not an appropriate standard for establishing negligence per se. Hawkins, 307 Or at 265. 784 Deckard v. Bunch of [former] ORS 30.950 was to protect commercial alcohol servers, not to protect a particular class of plaintiffs, such as those who were injured by intoxicated drivers[,]” the court stated that the statute did not limit common law recovery to injuries caused by intoxicated drivers. Id. Because former ORS 30.950 (1979) provided that “[n]o licensee or permittee is liable    unless,” the court held that “in common law negligence actions governed by [former] ORS 30.950, serving alcohol to someone who is visibly intoxicated is the only conduct for which tavern owners may be held liable for off-premises injuries.” Therefore, the court held, “to state a common law negligence claim that is not barred by [former] ORS 30.950, the plaintiff must allege that the licensee or permittee served alcohol to the person who injured the plaintiff when that person was visibly intoxicated.” Id. Thus, the court in Hawkins essentially treated former ORS 30.950 (1979) as imposing a statutory limit on common-law negligence claims. Finally, in Grady v. Cedar Side Inn, Inc., 330 Or 42, 997 P2d 197 (2000), the plaintiff was a passenger in a car that struck a power pole and overturned. The plaintiff and the driver were both intoxicated, having spent the day consuming alcoholic beverages, some purchased at an inn and some at a convenience store. The plaintiff sued the inn and convenience store for common-law negligence and statutory liability under former ORS 30.950 (1987),15 alleging that both defendants had served the driver while he was visibly intoxicated. Id. at 45. The issue before this court was whether the plaintiff could recover even though he had participated in the driver’s intoxication by purchasing some of the alcohol for him. Id. at 44. This court rejected the defendants’ argument that the plaintiff’s complicity in the driver’s intoxication precluded his recovery on the ground that such a defense would be inconsistent with the legislature’s decision to abolish contributory negligence as a defense. Id. at 47. The court also concluded that the plaintiff was not barred as a matter of law from recovery under his statutory claim because nothing in the text or context of former ORS 15 As elaborated below, Grady involved a later version of former ORS 30.950 (1987) that did not vary, insofar as pertinent here, from the original version of the statute. Cite as 358 Or 754 (2016) 785 30.950 (1987) limited liability under the statute to “innocent” third parties. Id. at 48-49. Nor was the plaintiff barred from recovery as a matter of law because he was a “social host” who had purchased alcohol for the driver. Id. at 49. The court ultimately stated that the plaintiff’s possible status as a “social host” may have affected the apportionment of relative fault, but that status did not bar the plaintiff from recovery under the statute. Id. (“[Former] ORS 30.950 subjects licensees, permittees, and social hosts to liability to third parties for injuries caused by the intoxicated patron or guest whom they served.    That is exactly the type of claim that the statute permits.”).