Court Opinion

ID: 9704814
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 00:47:27.214513+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:04.068462
License: Public Domain

HUTCHINSON, Justice,
concurring.
I concur in the result reached by the majority. I write separately to set forth my belief that liability in this case *118should not be premised on our decision in Congini by Congini v. Portersville, 504 Pa. 157, 470 A.2d 515 (1983), and its interpretation of certain sections of the Crimes Code, namely 18 Pa.C.S. §§ 306 and 6308, in terms of negligence per se, but on the policy of this Commonwealth with respect to sales of alcoholic beverages to minors, as expressed in Article IV of the Liquor Code, 47 P.S. §§ 4-401-4-497.
In Congini, supra, we allowed a cause of action against a social host for the injuries suffered by a minor guest after the host served the minor with intoxicants to the point of inebriation. We based the liability of a social host for serving an intoxicated minor on the provisions of the Crimes Code, 18 Pa.C.S. § 306, imposing sanctions on accomplices, coupled with 18 Pa.C.S. § 6308 making it a summary offense for a person under 21 years of age to purchase, consume or transport alcohol. Thus, the Congini analysis is based on negligence per se arising out of the Crimes Code. The definitions of offenses and concomitant penalties in the Liquor Code itself offer a more suitable and specific alternative for the imposition of liability on licensees who serve alcohol to minors.
Both of these cases are before us by allowance of appeals from summary judgments entered in favor of defendant beer distributors (appellees here) by Common Pleas and affirmed by Superior Court. In both instances, appellees had sold quantities of beer to individual minors with apparent disregard of their responsibilities as licensees to verify the age of the purchasers and to maintain a record thereof pursuant to Section 495 of the Act of April 12, 1951, P.L. 90 (Liquor Code), as amended, 47 P.S. § 4-495 (Supp.1986). The pertinent language reads:
(b) [An] identification card shall be presented by the holder thereof upon request of any State Liquor Store or any licensee, or the servant, agent or employe thereof, for the purpose of aiding such store, licensee, or the servant, agent or employe to determine whether or not such person is twenty-one years of age and upwards, when *119such person desires alcoholic beverage at a State Liquor Store or licensed establishment.
(c) In addition to the presentation of such identification card, the agent of the State Liquor Store or the licensee or his servant, agent or employe, shall require the person whose age may be in question to fill in and sign a card in [a prescribed] form____1
47 P.S. § 4-495(b) and (c) (Supp.1986).
The language of subsections (b) and (c) is mandatory and these mandates are reinforced by Section 494 of the Code, 47 P.S. § 4-494, infra at 122, which makes it a misdemean- *120or to violate the provisions of Article IV (sections 401-497).2
In Matthews v. Konieczny and J-B Beverage Distributors, Inc., No. 120 E.D. Appeal Docket, 1985, the original plaintiffs were the administrators of a deceased minor who contributed funds for the purchase of the beer which intoxicated his fellow purchaser and companion driver, the appellant here, who had joined J-B Beverage Distributors and Paul and Gloria Berkowitz as additional defendants below. In Mancuso by Smith v. Bradshaw, Ford, Ford and Friel’s, Inc., No. 121 E.D. Appeal Docket, 1985, the appellant is the parent and natural guardian of a minor who was brain damaged in an accident with another vehicle operated by an intoxicated minor.3 This latter minor purchased two of the four six-packs originally sold by Friel’s to yet another minor, who is not a party to this suit.
The criteria for the grant of summary judgment are set forth in the Rules of Civil Procedure:
Rule 1035. Motion for Summary Judgment
(a) After the pleadings are closed, but within such time as not to delay trial, any party may move for summary judgment on the pleadings and any depositions, answers to interrogatories, admissions on file and supporting affidavits.
(b) 'the adverse party, prior to the day of hearing, may serve opposing affidavits. The judgment sought shall be rendered if the pleadings, depositions, answers to inter*121rogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law____
Pa.R.C.P. 1035. For purposes of the Motion for Summary Judgment the facts in both cases were set forth by stipulation. Thus, there are no genuine issues of fact to impede the grant of appellees’ motion for summary judgment. However, it is far from clear that appellees, as licensed beer distributors, are entitled to such a judgment as a matter of law in view of the prohibition against selling or serving intoxicating beverages to minors in Section 493 of the Liquor Code:
The term “licensee”, when used in this section, shall mean those persons licensed under the provisions of Article IV, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
It shall be unlawful—
(1) For any licensee or the board, or any employe, servant or agent of such licensee or of the board, or any other person, to sell, furnish or give any liquor or malt or brewed beverages, or to permit any liquor or malt or brewed beverages to be sold, furnished or given, to any person visibly intoxicated, or to any insane person, or to any minor, or to habitual drunkards, or persons of known intemperate habits.
47 P.S. § 4-493(1). Moreover, violations of these strictures are criminal offenses under the provisions of Section 494 of the Code:
(a) Any person who shall violate any of the provisions of this article, except as otherwise specifically provided, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100), nor more than five hundred dollars ($500), and on failure to pay such fine, to imprisonment for not less than one month, nor more than three months, and for any subsequent offense, shall be sentenced to pay a fine not less than three hundred dollars ($300), nor more than five hundred dollars ($500), and to *122undergo imprisonment for a period not less than three months, nor more than one year.
(b) The right of the board to suspend and revoke licenses granted under this article shall be in addition to the penalty set forth in this section.
47 P.S. § 4-494.
Based on the Superior Court opinion in Simon v. Shirley, 269 Pa.Superior Ct. 364, 409 A.2d 1365 (1979), appellees argued below that they were entitled to summary judgment because of the language added to the Liquor Code by Section 1 of the Act of December 22, 1965, P.L. 1144, § 1, which provides:
No licensee shall be liable to third persons on account of damages inflicted upon them off of the licensed premises by customers of the licensee unless the customer who inflicts the damages was sold, furnished or given liquor or malt or brewed beverages by the said licensee or his agent, servant or employe when the said customer was visibly intoxicated.
47 P.S. § 4-497. This provision exempts a licensee from liability to third persons for injuries inflicted by the licensee’s “customers” away from the licensed premises. It does not exempt the licensee from liability to its customers who themselves suffer damages as the consequence of the licensee’s furnishing them with liquor, malt or brewed beverages nor does it exempt the licensee from liability to third parties who are injured by the licensee’s customers on the licensee’s premises. The licensee in Matthews is, therefore, patently not entitled to summary judgment on this ground because the deceased minor was not a third party but an active participant in the purchase of beer from J-B Beverage Distributors, Inc. See Connelly v. Ziegler, 251 Pa.Superior Ct. 521, 380 A.2d 902 (1977).
Licensees in this case further contend that the above section wholly immunizes them against any suit by a third party who suffers injuries at the hands of an intoxicated minor unless the minor was “visibly intoxicated” at the time he was served. They contend that the term “customer” *123must include a minor and point to the provisions of Section 493 of the Liquor Code, 47 P.S. § 4-493, prohibiting sales not only to minors but also to visibly intoxicated persons and others, as showing that the legislature knew how to impose sanctions upon persons serving minors by expressly including them in that section.
The difficulty with this argument is that a broad definition of the term “customer,” which would include minors in the immunity section, renders meaningless the provisions of Section 495(e), 47 P.S. § 4-495(e), providing a licensee who inadvertently serves the minor with a defense to any civil or criminal action if he obtains a certification in the prescribed form by the minor that he is in fact of an age which permits the serving of alcoholic beverages. We are required by the Rules of Construction to give effect to all of the provisions of a statute. 1 Pa.C.S. §§ 1921(a) and 1922(2). Appellees’ interpretation of Section 497 would reduce Section 495(e) to mere surplusage and require us to ignore the statutorily enacted Rules of Construction. See discussion, infra, at 517.
In Mancuso, on the other hand, the minor appellant is an innocent third party. In this case, we are confronted with the question addressed by the majority: Did the General Assembly intend that a licensee should summarily be excused from liability for injuries to a member of a protected class (minors) by an unlawful transaction between that licensee and another minor?
We are directed by the pertinent language of the Rules of Construction in Title 1 of the Consolidated Statutes:
(a) Object and scope of construction of statutes. — The object of all interpretation and construction of statutes is to ascertain and effectuate the intention of the General Assembly. Every statute shall be construed, if possible, to give effect to all its provisions.
1 Pa.C.S. § 1921(a) (emphasis added).
In ascertaining the intention of the General Assembly in the enactment of a statute the following presumptions, among others, may be used:
*124(1) That the General Assembly does not intend a result that is absurd, impossible of execution or unreasonable.
(2) That the General Assembly intends the entire statute to be effective and certain.
(5) That the General Assembly intends to favor the public interest as against any private interest.
1 Pa.C.S. § 1922.
It follows that we must read the provisions of Section 497 in such a manner as to give effect to the prohibitions of Section 493, which make it unlawful for a licensee or any other person to sell or give alcoholic beverages “to any minor,” if it is possible to do so. Section 497 was added to the Liquor Code by the Act of December 22, 1965, P.L. 1144, § 1. Its language refers to “licensees” and “customers.” It does not refer to minors who were ineligible to purchase alcoholic beverages under the 1939 Penal Code, Act of June 24, 1939, P.L. 872, §§ 675, 675.1, 676, the 1951 Liquor Code and continue to be ineligible under the present Crimes Code, 18 Pa.C.S. § 6308. See also 18 Pa.C.S. §§ 6307, 6309, 6310.
There is no reason to believe that the General Assembly intended Section 497 to subsume “minors” in the term “customer” without some language in the latter section expressly repealing the ban on those sales in the earlier sections of the Liquor Code. Rather, I am constrained to believe that the General Assembly was in 1965, and still is today, deeply concerned with the protection of minors both from their own follies and those of their contemporaries. It is readily foreseeable that the unlawful sale of beer to a single minor carries with it substantial risk that the beer will reach and affect others in the same age group and these concerns were addressed by the drafters of the Liquor Code. For these reasons, I see no need to invoke the broader language of section 306 of the Crimes Code, to make a licensee an accomplice of these minors.
Moreover, as we have noted, supra at 120-122, the Liquor Code provides a means for a licensee to protect himself *125from civil and criminal prosecutions when he has acted in reliance on the representations of an eager purchaser’s age. Friel’s, Inc.’s failure to avail itself of these protections precludes it from obtaining summary judgment. For these reasons, I believe the majority acted correctly in reversing Superior Court.

. The form prescribed in the statute reads:
_, 19—
I,_, hereby represent to__, a State Store or licensee of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, that I am of full age and discretion and over the age of 21 years, having been born on _, 19_, at__This statement is made to induce said store or licensee above named to sell or otherwise furnish alcoholic beverages to the undersigned.
Serial Number of Identification Card:
I understand that I am subject to a fine of $300.00 and sixty days imprisonment for any misrepresentation herein.
(Name)
(Address)
Witness:
Name _
Address_
Such statement shall be printed upon a 3 inch by 5 inch or 4 inch by 5 inch file card, which card shall be filed alphabetically by the State Liquor Store or licensee, at or before the close of business on the day of which said certificate is executed, in a file box containing a suitable alphabetical index, and which card shall be subject to examination by any officer, agent or employe of the Liquor Control Board at any and all times.

. Compliance with the foregoing subsections might, under these circumstances, have provided the licensees with a defense sufficient to support a summary judgment in their favor. Section 495(e) provides:
(e) The signed statement in the possession of a licensee or an employe of a State Liquor Store may be offered as a defense in all civil and criminal prosecutions for serving a minor, and no penalty shall be imposed if the Liquor Control Board or the courts are satisfied that the licensee or State Liquor Store employe acted in good faith.
47 F.S. § 4-495(e) (Supp.1986).

. These facts have been stipulated in connection with the Motion for Summary Judgment. The original complaint filed in the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas also alleges that the intoxicated driver was an employee of the distributor appellee and was driving the appellee's vehicle. Reproduced Record, Complaint in Trespass at 2.