Court Opinion

ID: 9777578
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 20:15:58.539008+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:56.566941
License: Public Domain

STEPHENS, Chief Justice,
dissenting.
The result reached in this case is, in my opinion, a textbook example of the improper extension of Grayson Fraternal Order of Eagles v. Claywell, Ky., 736 S.W.2d 328 (1987). While the injury to appellant is horrendous, I am in no way convinced of the foreseeability of that injury.
A brief recitation of the facts serve to show that this case does not lend itself to an extension of Grayson. At some point between 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. Brandenburg drove Charles, McMillan, and Neal to the Newtown Spirits Shoppe where Charles purchased alcoholic beverages that were shared among three of the four boys. The boys spent the remainder of the day together until around the time of school dismissal. At that point they returned to school where Neal and McMillan left the group and proceeded in *241Neal’s ear with Neal at the wheel. It was then that the collision occurred.
It is more than notable that Neal, the driver of the automobile that injured Chad, was not the purchaser of the alcohol, nor was the car being driven by Neal the one that the boys had used earlier in the day. Due to these facts alone the sale to Charles, although prohibited by statute, was not the proximate cause of the injuries to Chad.
KRS 244.080(1) makes it illegal to sell alcoholic beverages to a minor.
[T]his statute [KRS 244.080] identifies a standard of care imposed upon commercial vendors for the protection of the public, which includes both the consumer and third parties, when the factual circumstances are such that the vendor should reasonably foresee what might result. Grayson, at 333.
Grayson, arguably can be used against a package liquor store in the case of a purchase by a minor, however liability should not extend beyond the actions of that purchaser. Furthermore, in this case there is evidence that Neal may have become intoxicated through the use of alcohol other than that purchased at the Newtown Spirits Shoppe.
Dram shop liability should be limited to the purchaser and persons injured by him. Anything beyond that is unforeseeable and unreasonably extends the scope of liability.
The trial court’s extension of liability to benefit someone injured by a third party with whom the purchaser shared the beverages, clearly ignores the issue of superseding causes. The missing element in this case is foreseeability. The trial court ignored the intervening acts, that were more than sufficient to remove the sale of liquor to Charles as a proximate cause of Chad’s injuries.
I would affirm the Court of Appeals, but for the reasons set forth in this opinion only.
JOHNSTONE, J., joins this dissenting opinion.